Atomic cannon in action and German predicesor (pure whiffery)

[NARSES2]

France had studied an atomic canon at the end of fifties or biginning of sixties (I saw some parts of the artillery when I worked as a technician in armaments, breech, tube, and a model wooden made at 1/10 scale). But it had been judged most dangerous for allied soldiers than enemies !!!

Regards

That's what I've always thought. Thanks for the clip.

[rickshaw]

I've read an opinion that the Atomic Cannon was one of the reasons why the Korean War ended.  The argument is that the testing was instrumental in demonstrating that smaller, more tactically useful nuclear weapons were available and they could be used very well in the semi-static siege conditions which reigned in the last 2 years of that war.  The DPRK and the PRC (and Soviets) had no means to counter them or even really deter their use and so decided that ending the conflict was the only realistic thing to do.   Of course, it could be just hindsight talking there...   

[sagallacci]

Because of their limited mobility, I wonder about their intent as a nuclear trip wire. If directly threatened, would have an immediate fire response, pushing the fight into one with tactical nukes. Not wanting that, the opponent would be deterred from action in that direction. The threat of nukes away from the front is a bit blunted by delivery delays and the potential for chain-of-command delays. Having nukes on the battlefield could have been a game-changer.

In my cannons-in-action half of the whiffery, Warsaw Pact forces would try a wild no-warning plunge into the West, simply on-hand forces given an instant go for a quick grab to play politics with. They didn't expect the guns to be in play and have the resolve to actually DO something, stalling the attack almost as soon as it starts.

Still need to get to building the German version. At this point, I'll likely just scratch-build it, dressing up the Renwal kit would be too easy.