Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1913-05-19
Admits That United States
Coast Batteries Are Vul-
nerabIe So Far as Assaults
From Land Are Concerned,
BUILT WITH VIEW OF
REPELLING SEA ATTACKS
Cabinet Officer Declares Plans
Have Been Made for Pro-
vding Remedy for Existing
Defects in Time Of War;

ias noRNiHe JoUshAl SPECIAL trAsrn WAC
Washington. MAY lS-ScoreturN Of
War Garrison. la prepared state-
ment today. discussed the prepared
ness of soahoard cities 90 defend
themselves against land attack Mr..
Garrison emphasized at the outset of
his statement that ne had issued lt
because of recently published arr
ti,le respecting the land side dsfenscs
of our coast
Here Is the statements
My attention has been directed to
a recent article respecting the land
side defense of our coast dcfenses
IA i- perfectly true that many OF
our scaboard defonses would find SEE
rious difficulty in defending thcm-
selves by their own earrisons against
q hand attack hy "a numerous force.
and Il Is also true chat they have been
constructed in many instances. with
out any reference To attack coming
from the land side, but as was natural.
ia view of their purpose. almost whol-
ly with view 10 giving protection to
the cities and hnrhofs behind them
against an attack hv "a hostile fleet
This being their principal function.
pretty much everything else was sub
ordnated to this end. and IN many
cases. fortifieatiuns were SO placed ia
the effort to secure the best field over
the sea front and channels as 10 rem.
der their defense from and atiu 4
extremely difficult
II can he said of many Of them
IN fact most of them. teNcept those
which are on islands,. that their de-
fense In case Of any serious attack
from the land side must rest upon
bodies Of mobile troops assigned 10
the respective e. ties such mobile
troops would probably bee drawn 10
great extent from the militia. The
coast prtillery troops while available
for certain amount of work as in-
fnnuy, are primarily trained for SER
vice with the big guns. and cinnot
we'll be assigned to other work with
out Jeopardzing the eff iency Of the
work for which they are maintained
so that, ms stated above. i'm case Of a
land attack. 1t will be necessary to ass
troops to defend the works
Before the advent Of the modern
gun. the common type Of fortress
construction was ia the form Of an en-
closed work. capable Of defense
against land attack by it's own garr-
son. but With the advent of the mod
crn guns, and the construction Of
works involving great outlay Of money
Insufficient attention was given 10 the
problem of their defense from land
attack, and. as q result many of them
are so situated and constructed as to
be liable TO successful attack hy even
moderate forces landing from ships
with view to correcting this de
feet lines Of land defense works have
been laid out. and necessary instruc-
tions prepared for their prompt con-
structlon in time of threatened war
In future construction it is believed
that much more attention VIII be de-
voted to making each individual
group Of works reasonably secure
against land attack, even though un-
supported by troops other than It's
own garrison Certainly the construc-
ton should be OF SUCH "a type as 10
enable defense sufficiently long to
permit arrival Of assistance from
coast guard troops.
"But after all this whole question
brings up very forcbly the folly of
depending upon fortresses alone
Their usefulness is very much re-
strlcted unless there is an adequate
mobile army The neal p4plgq OF
sen eoasls defe1isrs is ii ptftcuti hoF
die fleets bomhdrding cities behind
them. occupying the harbors whose
entrance they arc designed TO close
or bombafding fleets taking refuge
In these harbors Their sums are Of
q heavy type, necessarily too heavy
in most instances for work against
troops. Their function Is TO fight ar
mored ships Their flanks and rcars
must be protected by mobile troops
as must the cities which lie behind
them In case the enemy decides TO
land at point outside the range
Of the guns and make his attack upon
the city from a point overland It
would not be practicable with the
present mounting 10 turn great guns
constructed for this purpose against
bodies Of troops operating IN the W.
cinity Of cities This is the work
which can only be done by the mo-
bile army.
IN short, all systems Of coast De-
fcnse which look to security through
Qualifications alone are destined to be
OF little use in time of real war The
Notifications are only part Of the
defense and whilc they are really ade-
quate for the purpose for which they
are constructed. they are fixed de-
fenses effective only over the area
within range Of their guns, beyond
this range an enemy IS entirely free
to operate unless he is opposed by
mobile troops
1T was to demonstrate the fact