M65 ATOMIC ANNIE - THE 280MM GUN AND ITS SOVIET COUNTERPARTS 406MM 2A3 AND 420 2B1

Serie dedicata alla storia e allo sviluppo degli automezzi ed armamenti americani dalla fine del secondo conflitto mondiale ad oggi.

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Extended REPRINT of TM-Special no. 6008

With the Cold War evolving, the search for more military applications of nuclear weapons was carried out by the United States and the Soviet Union. The major aim was, on the one hand, to improve the yield of devices and thus increase their destructive levels, and on the other hand to make them deployable from other launching apparatus. First and foremost, designers on both sides worked on shrinking nuclear devices to the degree they would fit for example into an artillery shell.

The development would in 1951 culminate in the American 280mm M65 Gun, today known by its nickname Atomic Annie. In the Soviet Union, work began on the 406mm 2A3 and 420mm 2B1 super-heavy artillery pieces, built in 1957.

This publication covers the Atomic Annie in great detail with many in-service photos plus excerpts from the technical manual and also sheds new light on its still secret Soviet counterparts.