Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
The rising demand for weaponry created by World War I soon overshadowed all other production and caused the firm to grow rapidly. The field gun "Big Bertha," introduced in 1909, played a vital role in the German advance in 1914 and at Verdun in 1916. In 1918 a new cannon, the "Paris Gun," shelled Paris from a 75mile distance.
At the end of the war, under severe strains of revolution and Allied pressures, Gustav reconverted the firm to the production of railroad equipment and heavy machinery. The major expansion was in the exploration of new types of metals and machinery, which led in 1926 to the invention of sintered tungsten carbide.
With the rise of Hitler, armaments production once more became an important branch of the firm, although it remained less than 10 percent of the total production until 1939. During World War II the Krupps were again Germany's major arms suppliers--the best-known were the Krupp U-boats, the "Tiger Tanks," and the huge railway gun "Dora," used to bombard Sevastopol with 80-centimeter shells in 1941. The firm expanded rapidly and became intimately tied to Nazi policies through the use of some 100,000 slave laborers from occupied eastern Europe. Meanwhile, with Gustav's health failing, the firm passed to the eldest son, Alfried (Aug. 13, 1907-July 30, 1967), who became director in 1942 and sole proprietor of the reconverted family firm in 1943.
