The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-01-16
FRENCH PEOPLE WANT
GERMAN BIG BERTHA"
To Display in the Place de Ia Concorde in
Paris as a Reminder of the Failure
of German Effort to Break
French Morale.

Paris, Jan. l6 Correspondence Of the
Associated Press The French people
want one of the German Big Berthas'
or supereannon which bombsrded Paris,
to display in the Place de la Concorde as
a souvenir of German frightfulness that
failed Of its purpose to destroy French
morale.
The armistice does not stipulate that
one Of these instruments shall be sur.
rendered but there is movement to urge
the government to demand it. There is
no expectation that the Germans will in
clude one of these weapons among the
$500 guns they are required to give up
under the armistice,
Facts obtained by military experts
show that the first guns that fred upon
Paris on March %, last, numbered three.
They were installed near Mont-Joie. in
the forest of Saint Gobain. Two were
on the same railroad spur leading out Of
Laon, while the third was little further
east in the vicinity of Creepy.
According to the latest information,
the guns were pointed at an angle of
more than 65 degrees, a charge of 300
pounds of powder propelling the projec-
tile to a height of 100000 feet NEARLY 10
miles on its murderOus mission to Par
is. With every shot 10 or II marine
guns of l6- or l7-inch calibre fired 81
simultaneously upon targets unknown in
order to conceal the location of supercan-
non. The she'll was Of 2lO millimetre
calibre (about eight inchesJ. It weighed
300 pounds but the charge of explosive
contained therein varied between 30 and
40 pounds.
In the manufacture of the shell resided
an innovation of the Germans. Ii is said
to have been made of special steel treat
ed with tungsten so as to offer the max.
imum of resistance for a minimum Of
weight, The guns only protection was
in camoufage and it proved to be no pro-
lection at all, as allied aviators soon
located them. There is a report that
several aviators, Americans, French Brit
ish, lost their lives in locating the first
three Berthas in the forest of st. Gobain,
but upon that point officials are silent.
However, on March q one of the Ber-
thas was blown up by an aerial torpedo
which tore a hole in the ground more
than so feet in diameter, a photograph
VI HhANh MAO bCGA tdthEhs Aib HGIOllu
was put out Of business in the last days
of April, while the third of the original
three was silenced in May.
1t is now asserted that two of these
guns were remodeled into a larger calibre,
nine-inch, and that these remodeled guns
were the ones which resumed the Smelling
of Paris late in May last.
Subsequently the Germans succeeded
in utilizing larger calibred guns for long
distance firing, for, in August, they used
marine gun from near Scissors, firing
a l21ainch shell. They were preparing
to subject Paris to an intensive lombard
ment such as Dunllirk had to suffer when
they were driven out of their scissors
Chateau Thierry line by the counter Of
fensiye of the allies
Commandant Mirbel, the military ex.
pert who organized the Turkish artillery
before the Germans assumed charge Of
the military affairs of that country, told
the Associated Press that the whole Sc
cret of the German long distance gun
lay in the invention of a special high ex -
plosive powder which could only be used
in guns constructed with a special steel
of extraordinary resisting power. The
Germans had commenced the generaliza-
ton of the process and they were manu-
featuring several guns similar to their
SCISSORS one but Marshal Foch's often
sive deranged their plans.