Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-08-16

| London. Aug. Whether the
great war now devastating all Europe
is destined to last for years as Ma
poleon predicted, or only for a matter
of months, the military operations on
land betweent England France. Bel
GUM, Russia, Servia and Montenegro
on one side and Germany and Aus
! tria-Hungary on the other will take
place in three theatres of war" the
western theatre where England.
France and Belgium will meet the
| hordes Of Germany, the eastern "the-
atre where Russia, Austria and Ger
many will meet in battle. and the
southern theatre" where up to now
| only the Servians and Ausrtians have
| been engaged. but where Russia may
| take hand if her troops get by the
| Germans.
! All of these war THEATRES which
! is how Their are designated in military
! parlance, are hemmed in on all sides
by cordons of Notifications France.
Germany and Russia have, since the
Franco-Prussian war in 1870 for the
! most part, built strings of forts all
along their frontiers. 1t was the
Belgian forts at Liege that gave such
shock to the Germans and caused
the kaiser's troops first to pause and
then fall back, leaving thousands of
| their dead on the field All over
Europe there are groups of such forti-
fications, where there is bound to be
desperate and :sanguinary fighting.
These Notifications, classified ac-
cording to the nation by which they
are owned, are situated as follows:
France. l...=4
Following the war of 1870, France
constructed several groups of perma-
nent Notifications, parallel to and
two days march from the frontier,
the Moselle group extending from Bel
fort to Epinal; the Mouse group, be-
! tween Toul and Verdun; another
group from Epinal to Toul, and
group extending between LongWy and
Montmedy.
In addition to these forts, the
French border in the south is closed
| for Notifications at Langres, Besancon
and Dion. Besides these, France has
ample Notifications at Briancon, Lille,
Bayonne, Brest. Danai and Grenoble.
Around these fortAwould take place
the decisive fighting of the Franco
German war, should the Germans sue
coed in defeating the French now in
Alsace, and also get by the doughty
Belgians. Should France be beaten
back from the frontier, She still would
have defenses at Paris, Dunkirk, Lor-
lent, Cherbourg and elsewhere.
Germany.
Apparently more fearful of France
than any other antagonist, Germany
has concentrated most of her fortifi-
cations along the Rhine. There she
has fortified Neu Breisach, Mainz. Co.
blentz, Germersheim and Strassburg
In Alsace the Germans have the forti-
fed camp of Moleshein. In Lorraine
Didenhofen.
On the east, against Russia, Ger
many has the fortresses of Posen,
Koenigsburg, Breslau and others.
l Should Germany be defeated on her
frontiers, she still would have count
less fortresses, including those at
Cologne, Ulm, Magdeburg, Spandau,
kustrin, Kiel, Danzig and Neisse.
Russia.
One the German-Austrian frontier,
Russia has line of Notifications at
i Warsaw, ROwna, Kitowsky, Grodno
and Kowno. In addition to these,
Russia has established a smore or
more of fortified military camps along
her frontier.
:, Russia has a secondary line of
Notifications extending through Viii
ma. Riga, Vitebsk, Smolensk and
Kiev. Besides these forts, Russia has
massive defenses at Warsaw, Odessa
Helsingfors and St. Petersburg.
Austria. Hungary.
TIL main Austrian frontier fOrtifi-
cations are at Cracow. Przemysl, Bud
apest and Semlin. Also Vienna and
other interior cities are strongly for
titled.
+ England.
The. entire coast OF Great Britain
is protected by Notifications, but it is
scarcely within the range of possibil-
J ity that with the huge English fleet
on the sea, there will be any land
fighting in the British Isles.
Servia.
4 Belgrade, the capital, is the only
fortified city in Servia. but the coun.
try for the most part is mountainous
and the ridges and valleys form nat
ural defenses of the Balkans thai
would make it hazardous for Austri
ans and Germans to attempt to invade
the country.
Supplementing the forts built along
the frontiers of the various countries
. now at war. almost the whole of Eur
ope Is we'll protected by natural de
lenses, mountains, rivers and valley
narrow passes and def1les. The coun
try along the French border, the east
ern part of Belgium and western Ger
; many is billy and crossed by noun
tain chains. Three rivers and thei
i valleys of prime military importanc,