ZIU- shelling Warsaw

Shortly after the Warsaw uprising outbreak, OKH ordered the Schwehrer Batterie 638 to crush the insurgents. The Batterie will be part of the 9. Armee

Despite being labelled Batterie, i twill only include one Mortar -600mm caliber – Karl Greät 040, also called Mörser. This one ‘s name is “Ziu”, son of Odin in the North Germany mythology . Transported by train to Pruszkow station where it is reassembled.

On August the 16th, the M örser is fieled on a concrete structure in the Parc Wolski. The concrete structure is still visible nearby the general Jozef Sowinski’s statue..

A second firing position will be prepared close to the Western station, south of Ulica Dworsa.

“Ziu” will shell the old town and the city center for 10 days.

Several unexploded shell will be collected during and after the Uprising. Altogether eight shells will be collected after war’s end. Two will be displayed at the entrance of the Warsaw Army museum until 1949, when a Check visitor will realize that one of them was still filled with 500kgms explosives. Both shells will be destroyed.

For the German High Command, several changes are planned to increase the efficiency of the Mörser. The short barrel –Kurze AZ I -is definitely adopted as more accurate than the “long one”. A new detonator is developed, exploding on impact, whatever the surface of the target is.

The OKH is so satisfied with “Ziu” that they decided to dispatch it against Paris uprising in order to crush the Resistance..

sWG 41 inWarsaw 09-44

The 28 and 32 cm rockets could also be fired from their packing cases (Packkiste) which had short hinged legs to adjust elevation. They could also be mounted in groups of four on wooden (schwere Wurfgerät 40 - heavy missile device) or tubular metal (schwere Wurfgerät 41 (sWG 41)) launch frames. The external dimensions of the packing cases were identical so no adapter was needed for the smaller rockets. The packing cases could also be mounted on schwere Wurfrahmen 40 (sWuR 40) frames attacked to the sides of Sd.Kfz. 251/1 half-track armored personnel carrier or various captured French tracked vehicles. The sWuR 40 was nicknamed the Stuka-zu-Fuß (Stuka on foot).

ULICA PIUSA - AUGUST THE 02ND 1944

an act of desperation or a show of German inginuity?


An Italian M14/31 re-used by German Police troops after Italy had surrended in 1943. In Warsaw, the German Police used a handfull of these Vehicles. This one has been destroyed on the first day of the Uprising at Ulica (street) Piusa XI