The sun., 1901-11-10
WHEN GERMANY GOES TO WAR
BARON vON EDELSHEIM TALKS
or CONFLICT WITH ENGLAND.
Says 100 900 Men Could he Landed on
the English Coast In About Thirty
Hours quick Naval Action Might Gain
Temporary success TO War Win U.s.
Special cable Despatch 10 The srS

Special cable Despatch 10 The Sun
BrRIIN. Nov. e.-Consderable attention
is attracted here by pamphlet just pub
rshed by Baron Won Edelsheim. an officer In
the chief general staff Of the German Army
In which he declares that Germany could
throw 100000 men on the English coast
within n very short time. The Baron put
forward his statement as matter OF abso-
lutte certainty, and II Is considered some
what curious that he Is permitted by ms
Government 70 publish It, He also do
cusses tho possibility Of landing troops
in Russia and France and proceeds to con-
template the hypothesis OF war between
Germany and the United States.
He starts from the assumption that Ter
many must one day be involved in con-
hict because the growth OF her traffic and
commerce is a source of danger TO England d.
He holds the opinion that Germany mlght
hope to secure some success at sea shorIIy
after hostilities began as the German navy
would start mobilization first, but before
long England would be able to set such
powerful naval forces in action that Ger
many would be reduced TO defensive tao
tics I'm which success could not be reckoned
upon. His paper proceeds:
.Enelands weakness il our strength.
The land forces OF the English Army corre-
spond neither in strength nor In quality
with her position as great Power Ing
land Is convinced that every hostile in
vasion can be prevented by her fleet, but
this conviction Is not by any means well
founded. Even il England after time
could set in motion great naval forces'
those which would be ready at the begin
ming are not so overwhelming that an OPP
moment essentially weaker at sea, who
has everything ready, may not have
chance Of scoring a temporary success.
Germany must throw part OF her land
forces on tho English coast and thus bring
the conflict to an issue on land where Ger
man troops are much superior to English.
After summing up the shortcomings
of Enalands land forces the Baron de-
clares that only her present standing army
and regular reserve can be counted on
In case of sudden invasion, as the others
would take a considerable time TO mobilize
He observes:
"We must also take account OF their
slight fighting value compared with well
trained German troops. The only troops
ready in England for action are three di-
visions oil the rrt army NbipS' dpou' wv
divisions Of the Second and combined
division of the Third. together with three
oavalry brigades. The strength Of an
English division on a war footing il only
10 900 men, while a similar German division
numbers about 1900 men. Germany can
transport six infantry divisions, or one
cavalry brigade and five infantry divisions
TO England in n very short time. How
the operation could be carried out must
not, of course, be explained here. But
this can be said that il can be done within
little more than thirty hours in favorable
weather from German harbors in the
North Sea. Large tracts OF the English
coast furnish good landing places for troops
and the country itself has so many re-
sources that an invading army could live
on them for a long time. On the other
hand the island is not large enough To allow
English troops TO destroy once victorious
hostile army II j. unlikely that such war
would last very long and considerable rc'n-
forccments would, therefore not be needed" !"