Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-06-02
10000 Shells in 40 Days Fight

V NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. in this war nave L seen
" finer example of the precision OF modern
artillery fire than the Germans have eXhib-
tied in their destruction of Verdun. They are
beating that empty town to pieces street oy
street, house by house 1t is quite true they are
achieving no military purpose and costing France
few lives. But they are destroying Verdun
They do it by map and scale, said one VINO
had watched the process. "They can tell almost
to the foot where their shells fall. We are equal
ly precise. The accuracy of todays big guns
leaves gasping"
Long before the war; of course the Germans
had big scale maps of Verdun. Such maps show
every street in its relation to the whole The
public buildings and the more important private
buildings are shown. The width OF the streets and
the height of the houses and the depth Of the
yard are indicated by easily read scale. Long
before the war, as WELL the Germans mad thelr
ranges carefully measured. They no doubt knew
exactly how far it is from the bishops palace on
the hill to the particular wrinkle in the hills back
of Douamount, where their big guns may be sta
toned 1t only remained to register their hring
after the bombardment began. Sometimes the gun
and the charge do not run quite true to the map
ped range
80 they few over Verdun to watch their
shooting, said the observer.
1t happened that the aerial observers were
hardly annoyed at all by the aircraft guns OF the
French. There may be various explanations OF
this fact. The one given was that the force
of the German thrust at Verdun was unexpectedly
strong in the first days of the fight, and IT became
The consequence was that the anti-aircraft guns
of the French short of their ration OF snells'
The German fiers circled over Verdun quite un-
$50 thew sent for more fiers," said my in
formant.
Those first days of the fight at Verdun must
have been ones of hideous terror to the civllans ~
the narrow streets of the old town. Iney knew
nothing of how the fight was going on the front
lines, except as the thunderous crescendo or gun
fire rose higher and ever higher Meanwhile death
fell upon them from the air. Thousands of Shells
ranging from the $50 centimeter to the great
$780, were battering their homes to pieces. the
air unbreakabe from the smoke ana dust
lone could not see across the street at noon
one man told me- 49,
And into those dark streets, thronged with
frightened men and women and children, running
to and fro like chickens under the shadow Oh the
hawk fell the bombs from the air craft lhey
flew over Verdun at will, and dumped thelr ueath,
bringing contrivances and few back for second
load 1t was a perfectly simple and an aDsoluteIy
safe operation, from the German point OF view
The French say that few civilians were killed even
in the worst days of the bombardment. 1t is dill
fcult for me to understand this, although Kno"
that the civilians forced to leave town as
rapidly as possible after the fight began.
"a flock of twenty-five fiers wheeled over us
one dav at noon," said my informant. "They hau
been gathered from all parts of the German 'front.'
They thought we were helpless
But the flock had come too late TOT the sale
narticpation in the sport of hawking. AT last the
shells for the anti-aircraft guns had arrived lnere
are various neat little stations scattered aDout
Verdun, where the anti-aircraft guns WoTk win a
facility and accuracy ] believe unmatched upon
the side of the allies. The German hawks clrclea
over Verdun that day amid a perfect STORM Vi
shells 1t was enough for them. They new aWay
and thew have only ventured back by steaIthy
ones and twos at such hours of the morning DIS
make escape most easy.
Meanwhile a harm had been done. The first
Aiers had checked up the accuracy of the German
guns So that from that day on the Germans
have gone about their task of beating this lit
tie town to pieces with stolid precision. They
take up one street on the map and hammer it I'M
til it is not worth hitting further. Then they go
to the next street. In these days the German gun
fire may be sharply divided into two parts. the
frst is furnished by the entered apprentice gun
ners who take up their work at given hour ana
stop work on the clock. Their job is simply to
smash up Verdun's houses, owned by Verdun 8
little peaceful people. They probably go about it
as Internationally any other house Wrecker
might The second part is in the hands OF the
journeymen of the order They rove from street
o street in the hope of catching and killing some
unprotected soldier 1t is pleasure that their
efforts are almost useless
can state on excellent authority that up to
the forty-ninth day of the battle approximately
10000 shells had fallen in Verdun. The French
have an extraordinary workmanllke system OF
counting the fallen shells. The field or operations
is marked off in convenient allotments, ano an
observer registers the number OF shells that fall
in each, and so far as possible their sizes. VI
the $4,000 shells not more than a z0O-pernapS
not more than 15O--were the big 3SOs.
In reality they are no more efficient than the
smaller shells at Verdun. They have hit the cita-
del time after time, and have not even Jared
one or two houses at time, and the smaller
shells do that, and they kill no more than the
little ones because the civilians nave gone ana
tbe soldiers are sheltered Meanwhile they cost
81 200 each There is way of closely estmat-
ing the cabers of the other shells that nave 1ai-
len. 49, .
For the most part they are 21O's and 270's, "
said one man. Thousands fell daily in the first
DAYS of the bombardment. Now from 200 to 900
fall daily. When big fight is on the Germans
LET Verdun almost alone. When they are COM
naratively quiet in the field they she'll us little
harder When they have sustained severve
check they vent their spite by destroying an emp
tv town On such days shells fall at the rate OF
one every two minutes for hours at time Then
we stay under shelter-just as one does in 4
rain storn--and let the Germans rage
At a very conservative calculation the Germans
have spent 100000 worth of shells in YER
dun alone, not counting the shells fired on the
lines The only sufferers have been the little peo-
rcreotinp This property that has been destroyed.
The army of France has suffered not at all.