The Disaster on Good Friday
Paris, though accustomed to the perils of German air raids, was amazed on the morning of March 23, 1918, to find itself bombarded by one or more guns of unprecedented range, which were dropping 9-inch shells into the city and its suburbs at intervals of twenty minutes. The nearest German line was more than sixty-two miles away, and the possibility of artillery bombardment at such a range was at first doubted in all the allied countries, but by the following day the fact was established that the shells were actually coming from the region of the Forest of St. Gobain, seven miles back of the French trenches near Laon, and about seventy-five miles from Paris. The French artillery at the front at once took measures to locate and destroy the guns, but without immediate results.
The first day's casualties from the long-distance shells were stated to be ten killed and fifteen wounded. The second day, which was Palm Sunday, was ushered in by loud explosions from the new missiles, but by church time the Parisians had already discounted the new sensation and thronged the streets on their way to the churches. The women who sell palm leaves on that day did their usual thriving business. During the early morning hours the street traffic was partly suspended, but by noon both the subway and the tramway cars were running again.
The shells were found to be doing comparatively little damage in proportion to their size. The municipal authorities announced on the second day that the German bombardment should not be allowed to interrupt the normal life of the city, and that the people would be warned by special signals, differing from those for air raids, and consisting of the beating of drums and blowing of whistles by the policemen. On Monday, when the police began to use the new system of alarm, they were the object of much good-natured chaffing on account of their awkwardness with the drumsticks.
Twenty-four shells reached Paris the first day, twenty-seven the second, fewer the third, and thus the bombardment went on daily, with occasional casualties and little effect on the habitual life of the city. The famous palace of the Tuileries was damaged by one of the shells, and other public buildings were struck. The damage was largely confined to the Montmartre district, the amusement centre of Paris, and nearly all the shells fell within a section about a mile square, indicating that the gun was immovable. One shell dropped in front of the Gare de l'Oest, a railway terminal, killing six men.
The casualties, however, were comparatively few until March 29, when a shell struck the Church of St. Gervais at the hour of the Good Friday service, killing seventy-five persons and wounding ninety, some of whom died later. Fifty-four of those killed were women, five being Americans. The shell had struck the church in such a way as to cause a portion of it to collapse and fall upon the worshippers at the moment of the elevation of the Host.
PROTEST FROM THE POPE
The intense indignation of all France at this new outrage on noncombatants was voiced at once through the press and in speeches in the Chamber of Deputies. The authorities of the Catholic Church were deeply stirred, and Pope Benedict sent a protest to Berlin against the bombardment of Paris, and especially against the destruction of churches and the wholesale massacre of civilians. Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris, arriving at the scene of the catastrophe a few moments after the explosion, expressed the general feeling when he exclaimed: "The beasts! To have chosen the day of our Lord's death for committing such a crime!" The Vatican sent Cardinal Amette the following dispatch:
The Holy Father, deploring the fact that the bloody conflict, which already has caused everywhere so much suffering, has again, on the very day of the Saviour's Passion, found more innocent victims, who are still dearer to his heart owing to their faith and piety, expresses his deepest sympathy. He sends the apostolic blessing to all the faithful in Paris, and desires to know if it is necessary to send material aid to the families in mourning.
The Cardinal also received the following letter from Grand Rabbi Israel Levi on behalf of those of the Jewish faith:
Your Eminence, I am the interpreter of the feelings of all my French co-religionists in saying that I share in the mourning which has come to so many families devastated by sacrilegious barbarism. We are one in pious indignation at the crime, which seems to have been intended as an insult to what humanity holds most sacred.
Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York, voiced the sentiments of New York Catholics in this message to the Archbishop of Paris:
Shocked by the brutal killing of innocent victims gathered at religious services to commemorate the passing of our blessed Saviour on Good Friday, the Catholics of New York join your noble protest against this outrage of the sanctuary on such a day and at such an hour and, expressing their sympathy to the bereaved relatives of the dead and injured, pledge their unfaltering allegiance in support of the common cause that unites our two great republics. May God bless the brave officers and men of the allied armies in their splendid defense of liberty and justice!
Among those killed in this disaster was H. Stroehlin, Secretary of the Swiss Legation. The German Foreign Office later made an indirect expression of regret to Switzerland for this act, but sought to justify the bombardment on the ground that Paris is a fortress. The Kaiser sent a special note of congratulation to the managers of the Krupp works regarding the success of the weapon.
AMBASSADOR SHARP'S REPORT
William G. Sharp, the American Ambassador to France, visited the wrecked church shortly after the disaster and sent a detailed report to Secretary Lansing at Washington. The State Department, on April 3, issued the following:
The Secretary of State has received from Ambassador Sharp in Paris a graphic report of his visit to the scene of the horrible tragedy which occurred on the afternoon of Good Friday in a church by the explosion of a German shell projected from far back of the enemy lines a distance of more than seventy miles. The appalling destruction wrought by this shell is, as the Ambassador remarked, probably not equaled by any single discharge of any hostile gun in the cruelty and horrors of its results.
