The Secret Cannon That Was Designed To Hit London From France
The forgotten life of the V-3 Cannon
During World War II, the Germans filled northwestern France with all manner of weapons and defenses. This was a part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall strategy, in which nearly every beach, cliff, and coastal field was fortified to prevent an Allied invasion from Great Britain. Among the tank traps, trenches, barbed wires, and bunkers were two secret guns with barrels aimed at London's heart.
Nestled in the hills of Pas-de-Calais were two highly secret V-3 Cannons (not to be confused with V-2 rockets.) V-3 Cannons were large caliber siege guns with the ability to strike targets dozens of miles distant. The guns worked on the idea of firing a secondary propellant charge, which would push regular artillery shells far past their regular speed and range. The V-3 Cannons had one mission — strike fear in London.
The Idea
These massive 150mm cannons could fire a shell at 1500 m/s from secret bunkers hidden within the cliffs of northern France. Each shell fired by the V-3 weighed over 300 pounds and could fly over 100 miles distant. Hitler envisioned a series of these secret guns bombarding London from a great distance. Instead of planes flying overhead and dropping bombs, these cannons could bombard London from…
