"Busy Lizzie" · Field Log
Engineer August Coenders of the Röchling-Werke proposes a gun capable of bombarding London from the French coast without using a single aircraft. The idea builds on a much older nineteenth-century concept for a multi-chamber gun, which Coenders now adapts for modern warfare.
Instead of a single large propellant charge behind the shell, the design uses a smoothbore 150 mm barrel with dozens of pairs of side chambers running along its full length. As the shell travels down the barrel, these side charges fire in sequence, accelerating the projectile further and further, up to a muzzle velocity of around 1,500 m/s: enough, in theory, for a range of about 165 km.
Near Calais, in northern France, the Germans have an extensive tunnel complex carved into a chalk hillside, intended for two batteries of five barrels each: 25 in total. Forced labourers, including concentration camp prisoners, are among those made to work on the construction.
Allied reconnaissance flights photograph the unusual construction activity. As part of the wider campaign against V-weapon sites (Operation Crossbow), the RAF begins bombing the site, before a single barrel is even completed.
The RAF's 617 Squadron, known for the raid on the German dams, drops 5-tonne "Tallboy" bombs that penetrate deep into the hillside before exploding. The blasts collapse parts of the tunnel system and put the site permanently out of action: the full-scale gun never fires a single shot at London.
While Mimoyecques has already been destroyed, the Germans build a smaller version with shorter barrels in the Eifel region, near Lampaden. This version's range is too short for London, but long enough to reach Luxembourg City.
The battery near Lampaden opens fire on Luxembourg City: the only confirmed combat use of the V-3 gun. It is also one of the longest sustained bombardments of the war, causing civilian casualties in the city.
As Allied forces continue to advance, the battery near Lampaden fires its last shells in mid-February 1945. American troops overrun the position shortly after.
London is never hit by the V-3 gun: its original objective is never achieved. The remains of Mimoyecques are investigated by Allied intelligence after the war and can be visited today as a historic site.
Technical specifications