BIG BERTHA. The original Big Berthas were 42cm. how itzers produced at the Skoda works in Austria-Hungary and used by the Germans in battering the forts at Liege and Namur in 1914. It was assumed that this artillery originated from the Krupp works in Germany—hence the nickname, after Frau Bertha von Bohlen, head of the Krupp family. In 1918, when the Paris gun began shelling the French capital from the forest of Coucy at a range of 76 miles, newspaper correspondents resurrected the title and applied it to this gun. The bombardment began March 23 and extended over 540 days, firing taking place about every third day. In all, 256 people were killed; the most serious loss was caused on Good Friday, March 29, when 156 were killed or wounded in the church of St. Gervais. The Paris gun was a high-velocity piece of 8.26in. calibre (later retubed to larger bore), was about i ioft. long, weighed 142 tons, and fired a 2641b. shell.