Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1870-07-20
The War I'm Europe

The uncertainty as to the point at which Ma
poleon would make his first advance upon Prus-
STA is dispelled by our cable kilograms else
where, which tell us that the French troops
have crossed the frontier at saarbrucken. or
Saarbruck. IL has been stated that the Ger
man troops occupied Saarbruck on Monday; but
this must have been untrue, or they did not oc-
cupy it in force, as our kilograms to-day make
no mention of any fighting at that point.
Saarbruek is a frontier town of Rhenish Prus
STA, few miles from Forbaeh. on the direct
railway route from Metz to Mayence and Mann
helm, and at the junction. OF another line run
ming northwestwsrd to Treves. II is conse
quently good strategcal position from which
TO meet movement from Metz, either north
ward along the valley oil the Moselle and
through Thionyille, or westward by the railway
straight towards Mannheim.
IL IL situated, We may add. on the Saar river
the chief tributary 10 the MOseIle and ia con-
nected with the right bank OF the river and its
snburb. ST. Johann, by a stone bridge Ii has
population OF about ,oo0, engaged principally
IN ue manufacture OF woollen cloths and in
mining, there being extensive mines OF iron and
coal IN the vicinity. The town was founded I'm
the tenth century. and was given to the Church
of Met by the Emperor Henry III Itw,s NJ
terwards governed by Count till IssA. when i;
was attached to the duchy Of Nassau. Al o,s
time strongly fortified, it became an object OF
Stt&cS oil the part Of the French, and was re-
peatediy taken AMI retaken. In 1910 its forti-
fcations were dismantled. During the wars of
Napoleon II suffered severely, and was annexed
10 the empire. BY the treaty of Paris of ISIS
the place was coded to Prussia by whom il has
since been held.
SasTbrCck is thirteen miles from SaarIouis
the only well advanced PruS.ian fortress for the
defence CT the Rhine the frontier This for
tress iSasrloui>l is a small and antiluated work
on the Saar IL is believed to be entirely made
quatc t. the demand for an advanced past TO
hold the French in check, or for base OF ope-
rations- Ii has, however, very important and
practical roads leading to Metz, Treyes. Nav
ence, Mannheim and Lamar; and Saarbruck.
as we have stated, has a similar junction of ax-
eeiient macadanized roads
That the PrussianS sbouli allow Napoleon to
get possession VI Saarhruck unch silenged would
seem To Indicate that they lack the alertness OF
the campaign Of lsC6, but doubtless Won Moltke
has good strategic reasons for not making n
stand At that point. German engineers have
expressed the opinion thai PTJssia's weak side
IS upon the valley OF the MoSelle in the vicinity
of Trevcs, and one OF them Lieut.. widd-rn.
prOnoances il the paris gate OF GERMANY"
and laments that It is so carelessly left open.
designing campaign on the Rhine, really
intended TO open his fighting on the south
eastern coast of the North Sea, whereby he
could use his superior navy to support a for
midabie attack on either Bremen or Hamburg
Just beyond lies the long disputed territory of
SehlesNig and OF Holstein, recently occupied by
Prussia, but in which a large part of the people
are OF Danish origin, and are hostile to the Ger
mans. by occupying this region Napoleon
might reasonably hope 10 cement an alliance
with Denmark, which would secure TO him CO.
penhagen as a base of naval operations against
the Prussian coast, and increase the disaffection
OF Hanoverians towards the monarchy at Berlin
But Il would seem now that his main line OF
operations will be upon the Rhine via the Mo-
seile- The Noselle furnishes the most direct
hne OF operations between France and Prussia
running almost in the direct line between Ber
lin ami Paris, and the invading party on either
side must need strong special reasons to cause
them TO operate on any other line.