Evening star., 1901-12-03
vAGARIES OF A STRATeGlST
FEASIBILITY OF A GERMAN INvA-
SION OF THE UNITED STATES.
A Military Theorist Thinks the Cap
ture Of Washington Would he
Easy of Accomplishment.


From the New York Commercial Advertiser.
German strategist. Lieut.. Won Edel-
sheim. is the author of a monograph which
has recently appeared in Berlin. and in
which he considers the feasibility OF q
German invasion Of the United States. As
Lieut.. Won Edeisheim is q member Of the
general stair of the imperial army. the plan
which he has here worked out makes very
interesting reading, especially to an Ameri-
can. It Is frankly stated In the beginning
that in case Of a war between the United
States and Germany no attempt would be
made to penetrate into the interior Of our
country. since this would involve, as the
author naiveIy says, military operations Of
the first magnitude" He probably has In
mind. although he does not say so, the pos
sibility Of war carried on against the
United States in such a way as not very
seriously to deplete the German land forces
at home. who might be needed to overawe
the French and prevent them from attack
ing Germany while she was preoccupied
with an American expedition.
Lieut.. Won Edelsheim starts out with the
assumption that II a German force could
ravage our Atlantic seacoast, laying our
chief cities under contribution, inhicting de.
ieatS upon our troops anu Cutting tuc
arteries of commerce, the United States
would. before long. be compelled to make a
peace of which the substantial advantages
would rest with Germany. Having laid
down these preliminary propositions, he
then proceeds to develop his scheme in de-
tail. First of all, he assumes that Ger
many could assemble feet sufficiently
strong to overcome any naval resistance
that we might be able to make. He argues
that our vessels of war are SO scattered
about by various assignments that during
the short time which Germany would re-
quire for its naval mobilization we could
get together only a very much weaker
force. He says that. within week after
the declaration of war, practically the
whole German navy could be dispatched
across the Atlantic, and that In about an
other week it would reach our seaboard.
Volunteers Would Flee.
Having defeated our squadrons, the task
of gaining mastery of the whole Atlantic
coast would he thinks, be a comparative
Iy simple one. A fleet of German trans
ports would take on board a picked body
Of 10000 troops. of which 10000 would be
used for minor expeditions intended to
bewiIder us and to deceive US to the
real point of attack, while the remaining
30 900 men would be suddenly landed at
some vulnerable point along the coast
These 10000 men, he thinks. would be sum-
cient to defeat any body OF American
troops that might be brought against them.
He argues that our regular army could not
muster in such an emergency more than
10000 available men. led by omcers VINO
have had no experience in serious warfare
The National Guard, he thinks, would be
o negligible factor; in the first place. be-
cause, as he says, they did not all voiun-
teer for service In the war against SPAN,
and in the second place, because they are
badly officered and very Improperly armed
AS for volunteers, he considers these to be
of no Importance whatsoever-a mere mob
who would be driven like chaf before the
advance of the German veterans. There
fore, he. says it would be simple matter
to get possession not only of cities such
as Portland, Charleston and Savannah. but
also Boston, New York, Philadelphia and
Washington.
German Dream.
It is beautiful dream, which we trust
Herr Won Edelsheim will never have occa-
sion to test by actual experience. In the
first place, nations do not nowadays fall
upon one another in total disregard Of the
usages which have become a law among
civilized nations. 1t is unlikely that the
world will ever again witness such a ban
dit-like proceeding as was Frederick the
Greats dash upon SileSia, when he began
his first campaign against Maria Theresa
without any formal declaration of war.
Moreover there would be the time neces-
sary for the mobilization of the German
feet and it's dispatch across the Atlantic.
Hence 1t IS unlikely tnat we SQOulQ ever
be caught so far off our guard as not to
have within easy call formidable array
of battle ships and cruisers. which would.
besides, be supported by powerful land for
tifications at all Of our great cities; for
while much remains to be done in strength
ening our coast defenses, these are, at any
rate, even now in such condition as to
make it almost impossible for any navy
such as GermanyS to force a passage un-
derneath their guns
AS to the land operations, the easy op-
timism of Herr Won Edelsheim seems little
less than ludicrous. Its only Importance
lies in the fact that it represents the view
of the average German soldier. At the
| time of the crisis in Samoa some years ago
German officer remarked to us that with
q single brigade of German infantry he
could defeat any force which the United
States might be able to bring against him.
This is like the official opinion of an En-
glish military man, given at the time when
the Carolina was burned, to the effect that
with a single regiment of the guards he
could march without serious opposition
from Boston to Savannah.
The National Guard.
1t is a little surprising that trained SOL
dier and student Of military history should
not be aware that although our National
| Guard did not as a whole volunteer for
service against Spain. it would be instantly
available to repel invasion, and that one
reason why 1t did not serve in the Span
ish war was the fact that it was not need
ed, inasmuch as the government had al
ready something like a quarter of mil
lion volunteers whose services 1t could not
| use. AS for Herr Won Edelsheim's con-
temptuous dismissal of the volunteers
themselves. 1T is evident that he has learn
ed no lesson from English experience in
the war against the Beers
The notion of foreign army of 10000
men taking possession OF New York and
holding it reminds us very strongly Of a
remark attributed to Lord Paimerston.
Lord Palmerston was once chatting with
French general on the subject of a pos
sible French invasion Of England. The
Frenchman for time discussed the SUBJ