New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-19
HOLLAND PREPARED
TO DEFEND ITSELF
Army and Navy Are
Ready to Maintain Its
Neutrality.
INUNDATION SYSTEM
GREATEST DEFENCE
100000 Men Mustered-NaVy Is
Small, but Coast Defences
Are Powerful.
,c,,,..,,,t.,,, ., Tno Associated Pres,J

Correspondence o. Tho Associated Pfes'''
Amsterdam, April 10 Holland IS
keeping in training a formidable army
and a small but efficient feet. With
her coast defences. she is prepared to
defend herself If she is threatened
from any side during the European war
The nation is fully aware that Its
armed forces may at any moment be
called upon 70 strike blow to main
tain its neutrality, and its statesmen
know that this necessity may come
with terrible suddenness.
The Dutch land forces, in times OF
peace insignificant compared with the
Continental armies Of the great powers,
have been augmented by the calling up
Of reserves until they now total over
100000 men.
Altogether seventeen yearly classes
of troops, averaging about l5,OOO men
for each year from :s99 to 1915, in
elusive. have oeen called to the colors.
Seven of the classes, composed or the
Younger men, belong 70 the landweer
and the other ten TO the militia. Since
August the men have been constantly
exercised, and have reached condl-
ton Of preparedness and fitness such as
never has been known IN the Dutch
army.
Army Placed at Strategic Points.
Thu, army comprises, first, the field
army of approximately 10000 men, and
second, the troops forming the city gar
risons wherever they might be most
required.
The field army, which would bear the
burden Of resisting any attack on Dutcn
territory. is not divided into army
corps, but into four divisions, each
composed of cavalry, infantry, artil-
lery, engineers and transport. lhese
occupy strategic points.
The garrison troops occupy the larg-
or cities and forts, and would not be
called on 10 take the field. The sur
Mus army is distributed all over the
country i'm training stations, where the
men are drilled in field work, digging
trenches. erecting wire entanglements,
shooting and carrying out long route
marches.
Inundation Its Greatest Defence.
Besides the resistance to an invader
offered by the field army, Holland
possesses what is regarded as its most
valuable defensive asset in its system
of inundation, which in q few day
can turn a wide belt Of territory into
a swami. impassable 10 the llghtcst
troops. and covered by water too shall
low for the use of boats.
Should the field army be defeated
il would retire behind the first line Of
water defence, after resisting long
enough for the inundation TO become
effective. In the improbable event Of
the enemy overcoming the dlihculteS
Of the flooded country in this tlrst
zone the field army would retire be-
hind the second water line lnclosing
the larger cities, which It would then
defend with the landweer and land
storm already there.
As to its naval defences, Hollands
blueiackets rank among the best in the
world, and they have the traditions Of
centuries behind them, but the vessels
which they man are small and would
have very little chance in an encounter
with the heavy ships Of the bigger ma
tions. The most powerful of the
Dutch vessels, De lever Proyincien
displaces only $500 tons and there are
five others Of about 5000 tons each, all
Of them with a speed Of about Is knots.
Some of them are fifteen years old.
Coast Defences Powerful.
Coast defence vessels, protected
cruisers, gunboats. destroyers and tor
pedo boats, some Of them modern,
others old. make up the rest of the
feet, which, however, possesses very
good guns. There are also half a dozen
submarines built within the last few
years, and a strong movement has been
started to accelerate the construction
Of large number Of these craft.
Coast defence in Holland is very
powerful, many 32-centimetre guns be-
ing in position at all vital points, while
extensive mine fields protect the ports
and river mouths, and the coast is well
supplied with torpedo stations, from
which the projectiles can be launched
against any approaching vessels.
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