Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1914-09-20
Germans Plan of Battle Has Been Changed Con-
 siderably.
BUT FIGHTING IS SAME
When kaiser's Troops Menaced the French Capital and Were Within Several Miles of Paris Serves as
 Reminder of Other Battles.
(By George Dufresne)

Paris, Sept. 19.-Though apparent ly the German plan Of battle has been changed and Paris now does not ap- pear to be in any danger of siege, the time when the Kaiser's rtoops menac- ed the French capital and were with in a few miles of the Paris forts serv- ed to remind the people very vividly of the former sieges of Paris by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian war | Of 1S7O-71.
 There are today in Paris thousands of people who remember the former siege, and to them the fevcrish activ- by of a few weeks ago when tons of provisions were massed in the city and herds of cattle gazed in the Bois de Boulogne, were pregnant with memories.
 Prison S1.eae Men,
 On September 3, 1870 Macmahon | surrendered a Sedan and Napoleon III and an army of S1,000 officers and men became prisoners of war that castastrophe brought down the empire and two days later the Pro- visional government was set up in Paris. A fortnight afterwards the investment of the capital was com plete. The victorious Frussian army which had captured Macmahon, had made straight for Paris in the hope of ] nimmediate entry and the Prussfan cavalry hurridly completed the circle of investment by a rapid sweeping movement around the city ot the west. The siege began on September 19. 1 The final armistice was signed on January 2S. Paris therefore stood out for four months and there is little doubt that she would have kept the flag flying for much longer If she had been better provisioned and if there had been the slightest chance of any assistance reaching her from without. But by the end of January !ler two million of population were within a week of absolute starvation and one by one the hopes of outside aid with which. they had been buoyed up were dashed othe ground:
 Everything was in favor of the be- siegers. Politically Paris was in a state of confusion. The fall of the empire necessarily meant that the government was in the hands of men who were absolutely new to the work of administration. Jules Fatie, Gam betta Rochefort and the rest were ardent patriots but they were quite inexperienced.
 Their military position was, if pos sible even worse. Only isolated frag- ments of the regular armies of the empire were at their disposal. The main armies had suffered success sion of shattering blows and were no longer in being. One corps said from Menieres, another newly formed a large number of marines, sailors etc., together made up dependable force of S0,000 men. The Gardes Mobiles from the Provinces furnished another 115.OO0 and the Gardes Nationales, raised in Paris herself, Comprised 100000 more. The military value, however of the last body was very slight. They manned the ram part of the city but rarely came into close contact with the Meisgers. The real defense fell on the men in the direction of Duceot.
 Situation Difficult.
 These forts formed wing around Paris, much closer to the city than the outer ring cf modern forts which are the principal defense today, but still requiring the Germans to hold an encienEte Of fifty miles. At the outset the besiegers had only 100000 men available for the purpose and their situation was one of great diff ficulty, considering the length of their communications, their lack of ade- quate numbers, and above all, the guerilla tactics with which they were harrassed on every side. If there had l been any we'll trained French armies in the province capable Of taking a vigorous offensive. matters might