Tarek Morgen

10 or 11 iirc

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uh I might be wrong

American Empire

11 no more no less.

gunnut

Sgt. York anti-air system

Maginot line was an enormous success. Germans never breached it.

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American Empire

They just went around it.

RustyBattleship

Then there was the German K-Vehicle of WW I. The engines were between the tracks and the crew compartments were outside the tracks in sponsons. Crew total of 22 with 11 on each side.

Like the 2 Maus tanks near the end of WW II, only 2 K-Vehicles were built near the end of WW I. Also, like the Maus (or was it the Maus like the K?) only one of each was operational with the other one(s) still unfinished in the shops.

Attached Images

K-Vehicle.jpg (72.0 KB, 79 views)

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GraniteForge

Yes, they only took the petite ouvrage at La Ferté, at the very end of the Line. And, technically, that was part of the later Maginot Extension and not part of the Line proper, and not built to the same standards.

AE, the Maginot Line was not intended to be an impregnable wall behind which the French would hide. The French planned to use their overall superiority in numbers and technology of armor and other equipment to defeat the German invasion in the field. The Maginot Line was intended as a sheild that would protect the flank of their army as it manuvered.

GraniteForge

As I recall, two Maus prototypes were finished, but only one had a working turret. That was used at Zossen, and I think the example with a dummy turret was working up at Kummersdorf when captured. It was the other super-heavy tank, the E-100, that was unfinished in the shops when captured.

TopHatter

Already mentioned, but my votes would go to

Yamato-class battleships

The Krupp superguns of World War I and II -
The Paris Gun, Schwerer Gustav and Dora

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American Empire

I wouldn't go as far to call the Paris Gun a white elephant. It had a effect on moral and was a powerful psychological weapon.

RustyBattleship

Actually, one Maus was deployed but it sunk in a pond with a very soft muddy bottom. The Germans blew it up so the Russians wouldn't get it. Though the turret was blown off the hull, it remained intact.

The Russians recovered the turret and put it in their tank museum. When they took over the factory, they found the finished hull of the second one, but with no turret. So, that hull went to the museum and the two mated together and are now on display in Kubinka.

Attached Images

	maustrap.jpg (27.4 KB, 66 views)
	mauskubinka.jpg (37.9 KB, 65 views)

Triple C

Dead on. The Line worked magnificiently. It was the French army that failed.

That was a huge target that was vulnerable to shorty 50mm. Poor bastards never had a chance.

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citanon

What's the historical consensus on the Great Wall? Did it really help secure China against nomadic incursions, or did the wall create a defensive mindset that doomed the successive Han Chinese dynasties?

Triple C

Is there a historical consensus on that one? Surely it can be argued that the wall instilled a passive and even defeatist mindset to the Chinese, but every emperor that contested the issue with the nomads ruined the state's finances and the expeditions often failed. Emperor Wu of Han for example.

TopHatter

Have to disagree. The morale effect was mostly on Parisians and the resources it consumed could have been spent elsewhere.

My vote for a far more effective and far more widespread psychological weapon would be the '420s' (aka the Big Berthas).

American Empire

The great wall is something I forgot to add. Thank you!