New-York tribune., 1919-01-21
French Eager to
Get Big Bertha''
AS War Souvenir
Parisians Want to Exhibit
Gun in Place de la Con-
corde as Reminder That
Frightfulness Plan Failed

PARIS, Jan. 81 CORES spondence of
The Associated Press).-The French
people want one of the German "Big
Berthas" or super-cannon which bonn
barded Paris to display in the Place de
la Concorde as a souvenir of German
frightfulness that failed of it's purpose
to destroy French morale
The armistice does not stipulate that
one of these Instruments sha. be sur
rendered, but there is movement to
uAge the government to demand it,
There is no expectation that the Ger
mans Will nclude one OF these weapons
among the $500 guns they are re-
quired to give up under the armstice.
Facts obtained by military experts
show that the first guns that fired upon
Paris on March 20, last, numbered
three. They were installed near Mont
Jole, 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, charge Of
three hundred pounds Of powder hurl-
ing the projectile to a height of one
hundred thousand feet (nearly nine
teen miles) on its murderous mission
to Paris. With every shot ten or
twelve marine guns of sixteen or
seventeen-inch calibre fred simultane-
cusly upon targets unknown in order
70 conceal the location of super-cannon.
me smell OF the big gun WIS Of 210
mllllmetrc calibre (about eight inches).
IL weighed three hundred pounds but
tne charge OF explosive contained
therein varied between thirty and
forty pounds
Special Steel Used
In the manufacture Of the she'll WAS
ap innovation of the Germans. 1t is
said TO have been made Of special steel
treated with tungsten SO as to offer the
maximum of resistance for minimum
OF weight. The guns only protection
was IN camcuAage, and it proved to be
no protection at all, as Allied aviators
soon located them. There is a report
that several aviators - Americans,
French, British-lost their lives in To-
eating the first three Berthas in the
forest oil st. Gah9in but upon that
point officials are silent.
However, on March II, one of the
Bcrthas was blown uD by an aerial
torpedo, which tore a hole in the
ground more than fifty feet in diane
ter, photograph of which has been
taken. The second was put out of bust
ness in the last days Of April, while
the third Of the original three was
sllenced in May.
it is now asserted that two of these
guns were remodeled into a larger cali
bre nine inch-and that these remod-
elled guns were the ones which re-
sumed the shellng of Paris late in
May last
Larger Calibrc Guns Employed
Subsequently, the Germans succeeded
in utilizing larger calibred guns for
long distance firing, for, in August,
they used a marine gun from near Sois-
sons, firing twelve and one-half inch
shell. They were preparing to subject
Paris to an intensive bombardment
such as Dunkirk had to suffer whaH
they were driven out of their Soissons-
Chateau Thicrry line by the counter
offensive of the Allies.
Commandant Mirbel, the military ex-
pert, who organized the Turkish artil-
lery before the Germans assumed
charge of the military affairs of that
country, told The Associated Press that
distance gun lay in the invention of
special high explosive powder which
could only be used in guns constructed
with special steel of extraordinary
resisting power. The Germans had
commenced the generalization of the
process, and they were manufacturing
several guns similar to their Sossons
one, but Marshal Foch's offensive dis
arranged their plans.