The Holbrook news., 1912-01-26


 military campaign there are plen'
 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 "an 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 twentieth century war would assume.
 General Falkenhausen discusses the theoretical case of an army of 1,3S0,- 900 men engaged in battle with a 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 150 miles deep-that is, from the rear of one army to the rear of the enemy. But an army of 1,25O,OOO soldiers would be a comparatively small one in an up-to-date warfare, for forces of this numerical strength took the field 80 long ago as the Franco-German campaign in 1870, since when marvel ous developments in military matters have ensued. Tn a struggle between two great European military powers it is quite possible and, indeed, probable, that each of the opposing forces would number something like 3.000,OOO 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 15o,ooo Square Miles.
 If two such mighty armies were en- gagged in battle the field of their op- erations would probably extend quite 50 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 15O,OOO 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 battlefelds 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 areas 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.
 Modern Armies Too Large.
 There will be motor cars and flying machines, steerable balloons and spherical balloons. bicycles and appar- atus for wireless telegraphy and teIe- phony, besides other mechanical con trivances for signaling. Will these suffice 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 very short space of time? And if they furnish perfect communicating machine will there be any human brain capable of mentally digestins the information supplied him with be- wildering speed from so many difer- ent sources. and of working out in his