Paris, though accustomed to the perils of German air raids, was amazed
on the morning of March 23, 1918, to find itself bombarded by one or
more guns of unprecedented range, which were dropping 9-inch shells into
the city and its suburbs at intervals of twenty minutes. The nearest
German line was more than sixty-two miles away, and the possibility of
artillery bombardment at such a range was at first doubted in all the
allied countries, but by the following day the fact was established that
the shells were actually coming from the region of the Forest of St.
Gobain, seven miles back of the French trenches near Laon, and about
seventy-five miles from Paris. The French artillery at the front at once
took measures to locate and destroy the guns, but without immediate
results.
The first day's casualties from the long-distance shells were stated to
be ten killed and fifteen wounded. The second day, which was Palm
Sunday, was ushered in by loud explosions from the new missiles, but by
church time the Parisians had already discounted the new sensation and
thronged the streets on their way to the churches. The women who sell
palm leaves on that day did their usual thriving business. During the
early morning hours the street traffic was partly suspended, but by noon
both the subway and the tramway cars were running again.
The shells were found to be doing comparatively little damage in
proportion to their size. The municipal authorities announced on the
second day that the German bombardment should not be allowed to
interrupt the normal life of the city, and that the people would be
warned by special signals, differing from those for air raids, and
consisting of the beating of drums and blowing of whistles by the
policemen. On Monday, when the police began to use the new system of
alarm, they were the object of much good-natured chaffing on account of
their awkwardness with the drumsticks.
Twenty-four shells reached Paris the first day, twenty-seven the second,
fewer the third, and thus the bombardment went on daily, with occasional
casualties and little effect on the habitual life of the city. The
famous palace of the Tuileries was damaged by one of the shells, and
other public buildings were struck. The damage was largely confined to
the Montmartre district, the amusement centre of Paris, and nearly all
the shells fell within a section about a mile square, indicating that
the gun was immovable. One shell dropped in front of the Gare de l'Oest,
a railway terminal, killing six men.
The casualties, however, were comparatively few until March 29, when a
shell struck the Church of St. Gervais at the hour of the Good Friday
service, killing seventy-five persons and wounding ninety, some of whom
died later. Fifty-four of those killed were women, five being Americans.
The shell had struck the church in such a way as to cause a portion of
it to collapse and fall upon the worshippers at the moment of the
elevation of the Host.