Tony Sobieski
Background info on the 240mm
Two units utilized the 240mm
howitzer in Korea, the 213th and 159th Field
Artilleries. The 240mm arrived in Early April 1953
and fired it's first 'official' fire
mission on May 1st 1953 (communist May Day) in what
at the time was considered a spectacular event. The
first round was fired by Baker battery 213th at a
target called 'the donut' by aerial
observers. While the first round was just supposed
to be a ceremonial shot, it struck an ammo dump
directly on top of 'the donut' which set
off a chain reaction and blew part of the top of
the hill off. The aerial observer said 'holy
shit' at witnessing the round hit.
The 240mm shell weighed 360 pounds.
A total of 5943 rounds were fired between 1 May and
27 July 1953. I believe the piece required over a
dozen men to operate, four were required to load a
shell. The range was 25,000 yards, and powder
increments were used. If you hear of a rumor that
the 280mm 'Atomic Annie' gun was in Korea
(I've seen this float around the internet) that
is actually wrong, it was the 240mm. The 280mm used
the same carriage and was originally a re-bored
240mm tube for testing.
There is also a rumor
(unsubstantiated but I have read some US military
history journals that reference it) that Eisenhower
wanted the rumor spread that the UN had nuclear
artillery moved to Korea to force the Chinese to
the truce table. Now, that may be true, but the
real reason was multiple. WWII era 155mm ammunition
supply was depleted, combined with a general steel
strike in the US, combined with the fact that by
mid-late 1952 the war was reverting back into old
style 'trench warfare' reminiscent of WWI,
the available US artillery (except for the three
8-inch battalions, which were very spread out) just
did not have the 'punch' to hit the deep
bunkers and fortifications that were by now being
built by the Chinese, forced the US military to
look for options. It was at this point they saw
that there was an ample supply of 240mm shell in
stock, so they 'de-mothballed' twelve 240mm
howitzers, had a core group of officers trained,
and sent them to Korea.
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