Back in 1944 , towards the end -we were liberated in september '44- of the war , the German Wehrmacht moved a "small caliber" railway gun into our small town . It had a 17 cm barrel , and fired its projectiles about 30 km , towards the city of Ghent and its neighborhood . Same tubes were used on German battleships.
The railway track goes trough the town center , so it's obvious that a lot of damage occured at each blast . Now , 70 years after the conflict , many people living along the railway have 17 cm shells at home , even unfired specimen. Couple of yezrs ago I was given a wooden transport case for 2 17 cm shells , with inscription on the cover , (E) , what stands for EISENBAHN . I hope to recover the 2 shells that belongs in it in the near future