The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-10-21
VAR Will Be ADUEL
ENGLAND and GERMANY Will
fight TIE war OUT
like NAPOLE0N'S WAR

Capture of Antwerp Means Lengthen-
inc of War According to Expert
Opinion of The New York Sun
German Occupation of Belgium In.
sures Bitter Fight.
The New York Evening Sun says
the Immediate value of Antwerp to
the Germans is found in the fact that
it establishes their position in Bel
gium solidly. Hitherto with the
Scheldt fortress in the hands of the
Belgiums the Germans have been in
the position of an assailing force
which has carried the outer works of
a fortress but is still outside the cita-
del.
Just as long as the Belgians held
Antwerp the Germans had no safe
line of defence north and west of the
Meuse and the Sambre. They were
compelled to hold this line. based on
the fortresses of Liege, Namur and
Maubeuge, in great strength both to
protect their lines of communication
and to assure their position in Bel
GUM, which remained the one avail
able gate to France.
In case of an eventful retreat
from the Aisne the Germans were
confronted with the possibility of an
attack from the north, the west and
the south at the same ime, and their
defensive line would have to follow
the outline of a huge V with the
points on Liege and Metz. Such a
tremendous extension of lines would
require immense forces to hold them,
and the advantage of numbers was
bound to be against them.
Antwerp taken, the whole German
line shcrtens up automatically and
follows the Scheldt south from Ant
werp by Client in a broad curve to
the French frontier. Three-quarters
of Belgium is now solidly held. All
danger of attacks from the north, of
raids upon the line of communication
vanishes. Save for the little block Of
territory between the Scheldt and the
North Sea the whole of King Albert's s
kingdom, with whatever resources 1t
still retains, is in German possession.
First of all, then, the Germans
have completely tablished them
selves in Belgium, and the task of
driving them out will be long and
tedious, even if the Allies presently
succeed along the Aisne. Weeks and
months of persistent fighting must,
in the most optimistic view of allied
prospects, precede any arrival OF
French and British armies on the
Belgo-German frontier. In addition
Germany will all this time hold the
Belgian gate to France and if sue
cessful against Russia can presently
concentrate her masses for a me-
drive at Paris.
Another advantage quite as imme-
date is that certain number Of Ger
man troops are now released for SER
vice in France The escape of the
bulk of the Belgian army from Ant
werp, however, and it's junction with
British troops between Ostend and
Client, plainly compels the retention
of large portion Of the army used
against Antwerp in the north until
Ostend is taken.
Patiently the new fighting just
breaking out around Ghent is the
opening of a German drive TO COM
plete the conquest of Belgium. If
Ostend can be taken then Germany
has nothing more to fear from flank
attack from the Belgian coast, and
apart from minor garrison her
whole Belgian army can face south
to meet the Allies.
In the meantime the fighting north
and west of Lille suggests that the
Germans, who have also been report
ed at Ypres, are driving wedge be-
tween the allied armies moving north
by Arras toward Lille and the Anglo
Belgian force standing before Ostend.
This is preliminary to strong drive
at Ostend.
AS Napoleon swept Sir John
Moore's troops back to Corunna and
then out of Spain altogether, the Ger
mans are now seeking to capture or
at the least eXpel the last organized
force in Belgium Probably the strug-
gle along the Aisne, so far as the
Germans are concerned, will remain
defensive until the Ostend operation
is terminated.
1t remains to consider the possible
use of Antwerp as a base for attack
upon England. The neutrality OF the
Scheldt is guaranteed by Holland,
but it is unlikely that Germany would
listen to Dutch protest if there were
actual advantage to be had by using
the river But passive consent on
the part of Holland to such an at
tempt would inevitably mean the
blockade of Holland by the British
fleet and the complete closing of the
single direct avenue to the outside
world which Germany now possesses.
Napoleon held Antwerp until his
fall in 1914, but British control OF
the sea made this city an empty
threat so far as England was con-
cerned. If the Germans should de-
feat the British at sea then the real
value of Antwerp to them would be
established. Until that time it seems
destined rather to be an incidental
annoyance and a future danger in the
larger view than an immediate peril.
Antwerp in German hands is, quite
patiently. a guarantee that England
will continue to fight William II as
she did Napoleon. More and more
each day the war is growing into a
duel between the German and the
Briton. In taking Belgium Germany
has made a long advance toward her
greatest rival. That she will surren-
der Belgium unless completely de-
feated is utterly improbable, for hold
ing it she approaches the goal she has
long sought.
More than anything that has yet
happened the capture Of Antwerp
points toward a long war. 1t gives
Germany a potential advantage in her
contest with Great Britain for world |
empire which must compel the Brit
sh people to persist in the struggle. |
The Great War now in an even more |
complete fashion takes on tie char |
acter of the Napoleonic conflict; for