Manonvillers, near Luneville, the
strongest French barrier fort, which was the battery's first "bag" of
the war. Its capture, thanks to his guns, had cost the German Army only
three lives, those of three pioneers accidentally killed by the fire of
their own men. Now Les Paroches was a heap of crumbled earth and stone.
In default of forts the guns were used against any "worthy target"--a
"worthy target" being defined as a minimum of fifty infantrymen.

At this moment the orderly reported that the battery commander
authorized two shots against the village in question. At command the gun
crew sprang to their posts about the mortar, which was already adjusted
for its target, a little less than six miles away, the gun muzzle
pointing skyward at an angle of about 60 degrees. As the gun was fired
the projectile could be seen and followed in its course for several
hundred feet. The report was not excessively loud.

Before the report died away the crew were busy as bees about the gun.
One man, with the hand elevating gear, rapidly cranked the barrel down
to a level position, ready for loading. A second threw open the breech
and extracted the brass cartridge case, carefully wiping [Transcriber:
original 'wipping'] it out before depositing it among the empties; four
more seized the heavy shell and lifted it to a cradle opposite the
breech; a seventh rammed it home; number eight gingerly inserted the
brass cartridge, half filled with a vaseline-like explosive; the breech
was closed, and the gun pointer rapidly cranked the gun again into
position. In less than thirty seconds the men sprang back from the gun,
again loaded and aimed. A short wait, and the observer from his post
near the village ordered "next shot fifty meters nearer."

The gun pointer made the slight correction necessary, the mortar again
sent its shell purring through the air against the village, which this
time, it was learned, broke into flames, and while the men went back to
their noonday rest, the Lieutenant explained the fine points of his
beloved guns. One man, as had been seen, could manipulate the elevation
gear with one hand easily and quickly; ten of his horses could take the
mortar, weighing eight tons, anywhere; it could fire up to 500 shots per
day. He was proud of the skillful concealment of his guns, which had
been firing for four days from the same position without being
discovered, although French aviators had located all the sister
batteries, all