Omaha daily bee., 1914-11-08
FRENCH FORTS QUITE WEAK
Most Of Them 0ld-Fashioned and
Easily Crumble.
GUNS ARE ALL sHoRT-RANGED
Heavy Weapons Generally Out
distsnced by the More Modern
Pieces Of the German
Invaders.

Correspondence OF thea ssociated Press)
THE HAGUE, Oct. S1-Accordlng TO
recent reports in the German press. not
all the French Notifications are so strong
as has been believed. Several Of those
which have been taken by the Germans
are said to have been antiquated. little
effort TO modernize them having been
spent on them. a noteworthy example
OF this, and one which is rather typical
OF what the Germans assert they have.
found, Is the case OF Fort Lee Ayvelles.
which, located almost due south of Me-
zieres-Charleville, guarded the bridges
and fords of tho Mouse in that locality.
Describing what he saw in tho fort
after II had been occupied by the Ger
mans, Henry Binder. war correspondent
of the Berliner Tagebiett. says in the
issue OF that paper Of October Q, among
other things:
IAN French forts along the Belgian
border have been constructed with such
carelessness that one can easily deter
mine the degree TO which the French
depended upon their Belgian nelghbor.
Generally the forts were left In the state
they were when built. and since the plan
of their construction oates back TO fifty
years ago the strategical weakness OF
several or most OF them. Is plain enough.
Example OF weakness.
"A typical example OF this is Fort Lee
Ayyelles. which guarded the bridges and
fords OF the Meuse south OF Mezleres-
Charieville. and which was shot out OF
the ground with 300 shots from our TWEEN
ty-ono-centImetre mortlrs. The fort was
built In 1878 and was armed with forty
pieces Its main armament were two
batteries OF six guns each OF nine-cent-
meter caliber. dating from the years 1873
and 1880. and which had a range OF only
four kilometcrs. CThe range OF even the
smallest German siege pieces is never
less than eight kilomotrcrs.)
I'm addition there were found in the
fort several tweive-centimeter bronze
guns which had been cast in 1884. while
III the easements we found several nit
railieuses and five-barrelled revolver
guns which had been intended to sweep
the meats In the fort we're also found
several old mortars from the year 1872
old muszle -ioaders with the typical pyra-
mids OF round cannonballs beside them
guns OF a type we use in our villages to
fire salutes.
The fort showed neglect everywhere,
Not alone was its armament antiquated
and primitive. but the management before
and during the attack must have been
defective The road to the fort had been
blocked merely by felied trees and an
occasional barbed-wire ENHANCEMENT, and
trees before ono Of the batteries OF the
forts made It necessary TO replace II
after our troops had arrived. TO do this
4 winch had 10 be usedh But they sue
hto position. This gun was intended to
serve against aircraft above the fort. and |
an effort had been made TO give II the
necessary high-anglc elevation by dig
cling trench around Il In which the linn !,
Der rested. Even at that the elevation
secured was Insufficient
Artillery Fsre Precise.
Our artillery bombarded the fort from
a northwesterly direction gnd worked |
with a precision that would be hard to
equal, one OF the batteries in the. fort
had been put out Of action by a buil's-oye
shot for each piece. and in other cases
the barrel Of the gun had been torn from
the carriage. leaving scrap heap of
barrel wheels, timber parts and masonry.
One Of the barrels had dents four cent?
peters deep where fragments OF our
t@fothh nhtfio udu hft "
In this helpless cage a garrison OF
about 900 men had been stationed Il Is
understood that the men fled as soon as
fire was opened by our artillery. Instead
Of placing this force in trenches. they de-
pended upon this poor position. with the
result that their defeat was complete
morally and physically.
There Is the grave Of the poor com
mandant who witnessed the futile strug-
ale and then saw his men utterly routed /
by a numerically superior enemy. The
poor man ended his life simple German
soldiers have honored this deed by a
massive cross Of wood upon which they
painted In good lettering tho words:
Here rests the brave commandment.
l'e found Il impossible TO survive the
fan OF the fort In his charge n. I. T..
With this simple cross of wood The Ger
man soldier honors in YOU the hero who
did his duty.~-second Landw chr Pioneer
Company VIII AK. September. 1914" |