One of the surprises of the War was the bombardment
of Paris in the spring and summer of 1918 from a distance of over seventy miles. Colonel H. W. Miller, of the United States Ordnance Corps, in The Paris Gun (Horny, 10s. 6d.), gives a detailed account of this German invention, records the four series of bombardments, and sketches the course of the War in those critical months so as to illustrate the effect of the new weapon in Manning the French capital when the Allied Armies were, hard pressed. The first position at Crepy was soon located—or very nearly— by the French batteries ; the second gun to be mounted burst and killed some of its crew ; five guns were soon worn out. But the firing undoubtedly caused great alarm among the inhabitants of Paris, and the shell that burst on St. Gervais on Good Friday caused the deaths of many worshippers. There was no pretence on the part of the German High Command that the bombardment was not directed at the civilian population, and the French do not forget these things. The book is well illustrated.
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