Reims (France) -- History; World War, 1914-1918 -- France -- Reims
It has seemed desirable to give the details of the bombardment as far as
the local reports permit. That is to say, the hours of the bombardment,
the number of shells, the number of persons killed or wounded. The hours
of the bombardment are an interesting index to the agitated daily life
at Reims. The number of shells is also of interest as indicating the
possible intensity of the attack. But as ammunition of all kinds and
sizes, huge and small shells, shrapnel, incendiary and asphyxiating
bombs and many other kinds of projectiles have been used in the siege, a
mere statement of number of shells hardly gives a proper index to the
horror of any one bombardment. But the shell records as to kind are
highly incomplete in the published reports, and it has not seemed worth
while to make an effort to indicate them. In the dreadful days of March,
April, May and June, 1917, when the fall of shells was colossal, even
the newspapers gave up attempts at numbering them, and it is probable
the actual totals will never be known. The number of persons killed and
wounded help also to show the severity of the bombardments, and have no
other purpose in this survey. I can scarcely hope that my records of
these items approach completeness, and they have been omitted from
April, May and June, 1917. The number of persons killed or wounded are,
for the most part, those of the civilian population of Reims.
In addition to bombardment from guns Reims has suffered from the German
aviators. I have designated these birds of prey as "Taube", as an
economical form of expression. Every considerable bombardment was
preceded by these visitors. Nearly every day one or more of them
appeared above Reims, and they seem to have been looked upon as so much
matter of course that I suspect their presence was often unnoted in the
reports. Whenever possible they were eagerly welcomed by the guns of
Reims, and hence it followed that, not only was the city subject to the
bombardment of the enemy, but on several occasions injury was done in it
by antiaerial shells falling back.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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