BIG BERTHA.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 May 1921, Page 10

BIG BERTHA.

A GERMAN MYTH. NOT A SUPER-CANNON. The mystery of “Big Bertha,” the German super-cannon which shelled Paris at long range during the summer of 1918, has been solved by Allied investigations. Newspapers were complaining recently that a great deal of money and time had been fruitlessly spent in search for the “Big Bertha,” and were insisting that Germany be called upon to deliver it immediately or give adequate reason for its disappearance. Indeed, the French Press has kept the subject alive ever since the Armistice and has repeatedly asked what has become of the monster guns and why they were never handed over to the Allies. The answer is incredibly simple. To speak with absolute exactitude, there never was such a thing as a super-can-non at all—as an individual new creation the ‘"Big Bertha” never existed. Paris was shelled by ordinary naval guns whose range had been doubled by the use of certain devices. Scores of these guns were handed over to the Allies; scores of others were 'broken up.

The Allied investigators are in possession of designs showing exactly how the apparent miracle was accomplished. The long barrel of the naval gun of 12 or 14inch calibre was made doubly strong by the introduction of a sheath which reduced the calibre to about nine inches. The breech was similarly reinforced by a massive steel jacket. This enabled the double charge to be used, which, combined with modification in the shape of the shell—longer and more pointed, with grooves to increase the effect of the rifling—produced the desired result. A high Allied authority on ballistite told me that there was really nothing new in all this—any ordinance expert could have done the same, but had never attempted it because, hitherto, experts had always been seeking accuracy as well as distance. The reinforced German guns were not accurate at all, but to hit the great city of Paris they did not need to be. “In point of fact,” he aNded, “they actually missed Paris itself on eight or ten different occasions. He said that Germans had informed him that there were never more than four guns in action at the same time, and that a large number were not constructed because reports from Paris described the population as little impressed after the excitement of the first days.