The Washington times., 1914-08-30
PARIS FORT|F|CAT|ONS
GREATEST IN WORLD
French Capital Surrounded by
Citade!s, Which Are Almost
ImpregnabIe.

If the Notifications of Paris are called
| into use by the unwelcome appearance
| of the Germans. they should give the
enemy far heavier nut to crack than
was ripe in 1870 Paris has the most
extensive system of fortifcations in
| the world. The outer and inner forts
| are so close and so we'll placed for
cross-fire that to capture Paris the Ger
mans will have to reduce a great many
of them-first the outer ring. then the
inner ing-they cannot pass between
and leave them masked. The outer ring
has circumference of seventy-five
miles, the protected area being about
400 square miles.
The Germans have said that Paris is
the greatest fortress ever known any,
Where, and they are good judges. They
took back to the fatherland a whole
some respect for Paris defenses in 1871.
since then the French have enlarged.
femodeied. and entirely modernized the
fortlfcations and the plans for defend
ing the City of Light
To begin with. the old enceinte, twen-
ty-one and a half miles-sbown on the
map-ls still partly intact. the govern
ment two years ago decided to do awav
with the old bastion. moat and glacis
favored by the engineers of the time of
Louis Philippe. The detached forts of
this period. such as the thunderous Mt
Naler1en. 80 feet above the Seine. were
retained. What Is left Of the original
raris enceinte forme the inner and final
line of the defense of Paris in 1914. The
expansion or the great city compelled
th he preparation OF a new enceinte and
this. a series of seventeen detached
lorts-incluoing the twelve old ones of
Is'o-has been placed at about two miles
from tne city and Is formed by the
torts. infantry works and detached bat
Ieries between 1t should prove of
great strength. Beyond and at a dis
lance from the city of twelve to four-
teen miles is the outer ring of forts
whlch are all placed on the heights
comma anding the valley of the Seine or
on NILS which defend the lower levels to
the eastward of Paris.
Seven Towns In Ring
Within this outer ring are tba s.v.,
towns or Versailles, Sceaux, VilIeneuve-
o., georges. st. Denis ArgenteuiI, Eng
nein and 81 Germain-en-Laye. The
she'ch map has been prepared for the
purpose OF making the idea of the
strates1cal defense easy to understand
more than to be geogra phicallv com.
pleteiy accurate. The railroads for
example. are made straight lines 70
-; oii! Ihe main directions from
faris TO other important war centers
ne Seine Is the only river shown
thoush there are two others Of some
Importance, the Marne and Disc. The
ARM which invests Paris must have
@ .east So"o men, irrespective Of all
neld and covering forces. The actual
cerense of the works. apart from troops
temporarily collected in the fortified
area, requires 10000 men.
The entrenched camp falls into three
sections. the north. the east and the
twenty-four to sixty heavy s1Ins .acb"
most of the heavier guns being of fbe
new FRENCH type. automatic firing and
having an accurate range up to 10 400
Yards-about six miles. Their siege
no"ltzers may do more, though the
French do not seem to possess lny or
the enormously heavy howitzers. thirt =
one or forty-one centimetres. the Ger
mans used successfully at Namur These
rrench forts contain from 600 to opO
men each; the annex batteries with
and six guns each
At Various Heights.
The extreme outer and some of the
inner positions are on various heights
300 to so feet. enabling easy domina-
tons of the lower land between tn.
forts and Paris proper and of the coun-
tryside beyond. There are lines of
batteries between each two of this
chain of forts-some forts being SUD-
ported right and left. by four to eight
batteries, each with its six guns Paris
has A population of about three mil |
lions.
The two sieges OF Paris in ls7O-1 are
among the most dramatic episodes of |
its history. TIL. first siege began Sep
ieInber 19, 1870. with the occupation by |
the Germans OF the heights-now occn-
pied by forts-on the left side of the |
river and the capture OF the unfinished
redoubt of Chatllun. Two days later
The investment was completed by 24O-
100 Germans. General HrOchu. who de- |
Tended the city, had 10000 men. com |
posed for the most part OF hurried |
leVles Of raw soldiers with inexpari- |
need officers and OF national guards. |
which were a source Of weakness rather |
than strength.
The hombardment began on December
Il, three unsuccessful sorties were
made. the last in January following.
ArmiStice was signed January q tho
,apltulation January 2S, and on March
the Germans made their triumphaI en-
try.
ON this day began the preparations
Tor the Commune. which few days
ater reared itself in an insurrection OF
he national guards. This became tn.
second siege of Paris. and lasted until
May =, lS1.