HOW DID THE GERMANS SHELL PARIS?

Evening Star, Issue 17325, 13 April 1920, Page 6

HOW DID THE GERMANS SHELL PARIS?

THE SECRET OF "BIG BERTHA."

* Australia lias received into its keeping the ‘ ‘ Little Bertha” that was captured by the Diggers in the last few days of the war, and its transportation, to Australia was one of the big problems of modern shipping. But " Big Bertha.” the great machine that "a; used for shelling Paris at a range of 70-80 miles, has been “ distributed.” Many theories were advanced to explain the vast range of “ Big Bertha,” and one of them agrees substantially with the views that were put forward by the ‘ Scientific American.’ A DOUBLE SURPRISE. It would appear from the report that the Germans wefe as much surprised at the long range of the " Big Berthas ” that shelled Paris, as were the Allies. It was built to shoot about 57 miles, and actually carried about twice as far. The idea of turning it on Paris did not occur to its owners until they found this out. At any rate, this ie the tale that was toid by a German major in the Rhine province to Robert Haven Schanffler, 4 Boston author and musician, serving at the time as an officer with the United States army. ■ Mr Schanffler (to quote the Boston ‘ Herald ’) pot the story about the big gun from a German major, in whose home he was billeted when on detached service in a town in the Tthirm proving. “The inventor is a personal friend of mine,’ remarked . the German major . . . “ and the gun that fired on Paris was undor my personal observation for months.

POUR "BIG BERTHAS-” “Four of these ‘Big Berthas’ had been built. The _ gun which shelled Dunkirk, and. which later exploded* lolling several members of the cun crew, wss_ ‘ Number 2.’- ‘Number 3° fired on Paris. This was the gun which the major knew about.

"The gun was 35 metres (about 100 feet) long. It had two tubes, which fitted end to end, the. bore of the foreward tube being smaller than that of the rear. The aiming apparatus was separate from the gun, off a little to one side, connected with the gun by '■n intricate and delicate system of level?. ‘The gunner- played on it,’ said Mr Schaufiler, ‘ just as an organist plava on a detached electrical keyboard.’ The win stood in a regular heaw artillery emplacement. It fired at an angle “of 60 degrees. Forty-five degrees is supposed to achieve the maximum carrying distance for a shell. When the 15-inch shell of the ‘ Big -Bertha ’ reached a certain height the force of gravity naturally began to pull it down.”

HOW “BIG BERTHA” WAS WORKED. The principle on which the gun worked was this : When the shell reached an angle of 45 decrees it shot a smaller shell —a 9.8 inch snell—which did the actual damage when it reached its mark. This theory had already been -advanced by artillery • experts, but the objection had always been raised that the first shell would not have stability enough to fire a second.

“ This is what actually happened, ao cording to the German majors description : ‘ The gun was built to fire 60 kflmetres ’ {37 miles) said the old major. ‘On the first day it was to be fired, everything • was in readiness. Fiftyeight kilometres away our aeroplanes waited to spot the shot. The' gunner was given the signal. He fired. He waited for the report on the shot. Something was wrong. The spotters reported that they could not find it—to all appearances the shell had gone floating off into space like a planet. It was baffling. “‘The next day complaints began to come from peasants' in a country 118 kilometres (71 miles) away that an' unseen airplane was bombarding them with heavy stuff. They wanted protection. Our airplanes flew over. To their amazement, they found that the shell of the Big Bertha had landed in the village, 118 kilometres away. They reported the extraordinary event to headquarters. THE INDISCRIMINATE SHELLING OF PARIS. “ ‘ Then and there the idea of shelling Paris was conceived. The gun was not built for that purpose at all—it happened through a remarkable case of miscalculation. It took 20 hours to make the calculation for the first shot on Paris, and when the gun was fired German, airplains were oyer the city to spot it. The first three Big Berthas fired three times a day, but the fourth shot eight times a day,’ “ Another interesting piece of information, which Mr Schaufiler got 'from the major was the distance at- which the Germans kept the guns. The Allies believed that the guns were a long distanc# behind the German lines. They were in error. The ‘ Big Berthas ’ were scarce tour miles and a-half behind the front German line. At first they were camouflaged in thick woods, but later, when the Germans found that the smoke hung heavy in the branches, thev removed the guns to ordinary barns in open fields. The major told Mr Schauf-* fler that at times over 10D Allied airplanes circled over the barn wjiere Number 3 was concealed, but that they never spotted it.

WHO INVENTED THE GUN? “The major would not give the inventor’s name. He did tell Mr Schaufhow ever, that the inventor had been captured bv the British, and that they had never known the prize had. “ Later, Mr Schaeffler learned that the guns all stopped firing when the Gernians realised that they could never break through the western front. ‘Number 2 ’ which had shelled Dunkirk, blew up, owing to some faulty construction in the two inner tubes. The other three, including ‘ Number 3/ together with emplacements, aiming apparatus, ammunition, etc., way. destroyed by the Germans to prevent their falling into the hands of the Allies. The British captured one of the two tubes of one of them, and thought for a time that they had the whole gun —at least, the Germans like to believe that Dio British thought &o. But the Bntisn have a habit of not telling all they know, so perhaps they were never 1?° * the four gun crews were scattered and cTansferrea to different regiments in the German army, the better to prevent any imormation leaking out.”—‘Life.’

. “ Kven at Christmas, when all the world ls , ,§ a y ® n< i glad,” said the grey-bearded philosopher, “ there • are wont to come to a man sad and solemn thoughts.” “ Yes,” agreed the young man, who had no watch at the end of his chain, “ and the saddest and most solemn are those that come to a fellow when he reads of the marriage of a girl to whom last Christmas he gave a diamund ring on which he is still paying instalments.’