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MechCommander wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 09, 2023 6:54 pm

How many people are there in a Railway gun unit? As i recently got a Krupp M5 printed out, but details on their TO&E are Scarce.

Each K5 railway battery consisted of two guns with each gun on its own train while a third train was required to transport the required gunnery staff, security detachment (to prevent sabotage or overrun by enemy infantry), administrative personnel, mechanics (for the guns, trains and trucks), cooks and assorted non-military personnel. In all, this amounted to approximately 85 personnel. Each of the three trains required two locomotives each, one at each end of the line, to move the guns as well as standard passenger and sleeper cars along with specialized refrigerator cars for the cordite and freight cars for the large amount of shells and equipment needed to support the battery during deployment.

The battery crew consisted of 42 trained artillery officers and enlisted personnel. An artillery officer and 24 men were assigned to operate and fire the gun proper. A crew of 8 would manage the shells, setting the timing fuses in each shell and transporting the projectiles along a cart from the storage railcar to the gun. A set of smaller gauge track was laid from the car to the gun to help support the cart used to haul a single shell. Powder bags were raised by a hoist on the gun platform itself. The crew on the firing platform required 2 men to be stationed on the rear of the gun and these personnel would manage the hoist needed to lift the shell and powder from the awaiting cart at ground level. The hoist then lowered the shell and powder into the breech of the gun. Six crewmen were needed to complete this manual process. Others maintained duties on the ground related to the firing of the gun and electrically-assisted elevation mechanism. Still others would remove the shells metal jacket once it was fired and throw the spent casings to the ground to be reused again. Electricians were assigned to monitor and maintain a large generator that was itself required to power the electrical system meant for firing and elevating the K5 barrel.