Portions of exploded shells examined in the Municipal Laboratory of
Paris indicated that the calibre of the new German gun was a trifle less
than nine inches, and that the projectiles, weighing perhaps 200 pounds,
contained a comparatively weak charge of high explosives, arranged in
two chambers connected by a fuse, often causing two distinct explosions
a minute or more apart. It was stated later by German military
scientists that it took each shell more than three minutes to travel
from the mouth of the gun to Paris, and that on its way it had to rise
to a height of more than twenty miles from the earth. Three Paris
experts found that at least two of these great guns were being used.
According to German prisoners, one of the guns exploded on March 29,
killing a German Lieutenant and nine men.
In their jubilation over the new weapon the German newspapers stated
that the first bombardment of Paris had been witnessed by the Kaiser and
by the builder of the long-range gun, Professor Fritz Rausenberger, who
is an artillerist, manager of the Krupp Works, and builder of the famous
42-centimeter (16½-inch) gun used to demolish the Belgian forts at the
beginning of the war.
The violence of the concussion of the new weapon was indicated by the
statement of American scientists that every shot was found to be
recorded by seismographs all over the United States; in other words, the
shock of each discharge caused the needles of earthquake detectors three
or four thousand miles away to record small dots on the smoked paper
used in these instruments.
Paris, though embittered by the new form of attack, refused to be
frightened by the long-range shells. The attendance at the churches on
Easter Sunday was even larger than usual. The police authorities issued
an order on April 4 that theatre matinées and afternoon entertainments
of all kinds should be temporarily discontinued; but, owing to numerous
protests, this order was modified next day, and the usual daytime
performances in the theatres were allowed on condition that the
bombardment had not begun at the hour of assembly, and that the place of
amusement be evacuated immediately if the shelling began during the
performance. In the weeks that followed the bombardment became more and
more desultory and ineffectual.
It was recorded on April 9 that French aviators had discovered the
location of the new guns at Crepy-en-Laonnais, near the road from La
Fère to Laon, and that continual bombardment of the spot was causing the
increasingly intermittent nature of the German long-range fire. The
French had learned the location to a yard, and from a powerful battery
ten miles away they were dropping enormous shells weighing half a ton
each into the low hills where the German monsters were hidden. There
were three of the supercannon, and a few days later an air photograph
showed that two French shells had fallen on the barrel of one of them,
putting it out of commission. Tremendous craters had been made around
the others, and one French shell had fallen on a main railway line,
blocking it a whole day. A correspondent who visited the French battery
engaged in this work wrote on April 13:
"It is stated that these German guns are ninety-six feet long. At the
moment of firing, other big guns let fly simultaneously, to confuse the
French, and a smoke screen is emitted in the vicinity to hide the pieces
from aircraft. Up to yesterday there had been no firing at night, lest
the flashes show the position of the cannon. How necessary this
precaution is may be illustrated by my experience last night, when I saw
the whole northern sky constantly lit up by the guns on the eighty-mile
front of the German offensive."
After April 13, when the Germans knew that their secret was fully known,
they began bombarding Paris by night, though without any increase in
effectiveness. Up to the middle of April a total of 150 long-distance
shells had fallen in Paris, and the only ones that had caused any
notable casualties were those which struck the Church of St. Gervais, an
infant asylum, and an old man's bowling green.