As Adolf Hitler consolidated his power over Germany and pushed his massive political policies to rebuild and rearm the undermined European country, the West watched, alarmed, as the possibility of a new War in Europe became ever more likely.
By 1936, the Third Reich was already orchestrating the incoming invasion of France and the eventual conquest of the European continent. But there was a significant obstacle in Hitler’s way, and that was the massive Maginot Line, an almost 300-mile-long array of bunkers, fortifications, and huge guns specially designed to keep a German invasion at bay.
If the Germans were going to pierce the French border, they would need a new and powerful solution to shatter the mighty wall into pieces, and Hitler’s answer was to drastically increase the size and power of their artillery.
Relying on the prowess of German engineering, the Third Reich built some of the most gargantuan pieces of weaponry ever concocted. And footage taken at the time shows one of these colossal contraptions, the mighty Karl-Gerät, as it fires its two-ton artillery shells.
The terrifying self-propelled mortar could fire an SUV-size worth of explosive material and was primarily designed to turn the Allies’ defenses into dust…
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Dark Footage showcases the most unbelievable photos and videos from history while telling the stories behind the camera. Featuring military, space, aircraft and real-life historic events caught on tape.
