Death From Afar Before the Age of Rockets & Missiles

Today in History, March 23: 1918 – At 7:20 AM the peace in Paris, France was shattered by an artillery barrage. The fire was from a new weapon designed by the Germans, the “Pariskanone”, a 210mm cannon with a 118 ft long barrel. The gun could fire a shell to an altitude of 25 miles; the cannons bombarding Paris were firing from safety 74 miles away. By the end of the assault on August 9, 260 Parisians had been killed.