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Plate 039 · Railway Gun · World War II
Krupp K5
"Anzio Annie"
An elegant 28 cm railway gun whose shells fell on the Anzio beachhead.
Historical Record
Provenance & Service
The 28 cm Kanone 5 (E) was Germany's standard wartime railway gun. Two K5s, 'Robert' and 'Leopold', shelled the Allied beachhead at Anzio in 1944, where GIs nicknamed them 'Anzio Annie' and 'Anzio Express'. 'Leopold' survives at the U.S. Army Ordnance Training Support Facility, Fort Lee.