only the 6.1-inch Rimailho howitzer of
1904, being models twenty to forty years old. These pieces were, of
course, vastly outclassed in range and smashing power by the heavy
guns of the Central Powers, such as the German 420's (the famous
"42's") and the Austrian 380's. Undismayed, however, the French set
energetically to work to make up their deficiencies. As it takes time
to manufacture guns, large numbers of naval pieces were pressed into
service, most of them being mounted on railway-trucks, thus insuring
extreme mobility. The German 42's, I might mention in passing, lack
this very essential quality, as they can be fired only from specially
built concrete bases, from which they cannot readily be moved. The two
German 42's which pounded to pieces the barrier forts of Antwerp were
mounted on concrete platforms behind a railway embankment near
Malines, where they remained throughout the siege of the city.

[Illustration: Verdun's Mightiest Defender: a 400-mm. Gun.
This was the great 16-inch weapon with which the French so pounded
Fort Douaumont as to cause its evacuation by the Germans.]

[Illustration: A Gun Painted to Escape the Observation of Enemy
Airmen.
"So streaked and striped and splashed and mottled with many colors
was it that, monster though it was, it escaped my notice until we
were almost upon it."]

Some idea may be had of the variety of artillery in use on the French
front when I mention that there are at least eleven calibers of guns,
howitzers, and mortars, ranging in size from 9 inches to 20.8 inches,
in action between Switzerland and the Somme. All of these, with a very
few exceptions, are mounted on railway-trucks. In fact, the only large
calibered piece not thus mounted is the Schneider mortar, a very
efficient weapon, having a remarkably smooth recoil, which has a range
of over six miles. It is transported, with its carriage and platform,
in six loads, each weighing from four to five tons, about four hours
being required to set up the piece ready for firing. Nearly all of
these railway guns are, I understand, naval or coast-defense pieces,
some of them being long-range weapons cut down to form howitzers or
mortars, while others have been created by boring to a larger caliber
a gun whose rifling had been worn out in use. For example, the
400-millimetre, already referred to as having proved so effective
against Douaumont, was, I am told, made by cutting down and boring