Landships II

MLW · Lieutenant-Colonel

New Osprey Book 'Railway Guns of World War I'

Arie Dijkhuis · General

Hi Marc,

I will order it asap. Look forward to reading it!

With kind regards,

-Arie.

MLW · Lieutenant-Colonel

Hi Arie,

I hope you find it interesting. In think it is as good as my book on WWI German siege artillery.

Regards,
Marc

CharlieC · Legend

Certainly will buy a copy - Bookdepository has it discounted at the moment.

The subject is so huge I'll be interested how you've distilled it down to the 48 page format of Osprey books.

The post-WW1 Ordnance Dept survey of railway artillery is in two volumes with more than 1500 pages to give

an idea of the scope of the subject of WW1 railway artillery.

Regards,

Charlie

MLW · Lieutenant-Colonel

Most accounts of WWI railway artillery treat each army's guns separately and then just list the guns and describe their technical characteristics as if each nation's development of railway artillery was accomplished in a vacuum. We tried to tell the whole story of the guns - when and why they were fielded, how their roles and designs changed during the war, how they were employed, and interplay between Allied and opposing armies. For technical information the Ordnance Department's two volume study will forever be indispensable, but to me the bigger story gets lost in the details.

Regards,
Marc

28juni14 · Hero

Though I am admittedly biased in my opinion,( Greg Heuer is a friend ) I'm reasonably certain the book will be a worthy investment for Great War historians/study enthusiasts.

MLW · Lieutenant-Colonel

Without Greg Heuer as a co-author, the book could not have been written.

Regards,
Marc

Arie Dijkhuis · General

Hi Marc,

I ordered your new book, but it took a very long time before it was sent to me. And even then, it took over a week before the shipment reached me. Nevertheless, I got it today and I have to congratulate you on this book! A very interesting read, and I can recommend it to all artillery enthousiasts... Keep up the good work!

With kind regards,

-Arie.

CharlieC · Legend

I got my copy from BookDepository - took 10 days to Australia and it was discounted as well.

The book is a good overview of the Railway Artillery of WW1 and certainly is an excellent introduction to

the more detailed texts such as the post-WW1 survey by the US Ordnance Dept and Guy François' book in the

"Les Canons de la Victoire 1914-1918" series.

If I have a criticism it is that the point was missed that adapting naval guns to railway or land use is not as simple as dropping

an ex-battleship gun onto a railway wagon with a suitable mounting . The recoil absorbing systems of the naval guns are only designed

to reduce the recoil forces to the point where the residual force can safely be absorbed by the structure of the ship. The many solutions to the problem

of residual recoil forces lead to the multiplicity of designs produced during WW1. These varied from ignore the problem and shunt

the railway gun back to the firing position after it has slithered down the track 100m or so (British solution) to the elaborate massive

wooden structures employed by the Saint-Chamond designs.

This book (imho) is a useful library addition for anyone interested in Railway guns and/or the heavy artillery of WW1.

Charlie

MLW · Lieutenant-Colonel

Hello Charlie,

I agree that I did not adequately bring that point out in the book. I had to pick and choose what could be included and, in retrospect, the engineering of the railway mountings and recoil systems was something that I thought might be too difficult for the average reader. Yet, based on your comment I see the topic deserved at least some sort of overview.

Regards,
Marc

MLW · Lieutenant-Colonel

Here is a review of the book posted on the AMPS webpage - www.amps-armor.org/SiteReviews/ShowReview.aspx