Paris experienced one of the most disastrous air raids of the war on the
night of March 11, 1918, when nine squadrons of German airplanes,
aggregating nearly sixty units, took part in an attack on the city and
suburbs. Several buildings were demolished and set on fire. The number
of persons killed was 34, and there were in addition 79 injured, 88 of
these casualties being in Paris.
In addition to the bomb victims, 66 persons were suffocated through
crowding in a panic into a Metropolitan (subway) Railway entrance to
take refuge from the raiders. These were for the most part women and
children.
A fog which had covered the city in the morning settled down again in
the early evening. It was thick enough to cause the general belief that
there was little chance that the Germans would attempt an air raid. This
belief, however, was shattered at 9:10 o'clock, when the warning was
sounded of the approach of hostile aircraft. The raid ended shortly
after midnight, with a loss to the Germans of four machines, which were
brought down by the French anti-aircraft defenses.
Mr. Baker, the United States Secretary of War, was in conference with
General Tasker H. Bliss, the American Chief of Staff, in a hotel suite
when the air alarm was sounded. Secretary Baker was not disturbed by the
noise of the sirens or the barrage of the anti-aircraft guns, but the
hotel management, fearing for the safety of himself and his party,
persuaded the members to descend to the wine cellar, where later they
were joined by Major Gen. William M. Black.
Mr. Baker, in the course of a statement the following day, said: "It was
my first experience of the actualities of war and a revelation of the
methods inaugurated by an enemy who wages the same war against women and
children as against soldiers. If his object is to damage property, the
results are trifling when compared with his efforts. If his object is to
weaken the people's morale, the reply is given by the superb conduct of
the people of Paris. Moreover, aerial raids on towns, which are
counterpart of the pitiless submarine war and the attacks against
American rights, are the very explanation of the reasons why America
entered the war. We are sending our soldiers to Europe to fight until
the world is delivered from these horrors."