Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-10-17
Bv a MILITARY EXPERT


| PARIS, Oct. 1L-Military experts here
are Of the opinion that the Germans have
by no means rellnquished the hope Of
entering Paris, but, after their expert
ences Of the route via Compiegne and
their repulse on the Marne, they have
now conceived another plan.
The new idea evidently Is to break
| into France at Dunkirk and march down
| In an immense column parallel with tho
sea, but not near enough to risk any
action of the British feet against them, to
Rouen and Havre. II they could seize
either or both of these towns the ad-
vance would be continued along the rich
valley of the Seine. The movement of the
Allies to the Channel apparently has
checked this advance.
In addition, II is quite evident that
Germany's attempt to advance through
the region about verdun has been blocked
by the stubborn resistance of the huge
army defending the Verdun-Toul forts. In
that quarter however. violent fighting
again is reported.
Halfway between the Moselle and
Meuse, as one moves westward In this
quadrangle Verdun Aroul Nancy Metz,
there rise the heights Of the Meuse, Of
which we read so much in the dis
patches It is a region Of hills, woods and
ways, but cut up by numerous strategic
roads, the passes guarded by numerous
Notifications, both on the east, where the
heights open upon the plain of Woevre,
and on the west, where tho passes lead
down to the Meuse. The stronger fortlh-
cations are at the western exits on the
Meuse. They form O. chain along the
eastern bank of the river from Verdun
through Genicourt Troyon. Les Paroches,
st. Mihiel, Camp des ROMANS. The en-
tire region may be visualized as a thick
hedge, an enormous barb-wire entangle-
ment, criss-crossed with trenches and
studded with hidden Notifications and
batteries. The hill of Hattonchatel, 1900
feet high. marks the southern boundary
of this height of land.
Dispatches tell of the French being in
control of the road from Nancy to Metz
as far as Pagny, on the frontier. This
would imply that the important position
OF Pont-a- -Mousson, on the Moselle, which
the Germans occupied early in the cam
paign, Is either in the hands of the
French, or what is more likely, Is being
seriously menaced. In other words, the
German wedge thrust forward to the
Meuse from Metz is being hammered by
the French from Verdun on the west
and from Toul and Nancy on the south;
ard In the official statement from Paris,
that the French are moving forward
south of the road from Verdun to Metz,
there is an indication that the German
wedge is being steadily elected from
French territory. 1t is plain that an
eastward advance Of only five miles by
the French from the heights of the
Meuse might shift the emphasis from
Verdun to Metz.
At Nancy the Bavarians fighting under
the eyes Of the Kaiser were repulsed
The Crown Prince after hammering away
at Troyon was compelled to retreat north
and west to Montfaucon. 1t has been
customary to explain this setback by the
defeat of the German right on the Marne.
But 1t is getting to be more and more ap-
parent that the Germans around Verdun
have not been quite equal to their task.
One possible explanation Is that the !
German left wing had been weakened
for the purpose of reinforcing Won Kluk
N the west and has since been content |
to mark time. More probable is the ex- |
that the French around Verdun |
are present in enormous strength. From |
the first 1t has apparently been Gem
eral Joffre's plan to present an iron |
wall to the enemy in the east. What
ever might happen on the Allied left, the
barrier OF the Meuse must hold. If rein