I wouldn't have believed anything evolved
out of the brains of men and put together by the fingers of men could
operate with such devilish accuracy to compass such utter destruction.
I would have said it was some planetic force, some convulsion of natural
forces, and not an agency of human devisement, that turned Fort Loncin
inside out, and transformed it within a space of hours from a supposedly
impregnable stronghold into a hodgepodge of complete and hideous
ruination. And what befell Fort Loncin on the hills behind Liege befell
Fort Des Sarts outside of Maubeuge, as I have reason to know. When the
first of the 42-centimeters emerged from Essen it took a team of thirty
horses to haul it; and with it out of that nest of the Prussian war
eagle came also a force of mechanics and engineers to set it up and aim
it and fire it.
Here, too, is an interesting fact that I have not seen printed anywhere,
though I heard it often enough in Germany: by reason of its bulk the 42-
centimeter must be mounted upon a concrete base before it can be used.
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