Customer Reviews

PARIS GUN. THE BOMBARDMENT OF PARIS BY THE GERMAN LONG-RANGE GUNS AND THE GREAT GERMAN OFFENSIVES OF 1918

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Although published by Naval and Military Press in 2005, this book was actually written and first published in 1930 by an officer in the US Ordnance Corps. It has gracefully withstood the test of time and is as fascinating a read now as I am sure it was then. To my knowledge, it is the only volume devoted exclusively to the Paris Gun and is by far the most comprehensive treatment of the subject.

The Paris Gun was essentially a railway gun on steroids, designed by the Germans to bombard Paris from the extent of the German lines...a distance of nearly 75 miles. It was hoped that the effect of the bombardment would terrorize Parisians and cause them to flee and-or demand that the French government sue for peace, thus aiding the great 1918 German offensive. Needless to say, it didn't achieve either objective.

Using pencils and slide rules, the Germans designed and built three guns, all of which succeeded (more or less) in hitting Paris from a range that was considered impossible to achieve by Allied experts at the time and would be very impressive even today. Specially built shells which had to be fired in sequential order due to wear on the nearly 100 foot long barrel actually reached the stratosphere before falling to earth...simply amazing!

The book is very detailed, highlighting the French civilian and military response to the threat as well as the workings of the individual guns and the engineering feats involved in transporting, emplacing, and firing these monsters, as well as easily digestible "physics lessons" that help to understand how such a great range was made possible. The book contains many photos but in my copy they are all of average quality with a "photocopy" look to them..I suppose this is a function of the reprinting process. There are also numerous maps, particularly towards the end of the book where the author delves into the great 1918 offensive and the final bombardment by the guns. My favorite is a macro-scale map of Paris with the individual Paris Gun shots plotted where they fell...again, simply amazing!

While definitely a narrowly focused read, this is a must-have if you are at all interested in Great War weapons (particularly artillery) and provides an intriguing glimpse into the mindset of military planners of the day. It also makes an interesting companion piece to any study of the 1918 offensive.

THE PARIS GUN: THE BOMBARDMENT OF PARIS BY THE GERMAN LONG RANGE GUNS
AND THE GREAT GERMAN OFFENSIVES OF 1918 by Henry W. Miller Lieutenant
colonel US Ordinance c 1930.

In the spring of 1918, Imperial Germany, now reinforced by massive
armies coming from the victorious Eastern Front, planned a gigantic
blow against the French and British in the West intending to win the
War before the Americans could arrive in force. To assist in the great
campaign, German scientists created a Gun so powerful that its
projectile was the first man made object ever to breach the
stratosphere. With this monster cannon having a range of over 75
miles, they would bombard Paris and terrify the civilian population
into panic and surrender.

And so the great offensive began, the German legions overran all
before them, British armies were shattered, French armies fled and
Paris was blasted at will. Victory seemed inevitable. Nothing could
stop Imperial Germany. Nothing.

And then the first Americans arrived............

An exciting contemporaneous book written by someone who witnessed many
of the events described, interviewed others, had access on both sides
to important documents and possessed the knowledge to understand the
true menace and importance of the Paris Gun.

A non-fiction Classic about the First World War. Essential reading for
those interested in World War One in specific and history in general.

Would make a great movie.

And of course the Paris Gun was the inspiration for the Doomsday Gun---Saddam Hussein's attempt to build a super cannon capable of bombarding Israel.