Thursday, April 15, 2010

Gustav Gun - The Largest Gun Ever Built

The largest gun ever built was the "Gustav Gun" built in Essen, Germany in 1941 by the firm of Friedrich Krupp A.G. Upholding a tradition of naming heavy cannon after family members, the Gustav Gun was named after the invalid head of the Krupp family - Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The strategic weapon of its day, the Gustav Gun was built at the direct order of Adolf Hitler for the express purpose of crushing Maginot Line forts protecting the French frontier. To accomplish this, Krupp designed a giant railway gun weighing 1344 tons with a bore diameter of 800 mm (31.5") and served by a 500 man crew commanded by a major-general.


Two types of projectiles were fired using a 3000lb. charge of smokeless powder: a 10,584 lb. high explosive (HE) shell and a 16,540 lb. concrete-piercing projectile. Craters from the HE shells measured 30-ft. wide and 30-ft. deep while the concrete piercing projectile proved capable of penetrating 264-ft. of reinforced concrete before exploding! Maximum range was 23 miles with HE shells and 29 miles with concrete piercing projectiles. Muzzle velocity was approximately 2700 f.p.s.

Three guns were ordered in 1939. Alfried Krupp personally hosted Hitler and Albert Speer (Minister of Armaments) at the Hugenwald Proving Ground during formal acceptance trials of the Gustav Gun in the spring of 1941. In keeping with company tradition, Krupp refrained from charging for the first gun - 7 million Deutsch Marks were charged for the second (named Dora after the chief engineer's wife).



France fell in 1940 without the assistance of the Gustav Gun, so new targets were sought. Plans to use Gustav against the British fortress of Gibraltar were scrapped after General Franco refused permission to fire the gun from Spanish soil. Thus, April 1942 found the Gustav Gun emplaced outside the heavily fortified port city of Sebastopol in the Soviet Union. Under fire from Gustav and other heavy artillery, Forts Stalin, Lenin and Maxim Gorki crumbled and fell. One round from Gustav destroyed a Russion ammunition dump 100 feet below Severnaya Bay; a near miss capsized a large ship in the harbor. Gustav fired 300 rounds during the siege wearing out the original barrel in the process. Dora was set up west of Stalingrad in mid-August but hurriedly withdrawn in September to avoid capture. Gustav next appeared outside Warsaw, Poland, where it fired 30 rounds into Warsaw Ghetto during the 1944 uprising.




Dora was blown up by German engineers in April 1945 near Oberlichtnau, Germany, to avoid capture by the Russian Army. The incomplete third gun was scrapped at the factory by the British Army when they captured Essen. Gustav was captured intact by the U.S. Army near Metzendorf, Germany, in June 1945. Shortly after, it was cut up for scrap thus ending the story of the Gustav Gun.


katrina Kaif at IPL, Photos

 
Indian super start film actress Katrina kaif  hugging with IPL cricket Team boys,

mark It Kit Trend Color Compact : Review & Swatches

I love kits and palettes mostly because they are a great value for money ! If I was someone who traveled a lot - I'd probably love it for that too.

Often I get questions from readers looking for a great everyday kit that they could just throw into their bags and head out. Other times I get asked about kits for beginners who want a little bit of everything in a small, compact, non-overwhelming form. And then there are kits that need to be given as gifts. When you are traveling to India to meet with relatives / spend some time in Des you take gifts for relatives - all Asians do this. And I get a lot of questions from folks traveling to India / Pakistan / South Asia in general requesting recommendations on mini makeup kits that they could give as gifts.

In short - there is a huge demand for mini all in one kits.

I have one kit here that satisfies all of the above needs - The mark It Kit Trend Color Compact. At $20 its a cute little thing that packs a lot !


Its a flip compact - as in you have a few things on one side and you flip it to find few more things.
On one side are three eye shadows (black, grey, beige) and an almost matte bronzer.

On the other side we have three lip glosses ( mauve pink, fuchsia, clear shimmer ) and three triple use color creams ( deep pink, bronze taupe, light pink).

Over all its a very well thought out palette. The eye shadows come in a decent size - not those tiny squares that wont even fit your finger. The three shades should look good on most skin tones and are versatile enough for day and night. The bronzer is good for some color / for contouring.

But my most favorite part is the other side with the lip glosses and creams. The creams can be used on eyes / lips / cheeks. I love using the deep pink color on my cheeks and using the light pink one as a highlighter under my brows, on top of my cheek bones / on the bridge of my nose. The bronze taupe I use on its own all over my lids. When I apply a thin layer it doesn't crease much and gives just enough color for day wear. Combined with some black shadow along the lash line and mascara - I'm good to go !


The lip glosses are not deeply pigmented - all three are sheer. The fuchsia pink gives the most color to my lips but the mauve pink is my favorite for day. It has a gorgeous shine that though not long lasting looks incredible the short time that it stays on. For longer wear and more color I've started applying the deep pink creme color on my lips and topping it off with any of the glosses - too cute !


My only complaint is the slightly sweet taste of the glosses. I don't really lick my lips or eat lipstick but the one time I just happened to...the sweet taste reminded me never to. None of the products have any scent, which is great coz my olfactory senses drive me crazy. And the lid has a hollow design so your lip gloss wont get on the lid of the compact. Messy compacts are yuck.


Overall - its a very handy kit ! This is my first time with a mark product and it has managed to get me interested in the brand.
A lot.

Love,
Indian Girl

Fashion Jewelry Girls

In pakistan bride wear very fashionable jewelry, Gold jewelry is very famous in pakistan and here you may find lots of jewelry shops.

Spring in Eyes

Red Orange and Black Eye Makeup

Pink Glitter Eye makeup

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