Evening star., 1921-04-28
BY JOSEPHUS DANIELS,
Former Secretary OF the Navy.

ARTICLE Is.
From the standpoint of spectacular
sensationalism Germany gave the
world the biggest surprise of an
amazing war when. March 23,- 1918,
shells began to fall in Paris.
Bombs from a fugitively visitant
airplane were to be expected; put
shells from a gun--how could that
be possible when the German nnes
were, at their nearest approach. at
least seventy miles from the French
capital?
The world was at first incredulous.
but as the shells continued to fal! IN
the city and it's suburbs lncredullty
gave way to stunned belief. Ten peo,
pie were killed and fifteen wounded
the first day. A week later, Good
Friday, March 90. the long-range
bombardment resulted in a tragedy
which shocked civilization. 1t could
scarcely have been by design. and yet
the coincidence of the day and the
objective is extraordinarily signlh-
cant for mere chance.
Kill Seventy-Five in Church.
This day of sacred fast, the holiest
memorial of the Christian year. while
a congregation of devout worshipers
women and children and men too
old to fight-prayed in the Church OF
st. Gervaise, a shell crashed through
the roof of the building. killing sew
enty-five persons, of whom nifty -1our
were women. and five Of these Amer
leans. Ninety other persons were IN
jured.
In all Christian lands people were
aehast at this slaughter OF the de-
fenseless.
The thing that stirred mems indig-
nation was that this phenomenal gun
was apparently of no practlcal Vaiue
for military purposes. Its use lay
wholly in terrorizing the civilian pop
ulation of Paris by Staying the help
less. 1t was an attempt to weaken
the heart of France, to break her
spirit and resolution. 1t was hoped,
doubtless. that when news OF wnat
was happening to the women ana
the front it would shake the wonder
full morale which had held at Verdun
and on many another desperate field
of encounter.
For five months Paris endured the
horror Of this menace. No one kne"
but the city went about its business
and kept its courage.
Nemesis From America.
Meantime. over here in America
the Nemesis of the great German
rifle was in preparation.
The United States Navy was at
that very time building long-range
guns, with this difference of purpose
and viewpoint from the enemy: that
our objective was weapon which
would be effective from a military
standpoint; that which could accom-
plish definite destruction within the
combatant lines of the foe.
The German gun was a freak 1t
may be questioned whether it has
significant value for future warfare.
1t was interesting as a demonstra-
tion of what can be done in hurting
projectiles through space; it was ter
rible as a further evidence of the
tarism: but whether it contributed
anything of greater usefulness to the
practical science of artillery than
Jules Verne's story of the gun which
dropped projectile on the moon is
open to debate.
The development of guns and
shells for use in the event Of possible
future wars is more likely to follow
along the lines on which American
experiment and achievement have
moved.
Threw 1,4OO-P0und Shells.
The new United States Navy guns
would make them the biggest ever
placed on railway or other mobile
mounts-and far more powerful than
any artillery then in use for military
purposes on the western front.
Although their range was consid-
erably less than that of the German
monster. they were made to fire a
she'll very much bigger and more
destructive. The German gun threw
a nine-inch shell, weighing about 200
pounds. The American guns were
built to throw a fourteen-inch shell,
weighing 1,400 pounds-and, when
they got into action, they did.
The first mount, complete with it's
out of the shops April 25, 1918, less
than month from the time of the
Good Friday slaughter in the French
church. Tested at Sandy Hook. NJ J.,
five days later. it proved a complete
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