I know where the French batteries were, and if the German guns aimed at them by error missed them and hit the cathedral, the German marksmanship is deteriorating.  To find the range the artillery sends what in the American army are called brace shots—­one aimed at a point beyond the mark and one short of it.  From the explosions of these two shells the gunner is able to determine how far he is off the target and accordingly regulates his sights.  Not more, at the most, than three of these experimental brace shots should be necessary, and, as one of each brace is purposely aimed to fall short of the target, only three German shells, or, as there were two French positions, six German shells should have fallen beyond the batteries and into the city.  And yet for four days the city was bombarded!

To make sure, I asked French, English, and American army officers what margin of error they thought excusable after the range was determined.  They all agreed that after his range was found an artillery officer who missed it by from fifty to one hundred yards ought to be court-martialled.  The Germans “missed” by one mile.

The other excuse given by the Germans for the destruction of the cathedral was that the towers had been used by the French for military purposes.  On arriving at Rheims the question I first asked was whether this was true.  The abbe Chinot, cure of the chapel of the cathedral, assured me most solemnly and earnestly it was not.  The French and the German staffs, he said, had mutually agreed that on the towers of the cathedral no quick-firing guns should be placed, and by both sides this agreement was observed.  After entering Rheims the French, to protect the innocent citizens against bombs dropped by German air-ships, for two nights placed a search-light on the towers, but, fearing this might be considered a breach of agreement as to the mitrailleuses, the abbe Chinot ordered the search-light withdrawn.  Five days later, during which time the towers were not occupied and the cathedral had been converted into a hospital for the German wounded and Red Cross flags were hanging from both towers, the Germans opened fire upon it.  Had it been the search-light to which the Germans objected, they would have fired upon it when it was in evidence, not five days after it had disappeared.

When, with the abbe Chinot, I spent the day in what is left of the cathedral, the Germans still were shelling it.  Two shells fell within twenty-five yards of us.  It was at that time that the photographs that illustrate this chapter were taken.

The fire started in this way.  For some months the northeast tower of the cathedral had been under repair and surrounded by scaffolding.  On September 19th a shell set fire to the outer roof of the cathedral, which is of lead and oak.  The fire spread to the scaffolding and from the scaffolding to the wooden beams of the portals, hundred of years old.  The abbe Chinot, young/alert, and daring, ran out upon the scaffolding and tried to cut the cords that bound it.