The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1914-11-15
Cold Is Expected to Help
Instead of Hinder OPP
eratiOns of Troops
GERMAN FORCE HELD
BRIDGE BY A RUSE
Officer of Bicycle Squad Told French
Reservists They Were English Forti-
flying the Bridge Against In
vaders-Won Iron Cross

Berlin, November 1-(Correspond-
ence of the Associated Press. 1.-THE
prospect of a winter campaign in Rus
STA presents nos terrors to the German
military writers, now dealing with the
problem of long continuance of the
war Far from anticipating repeti-
.ion OF Napoleon's disastrous experience
In the Moscow campaign, they look
upon the great Corsicans conquerors,
General December and General Janu-
airy, as allies who will remove for them
two of the greatest obstacles to opera
lions against the Russians, namely: the
transportation problem and that of
overcoming the natural defenses or tho
country-its swarnps and rivers.
The expert of the Deutsche Tages
zeitung points out too, that the Rus
slams, in order to stem the German adj
vance, have relied largely on entrench-
ments laid out on a tremendous scale.
Once the ground is solidly frozen the
construction of such works for defense
will be greatly hampered.
Every battle has demonstrated the
value to the Russians of the trenches
and other military field works." says
all cases to take positions so protected,
and the Russian successes have been
mostly due to the laying-out of forth
fled positions In the open field
With the ground frozen and no
longer easily worked with pick and
shovel, the laying-out of earth works
will be made extremely difficult, and
the Russians, whose forte from the
times of Napoleon to Mukden, has lain
in the defense of field Notifications,
Will thus lose the most important fac
tor in defensive tactics.
The Fifth Element
Troops operating on the offensive
must deal with the fifth element as
Napoleon called the Russian mud. In
the winter the bad roads are covered
with snow and may then be used by
sleighs, and the great rivers and
swamps which form the principal fac
tors in the Russian defense lines, will
then be covered with ice, permitting
easy crossing everywhere.
1.-The idea that winter was the best
season in which an attack on Russia
might be made is that of a genial SOL
der of history, Charles XII of Sweden,
who afterwards demonstrated the cor
rectness of his conclusion. He waited
with his advance into Russia in 1707 until
cold weather had set in, and after the
W
frozen over, he crossed the vistula on
December 20 and advanced rapidly as far
as wilma, where he intended to over
take the retreating Russians. The enemy,
however, retreated again, and this win
ter campaign brought no result, because
King Charles could not get the Russians
to stand.
Napoleon counted on the aid OF win
ter in his campaign in 1906. But the
weather was against him. December of
that year left the roads as soft as they
had been in the autumn, and the French
were obliged to quarter themselves upon
the Poles and wait for cold weather Frost
finally came on February l and six days
later the battle at Prussian-Eylau was
fought. Napoleon, as well as King
Charles, awaited themselves of the op-
portunity offered by harder roads and
frozen rivers.
GAS Carl Blebtrau, in his work on the
campaign of Napoleon in Russia in 1872
has shown, 1t was not the cold that de-
manded the greatest sacrifices in human
lives. Napoleon lost 100000 men on his
advance into Russia and only 100000 men
on his retreat. 1t was also shown then
that the Russians suffered as much from
the cold as did the French and that both
armies were hampered by the ice. Napo-
Icons retreat was due to shortage of
powder, only one-half of the quantity
Thought aVallapie being on hand. The
supply service had failed altogether"
Major Moraht. the military expert of
the Tageblatt, points out that railroads
have also revolutionized conditions since
Napoleons time. Railroad construction
now advances almost fast as an army
and to an army provided with half a
dozen lines of steel leading back to it's
base the problem of ammunition and food
supply presents no difficulties. even in
Russia.
Held Bridge by Ruse
In the recent operations of the Ger
mans against the French on the left