Lieut. "Brok" - Eugeniusz Lokajski immortalised the whole action on film. Stefan Berent remembered the detonation as follows (we are citing Helena Auderska):
          When "Pillert" began removing the detonator a characteristic hissing sound could be heard. Everybody froze and "Pillert" ceased working for a moment, but started back again. He supposed the hissing was caused by air suction. A moment later, he was holding the detonator in his hand."
          After the detonator had been removed, the explosive material was removed from the actual body of the shell. It turned out it was many times more potent than trotyl. "Pillert" suffered poisoning during the action.
          Why did the shell not explode?!!!!!
          It was used to destroy heavy metal and concrete fortifications but hit a café. After the Uprising, many stories circulated and one had it that a note was found inside it, written in Czech, stating "this shell will not explode."
          The explosive material removed from it was sent to the grenade factory at 2 Boduena Str. where it was made into "sidolowki" (detergent cans filled with explosive material and used during the Uprising) by women sappers belonging to the group "Bombs": "Iza" - Wanda Wagner née Maciejewska, "Hanka" - Irena Grabowska, "Ada" - Eliza Sznajder, "Alka" and "Baska" - Barbara Wysiadecka. And so it returned to the Germans as most unpalatable food.
          After the shell had been disarmed in the PKO building, instructions appeared on a wall of the room occupied by the commanding section of "Kolegium B." The content is described by Jerzy Filipowicz in his book "I was 14 at the Time." (PAX 1972):
          "Calibre 600 mm, length 2,100 mm, weight approx. 1,500 kg. Range, several dozen kilometres. Cannon mounted on a special platform. Firing recurrence, around 4 times an hour. High-trajectory weapon. Apparently it is visible when changing its firing direction. Detonated with the help of special explosive cushions."
          On 20 June 1964, during the preparatory excavation work for the east wall on Marszalkowska Str., at 8 Moniuszko Str., the hull of the shell was found - the shell that landed on the "Adria" dance-floor, on 18 August 1944. The Warsaw Detonation Group was called and the sappers, led by Lieut. Michal Sawczyc, removed it from its resting place. Today, it can be seen in the courtyard of the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw.
          Many legends, both documented and narrated, surround the cannon and shell, which hit the "Adria" and, to this day, it is still very much alive in many people's minds. In numerous photograph albums dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising, a flying bomb is depicted and described as a shell ejected from the heaviest of rail cannons. The same is portrayed in the "Braun" photograph, which shows the moment the heavy shell exploded in the Prudential building and is also described as a rolling cannon explosion.

The rolling cannon - the myth behind Big Berta

          In her reliable article concerning the truth surrounding the circumstances of the "landing" in the "Adria," Halina Anderska also refers to the shell as one from a rolling cannon. The article met with a large public response to include Eugeniusz Lokajski's sister, Zofia Domanska, and one of the "Bomb" members "Baska" - Barbara Wysiadecka who filled the "sidolowka" (can normally containing a cleaning agent but during the Uprising filled with explosive material) with explosives removed from the unexploded "Adria" shell. The lengthy article titled "Cannon Dialogue Input" written by Col. Janusz Przymanowski (Stolica Nr. 4, dated 24 January 1971), a much esteemed soldier, journalist and historian, evoked a number of reservations. Col. Przymanowski states the date of the "landing" as 7 August, but 18 August is, undoubtedly, correct. This is further upheld by the fact that German documents state the cannon used in the "Adria" incident was first used by them on 18 August.
          With reference to Helena Anderska's article, Col. Przymanowski acknowledges the "Adria" shell to have been fired from a rolling cannon and draws parallels with the so-called "anti Paris cannon" also called "Big Berta," which was used by the Germans to bomb Paris during WW1. He describes its characteristics and options and, additionally, mentions the bombing of Great Britain, using heavy artillery, by the Germans over the English Channel.
          He then goes on to describe the bombing by the heavy German artillery during the night of 14/15 August of the Warecki-Magnuszewski bridge-head. At that time, Col. Przymanowski was second-in-command of the 152 mm howitzer command. The surveying command determined the location of the German cannon and Col. Przymanowski depicts it as follows:
          "Two heavy artillery units: 1st. and 5th. worked out the plans for firing and three volleys blasted from 72 guns. In the morning, spotter planes photographed destroyed rail tracks, an overturned platform and a mighty long gun-barrel torn from its bearing."
          He continues, saying that based on the fragments of the heavy shell found near their own location, that it was a 620 mm calibre and that he reconstructed it to define the profile.
          Further on in the article he writes:
          "This monstrosity appeared on the outskirts of Warsaw - I don't know if it was the one which had been restored or another of the same calibre" - says Col. Przymanowski, with reserve.
          And then the author describes anecdotally the, probably, final destruction of the monstrosity.
          As we have already mentioned, the rolling cannon also plays a role in the various documentations pertaining to the Warsaw Uprising. In his documentary book titled "The Warsaw Uprising 1944 - an outline of the activities from the army perspective" (2nd. edition - PAX 1964), whilst discussing the German attack on Sadyba on 2 September Col. Adam Borkiewicz writes:
          "Also heavy tanks and mortars took part" (attack - our footnote - H.K. and M.P.)
          Further on he describes Sadyba's last moments, based on accounts by Witold Zenowicz, Kamil Aszkulajtis and unknown liaison members, all of which are incorporated in the Acta Ocupationis Germanica:
          "Those who had been cut off hid in the fort where resistance lasted till 14:00. A shell fired from the heaviest rolling mortar in Neonowek burst through the fort's old casemate vaulting where the staff and stretcher-bearers were. The fort commander, Capt. "Jaszczur" and 21 soldiers were killed and the dressing-station together with the staff and wounded, whom it had not been possible to transport to the hospital, were buried in the rubble."
          Leslaw M. Bartelski in his documental book "Mokotow 1944" also writes about the attack of the heaviest rail mortar, calibre 610 mm, which was located near the village of Dabrowka by Pyr. He also includes a photograph of the 42 mm calibre, "Gamma Moraer" set on a stationary base at the moment of firing.
          Piotr Stachiewicz also writes about the heaviest of mortars in the book titled "Umbrella" (PAX - Warsaw 1981). In his OOB (Order of the Battle) account of the German forces attack on Czerniakow from the Sejm (Parliament) area in September he writes:
          "The air force bombers, batteries of air mine throwers and the heaviest of mortars 600 mm calibre, set upon a train under-carriage (our footnote - H. K. and M. P.) and located in Wlochy, worked together with the groups (meant are the German groups - our footnote - H. K. and M. P.)"
          A string of inaccuracies and mistakes appear in the above quoted accounts and descriptions and, in some cases, there are overlaps.
          The following ought to be noted:
          The Germans did not use the rolling cannon against the insurgents. Von dem Bach, in his account given in 1947, maintains that the German rolling mortar on the Warsaw-Radom line was not used against the insurgents. On the other hand, Hans von Kranhals in his book "The Warsaw Uprising" (Frankfurt 1964) cites witness' accounts (most likely Col. Borkiewicz) and undermines von dem Bach's information, stating that a shooting mortar was seen around Neonowek, by Piaseczno.
          Confusion of names and topography - there is no such place near Piaseczno as Neonowek. It is most likely Neonowka, where, indeed, there was a rolling cannon firing the front-line behind the Vistula. As to the location of the mortar around Pyr, this will be discussed later.

A self-acting mortar indeed