German Surprises 233 Yet the German howitzer, a mountain of metal, mobile on its caterpillar wheels, certainly insured German superiority in the field of heavy artillery, and as the German armies approached Paris it seemed to the whole world that with this tremen- dous weapon the Kaiser might accomplish his de- sign and get into Paris in six weeks. The defeat at the Marne prevented this. But in the last week of September there came word from the east of France that Verdun and Toul, the great barrier forts guarding the Alsace-Lorraine frontiers, were crumbling under the fire of these same howitzers that levelled Namur and Liege and that the Ger- mans expected shortly to destroy the great wall that through the years and at tremendous expense France has erected on this frontier. Armed with the howitzer on land, Germany was equally equipped on the water — or perhaps better under it. The apprehension, the actual fear, which the great guns inspired in the hearts of the British and French publics in the early days of the war was equalled, if not exceeded by the anxiety caused by the first attack of the German submarines. A sin- gle raid, made, German official statements asserted, by one submarine, resulted in the destruction of three large battle cruisers — the Cressy, the Aboukir, the La Hogue — and the loss of most of their crews. Indeed, one must go far back in British naval his- tory to find a parallel to the disaster of September 22 in the North Sea.