From:  Robert Mackenzie  	Date:  7/4/97 5:53PM 
Subject:  Karlgerat 			Address:  To: CD Mailer  
 
Dear All

First a bit thanks to who-ever (I forget sorry!) put me on the Leo Niehorster German WW2 Organisational books - got one today and very good it is too.

For your delectation - this is my CD interpertation of the organisation of the I & II Batterie 833 Schwere Morser Abteilung - the unit that operated the 60cm Karl SP Mortar 

 I & II Batterie 833 Schwere Morser Abteilung
Kfz-15 Car Command
SdKfz-8 Half Track w/ Culemeyer Trailer
SdKfz-8 Half Track w/ Culemeyer ammo Trailer
SdKfz-8 Half Track w/ Culemeyer ammo Trailer 
Mun.Sch fur Karlgerat
Karl Morser 600L8 (battalion gun!!!!)
Medium Truck
Heavy Truck
Heavy Truck 

Notes

1) The SdKfz-8 towing Culemeyer Trailer is designed to carry a dissasembled Karl down roads - given 	that the SdKfz stand can only (in real life) carry half the Karl stand; and the (probabably) extesive 	time it took to assamble the beast I'd ignore the road carrying capability. The Trucks probably carry 	the special equipment to re-assemple the Karl
2) The Ammo Trailer carries 10 (real world) rounds which is 2 CD rounds
3) The Mun.Sch Fur Karlgerat carries 4 (real world) rounds which is 1 CD round - it also has the crane 	needed to load a Karl
4) The Karl stand represents only 2 real life guns thus is technically a "battalion gun". Actual ROF was 6-	12 round per hour or 1 to 2 CD rounds.  As its a "battalion gun" take the lower which is one shot every 	4 turns.  However after stopping it takes 16 minutes for the Karl to be ready to fire so the fist shot after 	taking possition will be 5 turns later (and thats generous)
5) The weighed 124t so was totally incapable of crossing any of the German army engineers' bridges and 	99% of civilian bridges - all bar some railway bridges. In game terms the ref must designate which 	bridges can take the weight.
6) The Karl has a speed of 10kmh giving a CD speed of 12/6
7) HE effect? There were two barrells for the Karlgerat 600L8 and 540L11 The latter not delivered until 	mid 1943. Both had light and heavy shells 2.17t and 1.7t for the 600mm and 1.58t and 1.25t for the 
	540mm. Ranges were 4.5km for the heavy 600mm and 6.7km light 600m - I don't have ranges for the
	540 but it was longer. Thats 90" and 134" respectively in CD ground scale 2E
	The CD effect I couldn't hazzard a guess at (bigger than 10?) - perhaps some one that knows about 	naval gun shell weigts and who saved the naval gun stats recently posted could do a comparison?
8) The Mun.Sch. was based on the Pz-IVF1 hull.
9) the 1st btty was attached to IV Korps 17th Army and the 2nd btty to 4th Army Reserves Army group 	centre
10) There was a BHQ  forming at the time of this list 22.6.41

-------------------------

60cm Karlgerat  8/4     C:600L8 HE(H)   HE:4"/15        IDF:90"
                                               HE(L)   HE:4"/13        IDF:134"
                                                                                                               
8/4 is the speed it is essentially unarmoured. I dont have stats for the
               540mm version. Direct fire is not possible (shame!) and the HE effects
               are pretty much guesses.

               There were light and heavy shells as the stats above indicate.

               As reloading is VERY SLOW and a stand only represents 2 guns the Karl
               fires once every 4 turns. (it was about once every 30 mins in the real
               world however as two guns would have to fire twice to get a normal
               stand's amount of fire power I doubled the re-load time)

               Rules Suggestions

               The Karl weighed 124t. It can not be towed. It can not cross any bridge
               except heavy railway bridges. Bridges it can cross must be explicitly
               designated before the start of the game.
                
               The Karl is treated as a towed gun even though it is self propelled.
               This is because their crews are exposed in the same manner as towed
               guns. However they are spotted as vehicles.

               Karl takes whole turn to prepare for firing. It mast remain halted for a
               turn before it can fire.

               _____

               Schwereste Mörser-Batterie (Super Heavy Howitzer Battery) 1941-1943

               1 Command Stand
               1 Kfz-15 Car
               1 SdKfz-8 towing Culmeyer Trailer
               2 SdKfz-8 towing Culmeyer Ammo Trailer
               1 Mun.Sch.Pz-IV
               1 Karlgerat
               1 Crew Stand
               1 Medium Support Truck
               2 Heavy Support Truck

               Notes:

               1) There were 2 batteries: 1./833 and 2./833 in 1941. By 1942 there was
               only 1 1./628, it survived until mid 1943.

               2) For operation Barbarossa 2./833 served as armeetruppen for 4 Armee,
               Heeresgruppe Mitte

               3) The Sdkfz-8 with the (non ammo) trailer is designed to move the
               Karlgerat in its dissembled state. However there are only enough real
               world trailers to transport one real world Karl which is half the Karl
               model. To avoid complications do not allow the Karl to be transported in
               this manner on the tabletop. Even if there were enough transporters
               assembly time would probably be excessive for a tabletop game. The
               support trucks carry the equipment used to assemble the Karl. 

               4) The Culmeyer ammo trailer carries 2 Karl rounds the Mun.Sch.Pz-IV
               carries 1. The Mun.Sch.Pz-IV is required to load the Karl as it has a
               crane to lift the shells

               5) The Karl is treated as a towed gun despite being self-propelled. Thus
               it has a crew stand. Firing at the Karl is the same as firing at a towed
               gun. It is still spotted as a vehicle though.

               Schwereste Mörser Batterie (Super Heavy Howitzer Battery) 1944-1945

               1 Command Stand
               1 Kfz-1 Car
               1 FO
               1 Kfz-1 Car
               1 SdKfz-9 towing Culmeyer Trailer
               1 SdKfz-8 towing Culmeyer Ammo Trailer
               1 Heavy Truck towing Culmeyer Ammo Trailer
               1 Mun.Sch.Pz-IV
               1 Karlgerat
               1 FlaK-43 twin 37mm 
               2 Crew Stands
               1 SdKfz-11
               1 SdKfz-8 Support Half Track
               2 Heavy Support Truck

               Notes:


               1) Two such batteries 628 and 428 were deployed for the Northwind
               offensive late 1944. However between them they only had 3 guns so can
               best be depicted in CD terms as one table-top battery. 628 and 428 were
               still with 1st Armee, Heeresgruppe G in March 1945.

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