The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1914-08-18
BATTLE SCARED
PART OF GERMANY
Route Of French Invaders Has
Seen Many Battles.
TOWNS OFTEN LAID WASTE.

Places on the Road to Coinar, Capital
OF Upper Alsaee, Have Been Rebuilt
Time and Again-Stratesiea and In
dustriaI Importance Of Muelhsusen,
Seat Of Local Government.
The line of the French advance into
southern Germany is through a war
SCARED, war ravaged part OF central
Europe. In every mile Of their march
they are in sight of hilltop crowned
by a castle that once commanded a
strategic point, but that in frontier
wars waged by French, German, Aus
trian or Swiss was fought over, burned
and destroyed until today only pile
Of ruins marks the spot where 1t stood
Alt Breisach. which lies on their
right on the march to Colmar and
which tops great basaltic rock that
rises 260 feet from the Rhine, formerly
was the key to southern Germany and
! to the land which these troops set out
| to conquer. Their forefathers destroy
ed 1t In the last century, and new de-
| limitations of territory and modern
means of defense relegated this IA
nous old fortress to the scrap heap,
and Neu Breisach, Muelhausen, Col
! mar and BelfOrt, which 1t once pro-
tected, have now become military GEN.
| ters and points of strategic Importance.
In their advance they passed through
two valleys. They went from Bel
/ fort through the valley of small trib-
utary of the Savoureuse in the protec-
ton Of their own outer defense and
then, crossing into Germany, followed
tributary of the III to Altkirch. From
there they passed northward along the
valley of III. The small villages along
the way had all suffered much as had
the old defenses. Most of them at
some time in their history had been the
scenes Of bitterly contested battles and
had been so often rebuilt that few Of
them stand on their original sites.
Built on Single Street.
They are generally built along a sim
gle street in struggling line Of houses
with white plastered walls and ex-
two larger stone buildings that are the
storehouse and wine press. The wood
en- structures go up first in the flames
kindled by the torch of the invader or
the fire of the artillery, and the stone
buildings remain standing riddled with
bullets that future generations show
with pride as the towns battle scars.
But the soil of the valleys is rich, and
the people always return when the
storm passes.
Altkirch, which the French captured,
is the largest of the towns on their
march to Muelhausen. 1t is pictur-
esquely situated
Muelhausen is the most important
town of Upper Alsace, for not only is
it the seat of government for the dis
trict, but it is one of the great manu-
featuring points of southern Germany
and a railroad center Of great value,
both commercially and strategically.
OF Value to Germany.
The strategic value of it's railroads
lies in the fact that by them relief can
be hurried to this part Of Alsace on
both sides of the Rhine; troops can be
sent to the defense of the French from
tier at three points and the protec-
ton Of Rhine bridges at Neuenburg
and Alt Breisach.
The character OF Notifications at
Muelhausen has been preserved as one
of the secrets of the German army.
The French works were dismantled
and in their place were substituted de.
fenses as formulated by German mill
tary engineers.
1 Colmar lies seventeen miles to the
north of Muelhausen in the Ill valley.
1t is the capital Of Upper Alsace, but II
has neither as large a population nor
so high rank either as commercial
or manufacturing town. Colmar, be-
sides the main trunk line from Strass-
burg to Basel, has road running up
one of the Alsatian valleys to Muenster
of the French border. 1t has, too, q
line westward. which passes through
the important strategic point Of Neu
Breisach, crosses the Rhine at Ali
Breisach, and from there, sEirting the
Kaiserstuhl. joins the main Baden line
at Freiburg and RugeL
Colmar's Notifications, except on the
mountain side, have never been con
sidered important. Its capture would
still leave Neu Breisach as the chief
protection of this part of the valley
and of the bridge over the Rhine be
meath the ancient fortress of Breisach