Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-08-20
IN LolU

CAM PAlGN IN BELGIUM.
The German campaign against
France, which began with the inva
sion Of Belgium, indicates clearly that
the Germans are attempting to repeat
the march which took the Prussian
forces into Paris over forty years ago
Similarly, the French plan Of cam
paign has remained the same ever
since the Franco-P russian War and
contemplates defensive tactics, with
the idea Of compelling the German
armies to shatter themselves against
the chain Of intrenched camps and
f%ortresses which guard the 200 miles
of the frontier between Switzerland
and Belgium.
Marching to Paris" will not prove
anything like SO easy a task as it was
in 187O-1871. The artificial defenses
are located SO skillfully in conjunc-
ton with the natural obstacles that
there is little scope for the develop
ment of an elaborate strategy Of at
tack.
It has been stated recently in the
French Senate and in the columns OF
French newspapers that the defenses
of the northeastern frontiers have
been allowed to deteriorate since they
were originally planned in 1875. Crit
icisms have been made, based upon
the alleged authority Of high officers
of the army and the Ministry of War,
that the works as they stand are out
Of date and equipped with insufficient
artillery. But military observers
have commented that it was more
than strange that such snares were
permitted to pass without denial by
the present heads of the War Depart
ment. In other words, there has been
a shrewd suspicion that the French
may have been glad to allow their
defenses to be deprecated as tending
to render their prospective foes over
confident, and so much more easy to
reckon with.
The probability, however, is that
the Germans will find that the task
of invading France becomes tremend-
GUS after the first few miles have
been traversed In order to reduce
many of the French fortresses, regu-
lar siege operations will have to be
undertaken, and, In the meantime, the
French field armies must be reckoned
with. 1t is the idea Of the French
general stan, Of course, that their
Russian allies will be knocking at
Germany's eastern gates long before
the passage of the vosges mountains
has been forced by the invaders.
The Germans will be fronted by q
chain of French frontier %fortresses,
which may be expected to furnish 3
base for the resistance Of the French
army in the field in that quarter.
These fortresses are interdependent,
and would have to be reduced or iso.
lated by the invaders before they
were passed-even supposing that the
Germans succeeded in driving the
French field army.
From all these considerations it
may be seen that the task the Ger
mans are confronting is not an easy
one. They are in the position Of
troops operating in advance Of their
bases, with the problem of subsist-
ing in hostile territory, and they are
faced by an enormous field army,
probably almost, If not quite, as nu-
merous as themselves, as well as by
line after line Of permanent FORTH.
cations. Obviously. If the French ma
terial Of war is up to the mark, and
II they possess a couple Of general
officers of more than mediocre STRAIT
egic ability, the repelling Of the Ger
man attack should be possible.
TO grasp the significance of the sit.
uation, it is first necessary to under
stand the geographic peculiarities of
the theater Of war. AS has been said,
the Franco-German fronties stretches
for about 200 miles in an irregular
line. jabbing q triangular point be.
tween the best provinces Of Alsace
and Lorraine, from the point where
the French, Swiss and German from
tiers join, near Montbeliard, to the
Luxembourg frontier. The meeting
with the German frontier is also sig
nalized by the meeting at right an
giles of the Jura mountains with the
Vosges range. The Vosges. ridge, the
FrancoIGerman frontier from the
Swiss boundary to a point about mid.
way between Strassburg and Nancy,
presents a rugged series of tree.clad
slopes and narrow passes to any in.
vader.
Behind the Vosges, the line in the
French permanent defense follows the
valley Of the Moselle, and is contin.
ued beyond the Belgian frontier