The
BOMBARDMENT
of REIMS

By
Barr Ferree

New York
Leonard Scott Publication Company
1917

Copyright, 1917,
By Barr Ferree.
All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Bombardment of Reims

The bombardment of Reims, and the attendant destruction of its cathedral, is an event that has particularly excited the indignation of the civilized world. The sacrifice has seemed so wanton and so unnecessary that the souls of those who have not known the great church by personal observation have cried out in indignation against the outrage, while to those who have known it, its long continued passion has aroused the feeling of an intense personal loss. No other episode of the Great War has accomplished such complete destruction of so great a work of art. Its blackened walls and broken statues are the most formidable indictment the Germans have yet raised against themselves. As an event in the War it stands unique among countless other inexcusable horrors, and it has, therefore seemed worth while to summarize briefly the dreadful doings at Reims, that the real nature of the hideous tragedy may be made apparent.

For an American, remote from the seat of war, to attempt a survey of the bombardment of Reims is a hazardous task. Yet I have ventured to do so because the continued dreadfulness of this great siege, which has lasted more than three years, is quite unknown in this country, and, even in the meagre details here set forth, not fully known in France. The bombardment of Reims has continued from September 3, 1914, without interruption, save for the few days of the German occupation in that month, and some days designated as "calm" in the daily reports. But these "calm" days form part of the history of the siege, since no one could tell at what hour the bombardment might be renewed.

Little as to the bombardment of Reims has appeared in the American papers, and not much more in the Paris papers. The official bulletins give so small space to it that they have been entirely neglected in the preparation of this chronology. More than once the papers published in Reims have complained of the silence of the Paris papers on the attacks on their beloved city, and have frequently referred to the importance attached to minor details elsewhere, while nothing at all has been said as to more important events at Reims.

The hand of the censor has at all times rested heavily on Reims, the local censor sometimes not permitting the publication of details that have appeared in the few references in Paris newspapers. At the beginning of the bombardment the papers of Reims published quite full details, giving the names and addresses of persons killed or wounded, and the location of buildings burned or otherwise injured in the bombardment. These items were speedily suppressed, and the greater part of the record in available publications is not much more detailed than is given in these pages.

But if details are wanting it is not impossible to draw an outline picture of the whole bombardment. This I have undertaken to do; and while I cannot hope, from an accurate point of view, that this work can have any value, I am not without hope that as a general review of the bombardment from the beginning, this little book may find a place in the vast literature of the war. Certainly the facts here gathered are quite unknown in America, and, in their entirety, are almost as little known in France, since no one in that besieged land as yet attempted a similar undertaking.

The present record covers the three years of the