In no other one spot in Paris, even where poverty had gathered on that holy day to worship, could destruction of life have been so great. Nearly a hundred mangled corpses lying in the morgues, with almost as many seriously wounded, attested to the measure of the toll exacted. Far up to the high, vaulted arches, between the flying buttresses well to the front of the church, is a great gap in the wall, from which fell upon the heads of the devoted worshippers many tons of solid masonry. It was this that caused such a great loss of life.
As the Ambassador entered the church, where but a few hours before had been gathered the worshippers, he could easily picture the scene that followed the explosion. The amount of débris, remaining just as it fell on the floor, covered the entire space between the lofty columns supporting the arches at each side. Only a miracle could have saved from death or serious injury those who escaped the falling mass. The scene was that of some horrible shambles, and it was not until well into the night that all the bodies were recovered. Upon the floor in many places could still be seen the blood of the victims, among whom were many prominent and well-to-do people.
The Ambassador called to express his sympathy to his Swiss colleague, whose lifelong friend, the Secretary of the Swiss Legation, was killed while leaving the church. The Minister was deeply affected as he spoke of the great loss to him through the Secretary's death. The Secretary was well known in Washington, where he served with the Swiss Legation from 1902 to 1904, and was very highly esteemed by all who knew him.
In conclusion, Mr. Sharp says that the exceptional circumstances under which this tragedy occurred, both as to the sacred character of the day and the place, have greatly aroused the indignation of the people of Paris toward an enemy who seeks to destroy human life without regard to the immunities prescribed by the laws of civilization and humanity, and, instead of terrorizing the people, shells of the great cannons, as well as the bombs dropped from the German airplanes, only serve to strengthen the resolve of the French to resist, to the last man, if necessary, the invasion of such a foe.
CHARACTER OF THE GUN
Portions of exploded shells examined in the Municipal Laboratory of Paris indicated that the calibre of the new German gun was a trifle less than nine inches, and that the projectiles, weighing perhaps 200 pounds, contained a comparatively weak charge of high explosives, arranged in two chambers connected by a fuse, often causing two distinct explosions a minute or more apart. It was stated later by German military scientists that it took each shell more than three minutes to travel from the mouth of the gun to Paris, and that on its way it had to rise to a height of more than twenty miles from the earth. Three Paris experts found that at least two of these great guns were being used. According to German prisoners, one of the guns exploded on March 29, killing a German Lieutenant and nine men.
In their jubilation over the new weapon the German newspapers stated that the first bombardment of Paris had been witnessed by the Kaiser and by the builder of the long-range gun, Professor Fritz Rausenberger, who is an artillerist, manager of the Krupp Works, and builder of the famous 42-centimeter (16½-inch) gun used to demolish the Belgian forts at the beginning of the war.
The violence of the concussion of the new weapon was indicated by the statement of American scientists that every shot was found to be recorded by seismographs all over the United States; in other words, the shock of each discharge caused the needles of earthquake detectors three or four thousand miles away to record small dots on the smoked paper used in these instruments.
Paris, though embittered by the new form of attack, refused to be frightened by the long-range shells. The attendance at the churches on Easter Sunday was even larger than usual. The police authorities issued an order on April 4 that theatre matinées and afternoon entertainments of all kinds should be temporarily discontinued; but, owing to numerous protests, this order was modified next day, and the usual daytime performances in the theatres were allowed on condition that the bombardment had not begun at the hour of assembly, and that the place of amusement be evacuated immediately if the shelling began during the performance. In the weeks that followed the bombardment became more and more desultory and ineffectual.
It was recorded on April 9 that French aviators had discovered the location of the new guns at Crepy-en-Laonnais, near the road from La Fère to Laon, and that continual bombardment of the spot was causing the increasingly intermittent nature of the German long-range fire. The French had learned the location to a yard, and from a powerful battery ten miles away they were dropping enormous shells weighing half a ton each into the low hills where the German monsters were hidden. There were three of the supercannon, and a few days later an air photograph showed that two French shells had fallen on the barrel of one of them, putting it out of commission. Tremendous craters had been made around the others, and one French shell had fallen on a main railway line, blocking it a whole day. A correspondent who visited the French battery engaged in this work wrote on April 13:
"It is stated that these German guns are ninety-six feet long. At the moment of firing, other big guns let fly simultaneously, to confuse the French, and a smoke screen is emitted in the vicinity to hide the pieces from aircraft. Up to yesterday there had been no firing at night, lest the flashes show the position of the cannon. How necessary this precaution is may be illustrated by my experience last night, when I saw the whole northern sky constantly lit up by the guns on the eighty-mile front of the German offensive."
After April 13, when the Germans knew that their secret was fully known, they began bombarding Paris by night, though without any increase in effectiveness. Up to the middle of April a total of 150 long-distance shells had fallen in Paris, and the only ones that had caused any notable casualties were those which struck the Church of St. Gervais, an infant asylum, and an old man's bowling green.