Charlevoix county herald., 1911-12-23


ty of problems to solve besides
those of generalship. The feeding
of such vast hosts of men is OF it.
self a gigantic task, and as it has been
said that IAN army advances on it's
stomach" this is one of the most i'm
portant problems confronting COM
manders.
The probable size of a modern battle
field has been the subject of discussion
recently among German military ex-
perts, who have been stimulated there
to by book by General Falkenhausen,
one of the most eminent authorities
on land war strategy. The conclusions
at which the participants in this inter
esting debate arrive, says Berlin cor
respondent, reveal to the uninitiated
the amazing dimensions which battle
field in a twentieth century war would
assume.
General Falkenhausen discusses the
theoretical case of an army of 1885,
600 men engaged in battle with rival
of approximately the same number,
and he says that the operations would
extend over an area fully 200 miles
from side to side. and not less than
$50 miles deep-that is, from the rear
of one army to the rear of the enemy.
But an army OF 1.250,000 soldiers
would be a comparatively small one
in an up-to-date warfare, for forces of
this numerical strength took the field
so long ago as the Franco-German
campaign in 1870, since when marvel
Gus developments in military matters
have ensued. In struggle between
two great European military powers it
is quite possible and, indeed, probable,
that each of the opposing forces would
number something like 100000
troops, for Germany, France, Russia
and Austria Hungary are all capable
of sending such armies to the front
without touching their respective last
lines of reserves.
Battles Area 10000 Square Miles.
If two such mighty armies were en-
gagged in battle the field of their op-
erations would probably extend quite
so miles from side to side, while the
distance from the rear of one force to
the rear of the other could hardly be
less than 80 miles. Thus the battle
field would have an area OF 10000
square miles.
When Frederick the Great fought
his battles in the eighteenth century
the field of operations never extended
more than four miles from side to
side, and in the Russo-Japanese war,
when, owing to the great distance
from the respective bases. there were
never more than thre or four hundred
thousand troops simultaneously In ac-
ton, the battlef1elds remained limited
in extent. Will the generals of the
future be equal to the almost superhu-
man task of directing operations ex-
tending over such immense areasy
Every army must have a commander
in chief, and that generalissimo must
control the movements OF all the
troops united under his orders. He
will have all the latest technical de-
vices at his disposal. Hundreds OF
miles of telegraph and telephone wires
will be rapidly laid in order that he
may exchange orders and communica-
tions with his auxiliary officers.
Medsrn Armies Too Large.
There will be motor cars and flying
machines, steerable balloons and
spherical balloons. bicycles and appar-
atus for wireless telegraphy and tele-
phony, besides other mechanical con-
trivances for signaling. Will these
sufice to surmount the purely techni-
cal difficulties involved in establishing
effective communication over such an
area, especially as they will have to
be installed and equipped for service
in a very short space of time? And II
they furnish perfect communicating
machine will there be any human
brain capable OF mentally digesting
the information supplied him with be-
wildering speed from so many differ.
enf sources. and Of working out In his