The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-01-23
INTRENCHaENTs
NJ. BIocA's Predictions OF the Peace Con-
Congress Being Verified I'm South
Africa.
philadelphia Press.)

All the correspondents pSs,nt at the
hodder River, at stormberg and ct Mag
orsfontein are agreed that the boer In
trenchments we're invisible; and the sbso-
lutte failure Of the Intelligence Dtpsrt-
msnt In the last two battles IL notorious.
NJ. Bloch predicted this. and was laughed
ct as q thsofist for his p,ins. He LAID
stress on what he calls ''iong ignorance
of the ensmy's position. and much search.
resulting In serious less. before this true
position Of Affairs WAS asoeitaine1 AS
authority for this he quotes French
writer. the author of "La Poudrs rams
Fumee." q work which attracted great
interest some years ago. A fortnight ago
this plsssge might have excited derisiop.
Today IL reaes a. II cut out from sp'o.
ial corrfp7ndent's description Of the
defeats ct Stormbsrg and Msgersfonteip.
The passage Is so astonishing forecast
that IL IL worth quoting in full:
Having no means Of preciGely judging
cur position. the enemy will be CON
strained to advance toward Us In march
ing columns, In order to deploy imme-
diately on the discovery Of our lines. But
where fhall he gain informationf He
will be strrck by artillery IRE from
great distance, and the position Of the
te-mine precisely. He will neither hear
ror see enough for his purpcsss, and
thus he may apply in q peculiar sense
tire words of the Scripture. "Eyss have
they and they sec not. ears have they
md they hear not" Reoonnoissanc es
and other means may be employed to
determine the rosition of the enemy. but
after these have bern made changes In
their disposition may have taken place,
and bas.ng his operations on Information
thus obtained, an enemy may fire on I'M
occupied points. and waste his ammuni-
tion, firing. a. 10 10 said. "at the spar
rows.
Ibis "nring at the sparrows" was ex-
actiy what took place Mt storm berg,
whore, We are told, the British infantry,
was 50 totally unable to locate the Bosr
positions, even sftsr the enemy had
opened fire, that their CONFUSED and Ill.
airs oted" ire was WAITED upon the near
est hills.
IL is no exaggeratiun to ssy that II the
recent fighting be judged BY the oonten.
tiou Of the extreme foreign advocates OF
reformed taotios, Ii must appear that our
reverses resulted from the very nature OF
things. and from the application Of obso-
lete methods Of battle.
1t Is interesting, In conclusion, to make
some remarks upon the contentious OF the
most noted OF foreign theorists In recent
times. M. Bloch declares that the present
war has Justified his contentious in every
possible respect, and that the opposite
view which obtains bore Is based on i'm
a.f~ zk Led Ia nf hn far
that ths greater number OF these conclu-
tions have never even teen noticed In
England, IL 10 worth while giving full |
summary, as far as they relate to tactics,
from the original unabridged edition,
I. That the moral superiority Of attack |
would be more thEn counterbalanced BY |
the tren endous accession of strength ito |
the defenders, which results from I'm |
proved small-Arms.
.. That battles would seldom be de- |
cisive.
8. That the victors would not be In q
position to pursue, and that tho retreat |
ing force would fall back on new POSI- |
tions q few miles to the rear and intrsnoh |
themselves. |
4. That Infantry will be prostratsd after |
battle and not In . position TO carry suo-
cesses home.
able without great superiority Of num-
bere.
G. That night marches and night at
tacks would have to be resorted to.
2. That intrenohments prop: rly adapt |
ed to modern fire would be Invisible. II
8. That troops on the defensive would |
lie more likely to surpriss than to be sur
prised.
8. That the future war would be
war of sisges and intrsnched positions.
TO- That invisible sharpshooters would
NOW down hundreds.
IL. That an sboriiSe attack would lead |
to the attacker intrsnohing himself, and
the exchange OF roles.
10 That ambulance work would be |
carried on under almost impossible CON-
ditions owing to long range lire which
would lead to aocusat!ons Of violation OF
the He'd Cross.
IS. That satisfactory reconnaissance
would DO much more difficult than for
merry. N. Bloch declared that only In
fantry could reoopnoitre successfully.
IA. Tnat the loss In officers would be
disproportionate.
Is. That troops could only advance
along railway lines.
10. That with equal resolution war
would last longer thRn In the past.
IL, That turning movements with I'm
mense namsrioai superiority would be
the only means OF gaining decisive VIC
tories.
Not one of these contentious has besn
the lighting so far. The great majority
have been more or less Justified. Of these.
the third, seventh, eighth, eleventh. THU
tesnth and hftsentn have heen shown to
he strikinRly true. That they will be
conilrmsd by future operations may be
doubtful; but there can he no question OF
their applicability to the history Of the
last three weeks.