The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-09-09
THREE CHAINS Of
STRONG FORTS
PROTECT PARIS
Defenses of Frances Capital
Have No Equal Anywhere
Else in the World.
THEY COST FIFTY MILLIONS
Total Area Encompassed by These
Tremendous Qualifications, Relied
on to Balk the Germans, 10 at
Least 500 Square Miles.

Ever since the terrible days Of No
rember and December, 1870, when the
German army camped at the very
doors Of Paris, the French have been
building forts to withstand the Ger
man armies.
All Of France Is heavily fortified, but
about the city Of Paris in particular
has all the ingenuity Of French engi'
neers been applied to annihilate any
army that might again reach to the
capital.
Should invading Germans break
through the network Of frontier forts,
should they elect to skirt the heavily
fortified cities and hills and strike at
Paris, then these invaders would meet
a line Of Notifications the like OF
which the world has never see
Surrounded by Network.
The network of forts about Paris
contains SO many minor forts that
none but those at the French war OF.
fee know their actual number and
strength.
The tourist who visits the country
frequently comes upon a little clump
Of trees about which the ground is I'm.
cultivated, the grass uncut and the
weeds rank. If he moves close to the
clump Of trees he gets a glimpse Of q
block Of masonry that reminds him of
some neglected ruin.
II he tries to find out what sort of
ruin 1t Is and walks up to the clump of
trees he sees not a neglected ruin laid
low, but q bit Of clean-cut masonry
sunk into the earth some thirty or
forty feet, in the center of which Is a
prison like building with huge eyelets
cut here and there.
If the visitor has any imagination,
while he sees NJ guns and no soldiers,
he can fancy that behind those huge
eyelets big guns Turk.
Baked by "HaIte La!"
If he attempts, however, to verify
his fancy by following the footpath
that leads through the bushes and
grass up to the sunken wall Of ma
sorry and earth thrown up loosely,
carelessly, he will find himself sudden
ly facing a French soldier, who cries:
"Halte La"
Then the visitor Is very sure that he
has stumbled upon a fort, the guns of
which in peace time are merely guard
ed by a squad Of artillerymen, but
which in wal time are guarded by a
half regiment ready to hurl miles
through the air hideous, death-dealing
projectiles with the precision Of a
sharpshooter.
These artillerymen know to a foot
every bit Of ground for miles around.
just how their guns must be pointed
to reach a certain spot and annihilate
an enemy.
While Paris has had her walls, draw
bridges and danking towers and
trenches for a thousand years, 1t was
in the year 1910 that the growing city
was first protected against artillery
fire. The celebrated Notifications OF
Paris within five years were completed
at an expense Of s30,0O0,0 900.
May Still Be Seen.
These Notifications which are still
to be seen today. are 81 miles in length
and have no less than n%inety-four bas-
lions. The ramparts are 80 feet in
height, with a parapet 10 feet in width.
The moat, In which cows Craze in
peace times, is 4S feet wide.
But the range Of modern artillery
has practically made these fortifca-
tons useless, except to repel an as
sault Of old-fashioned hand-to-hand
fighting, when, perhaps, a half million
men would try on all sides to force an
entry into the city. 1t was these old
Notifications which held back the Ger
mans in 1870.
To keep back the invader, however.
to a distance OF at least thirty miles
on all sides, is the reason for the exist
ence of the chain Of outside forts,
which have been built at an expense OF
at least $50, 1000, 900.
Small Army Needed.
There are three great chains Of forts
about the Paris Of today. The first
circles the city at the Notifications,
the second on the higher plains two
miles distant from the city, and the
third at a distance of twelve to fifteen
miles, according to the lay Of the
ground and the hills that afford points
Of strategic defense and offense.
Were any army to dare to come with
in reach Of the outside chain of forts,
it is not too much to say that the In
vaders could be held off and perhaps
literally destroyed by a few hundred
gunners. And other French troops
would be employed merely as a safe
guard to hold back any stray body of
troops that might steal up to II of
the forts.
While the actual number Of these
forts-and even their position-is
known to only a few heads, it is estl-
mated that there are no less than a to-
tai Of two hundred. They are planned
to work together like the crew of a
boat. Each big one has a particular
The ShoWstone-