.
In the second place, it didn't seem possible after being hit one hundred
and forty-seven times with 42-centimeter bombs that enough of any fort
of whatsoever size would be left to permit of a tallying-up of separate
shots. Ten shots properly placed should have razed it; twenty more
should have blown its leveled remainder to powder and scattered the
powder.
Be the facts what they may with regard to this case of the fort of
Manonvilla--if that be its proper name--I am prepared to speak with the
assurance of an eyewitness concerning the effect of the German fire upon
the defenses of Maubeuge. What I saw at Liege I have described in a
previous chapter of this volume. What I saw at Maubeuge was even more
convincing testimony, had I needed it, that the Germans had a 42-
centimeter gun, and that, given certain favored conditions, they knew
how to handle it effectively.
We spent the better part of a day in two of the forts which were fondly
presumed to guard Maubeuge toward the north--Fort Des Sarts and Fort
Boussois; but Fort Des Sarts was the one where the 42-centimeter gun
gave the first exhibition of its powers upon French soil in this war, so
we went there first.
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