The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
28 cmSK L/40 gun barrel. This particular example was one of four originally mounted in the SMS Hessen. The Hessen took part in the battle of Jutland, firing five rounds of 28 cm ammunition. After the battle, the Hessen’s guns were removed, mounted on massive railway carriages, and used on the Western Front for long range bombardment. The breech mechanism is of the horizontal sliding prismatic wedge type and is a "left" barrel one in accordance with naval design, depending on the barrel position in a multi-gunned turret. The firing method is percussion primer using a lanyard operated trigger. The ammunition charge is loaded separately in a cartridge case with propellent weighing up to 70 kilos. The HE shell weighs approximately 320 kilos.
This gun barrel belonged to the 'Amiens railway gun' which was captured by 31 Battalion AIF on 8 August 1918 along the Villers-Bretonneux front. The Germans employed the railway gun to shell the railway marshalling yards at Amiens with the intention to disrupt the flow of men and materials to the front lines. After the gun was captured by Australian forces it was briefly displayed in Paris before being shipped to Australia per SS Dongarra in Oct 1919. When the gun arrived in Australia after the first world war it was displayed at Central Railway Station in Sydney before being moved to a special railway siding in Canberra from 1923 to 1942 when the gun carriage was used by the Australian Army for munitions and barrel trials for 8 inch naval guns at the artillery proof range in Port Wakefield, South Australia. The gun mounting was operational for proofing 8 inch guns from 1943 to 1947. The gun mounting and railway bogies were scrapped in the early 1960s, the barrel being the only sizeable relic left intact.
Large, heavy steel spanner or key to fit a circular object 16 1/2 inches in diameter, the spanner is marked C 100 [as 10092]. Found at Harbonnieres. This large spanner forms part of the maintenance
CANBERRA, ACT. OCTOBER 1939. THE AMIENS GUN IN THE SAME CONFIGURATION AS IT WAS WHEN CAPTURED ON 8TH AUGUST 1918 BY MEMBERS OF THE AIF IN FRONT OF HARBONNIERES, NEAR VILLERS BRETONNEUX. THIS 28cm RAIL
CANBERRA, ACT. 25 DECEMBER 1939. THE AMIENS GUN, IN ITS THEN PERMANENT POSITION ADJACENT TO THE RAILWAY STATION. CAPTURED ON 8 AUGUST 1918, BY THE AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCE, IN FRONT OF HARBONNIERES,
Men of the 23rd Battalion inspecting the 28cm German railway gun, (known as the Amiens gun) after its capture by AIF troops. The words 'captured' and partly obscured 'Australia' have been painted on t
The 28cm German railway gun known as the 'Amiens gun' at a railway siding at Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Sydney prior to being moved to Canberra. The gun and the complete train were captured by AIF
The 1914 Anzac men leave France for two months furlough in Australia. Anzac Day London 1919. Inter allied games held at Joinville Le Pont, Paris. No. 4 Squadron AFC occupy a German aerodrome at Col
FRANCE. C.1918. A GERMAN 28CM RAILWAY GUN WITH SOME OF ITS CREW. THE COMPLETE TRAIN, INCLUDING THE GUN AND ALL THE CREW, WERE CAPTURED NEAR HARBONNIERES ON 1918-08-08 BY TROOPS OF THE AUSTRALIAN 8TH I
GERMAN WW1 28CM RAILWAY GUN, THE "AMIENS GUN", ON DISPLAY AT CANBERRA RAILWAY STATION.
A camouflaged 28 cm German railway gun reputedly known to its German crew as Bruno. The barrel was originally designed as a naval gun but was converted in 1917 for use as a railway gun. It was built b
Preliminary works have just commenced as workmen prepare the site for the construction of the extensions to the AWM main building undertaken between 1968 and 1970. In the foreground workmen are diggin
Metal plaque with six attachment holes. It is engraved 'GERMAN 28 c.m. [11IN] / RAILWAY GUN / CAPTURED NEAR / HARBONNIERES, FRANCE / BY THE / AUSTRALIAN CORPS / 8TH AUGUST 1918 / THIS PLATE IS MADE FR
Large, heavy steel spanner or key to fit a circular object 16 1/2 inches in diameter, the spanner is marked C 100 [as 10092]. Found at Harbonnieres. This large spanner forms part of the maintenance
Metal plaque with six attachment holes. It is engraved 'GERMAN 28 c.m. [11IN] / RAILWAY GUN / CAPTURED NEAR / HARBONNIERES, FRANCE / BY THE / AUSTRALIAN CORPS / 8TH AUGUST 1918 / THIS PLATE IS MADE FR
1/24 scale model of the German 28 cm SK L/40 railway gun captured by Australian forces on 8 November 1918, at Harbonnieres in France, and known as the 'Amiens Gun'. The model is constructed from bras
Steel spanner with straight handle and single spanner head. Hand painted in faded white on one side of the spanner is 'PRESENTED BY TASMANIAN SECTION 5TH AUST. FIELD. AMB. TO A.W.M.' Stamped into the
Thirty eight centimetre S.K. L/45 naval gun barrel cleaning brush with wooden body. The brush head is wire and is reinforced on either side with a metal band over a wooden top and bottom. Impressed a
38 cm SK L/45 Heavy Naval gun brass cartridge case The case is 780 mm long, and is 450 mm across the base. The base has a 13 mm wide rim that protrudes 13 mm around the case. The case mouth has an o