“BIG BERTHA.”

Western Star, 3 February 1922, Page 4

“BIG BERTHA.”

GUN AIEANT TO CREATE PANIC.

CARTRIDGES TWICE A MAN'S

LENGTH.

Big Bertha, which, if it did not cause the panic in Paris which the Germans counted upon, was at least responsible for a state of nervous apprehension, opened its gareer modestly. It first hit a cow- shed ; there were no- casualties.

The last shred* of mist hiding the secret of this wonderful gun has now been torn aside by the* designer, and the story of the. conception of the idea and its slow—almost sluggish—evolution makes interesting reading.

Tiie Big Berthas were put in action in charge of a naval battery, which lost 7 killed and 13 wounded.

The gun had' a life of less than 100 shots. The ignition chamber then became so damaged that further firing was impossible, and the old barrel was returned to the factory and a. new one supplied in.its place. From the spring of 1917 the German ordnance staff were for nine months trying to design a gun, capable of shelling Paris at a range of miles. Then Ludendorff suddenly asked them to increase the. range to 75 miles. It was a tall order, but the orduancp staff triumphed. The designer says of the\fruits of their labours: one-third of the weight of the projectile, was twice, as heavy. The length of the chamber',was monstrous. At an angle of 4odeg the barrel towered' over houses, trees, and roofs. . II needed some courage to shoot witli a thing iike ‘ a stick of gisantic asparagus.’ But the material stood it:”

The. trials were carried! out 'with every secrecy. To fire over enemy territory would have given away valuable technical 1 information, and on that ground was rejected, and it was decided to fire'the gun from land! at about the approximate distance from the sea. Seaplanes were sent to sea to keep watch. Three minutes was tho time estimated for the shell to reach the marked area. It was found on* inquiry that the shell had fallen ■39 miles from the gun, and) 1400 yards inland. The distance being short of tjie decided range, alterations in design were made, until “ Big Bertha ” as it finally burst upon the worldl was evolved.

The two guns were fired from a wood behind Laon, 80 miles from Paris. Special dugout,s had to be made for the cartridges amV .shells and special smoke apparatus for concealment, -since at 45deg barrel overshot the forest. The shells looked modest side by side with the cartridges, which, were three and four times as long as «the shell and the length of two grown men.

Within 30 .hours of ihe first shot being fired, French artillery had located “Big. Bertha,” which was afterwards moved to tfie triangle Soissons, Ghateau-Thicrry, Rheims.

Commander Kinsel, the designer, whose’ story is t-oldl by The Times Berlin correspondent, says the Germans counted on “ Big Bertha ” creating a panic in Paris; it was .a moral gun. *