The sun., 1914-08-30

Batterie du Champ de Mars. the Bat
tcrie de Nauberterre. the Battere des
Arches, &c.
Fort Cormeilles, 1t an elevation of 55d
feet. with a liae of batteries and re-
doubts running for a considerable dis.
tance to the south southeast across the
neck OF the peninsula formed by the
bend OF the Seine between Argentelil
, md MontiRny les Cormeilles.
Fort de Domont.
Fort De Montlignon.
Fort de Montmorcncy, at an elevation
of sos feet
A notable feature of the foregoing
forts is the height at which so many
are placed. thus insuring wide zone Of
effective Arc. Most of the larger works
are heavL armor plated or their guns
mounted In steel cupolas or .urrets.
Some, of the rides are placed lrAon dis
appearing mounts, and but very few Of
them can he reached by direct fire, Ia
fact the ma jority OF the heavier weapons
have been so placed that they will fire
from behind the ramparts, using high
angle trajectorics and aimed by means
| OF position finders.
OF course 1t Is ou; of the question to
tell either the. number or the exact
emplacement of most of the guns, but
fair index of what is in store for the
Germans should they get near enough to
Paris TO invest II can be gathered from
the following list, which describes the
kinds Of weapons available.
81 inch rifles throwing an eighty
eight pound projectile.
6.l inch short rife using the same
weight Of shell This has been a IA
vorite weapon with the French authori-
ties
| A. inch gun throwing proJect!les
weighing from thirty-nine TO forty-fve
! pounds, depending upon the kind used,
| 81 inch rapid fire guns, which can
| be utilized for the defence OF intermed!-
ate works and for sorties.
1915 incfS riied breech loading mortars
capable OF throwing projectiles of from
800 TO 40 pounds.
| Sc inch hreech loading rifed mortars
throwing projectiles of 220 pounds
In addition to these there are still
! later big rapid Are guns and very many
| automatic machine guns.
| Some years ago during manpuvres
| only two OF the forts were subjected to
attack, and vet to foreign military OH
servers 1t was plain that the force in
these two defences reasonably justified
| the assumption that there were prob
ably close on to 5000 guns available in
| the complete defences of the city. The
revolving turrets or cupolas are very
| much akin to the similar gun cmplace-
| ments in. Belgium, and the manner in
which the Liege forts have endured
bombardment Is a pretty fair index Of
what can be expected Of those envelop-
ing Paris.
| Armored trains have been provided
! for the hundreds OF miles OF railway
! tracks within the circuit OF the forts,
and ample provision has been made for
| placing light batteries upon especially
| constructed narrow gauge lines, For
years the military authorities OF Paris
have had ready thousands OF tons OF
rails and ties for an emergency, and
maneuvres have proved that these
tracks can be laid with great speed and
for long distances in an astonishingy
brief while. Upon cars designed for this
work 81 inch guns can be mounted
and II is said that the whole operation
Of stopping the train, aiming, firing
and moving on again can be accom-
plished In less than a minute.
The same railway system is intended
| 10 taciltdte tne tsH>poi ta'ioH VI am
muniton and supplies to every one of
the forts and, In addition, to make /,
possible to hasten the concentration OF
large bodies OF troops at threatened
points. To meet this system success
fully the Germans would have TO con-
struct a double II not triple line OF
rails back from their firing line, and
this would be an immense undertaking
which would Involve much time and
preparation. without such conven-
ience and with front at least one hun