Big Bertha, a type of 420-mm (16.5-inch) howitzer that was first used by the German army to bombard Belgian and French forts during World War I. Officially designated as the 42-cm kurze Marinekanone 14 L/12 in Räderlafette (“42-cm short naval canon 1
Big Bertha noun 1 :a German gun of large bore or of long range used in World War I 2 a :something large or cumbersome of its kind —used especially of machines or tools b :something effective at long range used especially of cameras and photographic lenses...
Big BerthaA Big Bertha howitzer on the grounds of the Krupp factory in early 1916.(more) The gun was designed and built under great secrecy by the firm Krupp, Germany’s largest armaments manufacturer, in the years before the war for the sole purpose of overcoming modern Belgian and French...