Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-03-28
CAN ALLIES PASS
LINE OF THE RHINE?
Will River Prove to Be Absolute
Protection for German
Empire?
HIllAiRE BELLOC THINKS NOT
Famous Military Critic Believes
Stream May Be Crossed by
Kaiser's Enemies.
HILLAIRE BELLOC THINKS NOT
ny HILLAIRE BELLOC.
From Inst sundnyo

Continued From Inst sundnyo
TN last Sundays article Mr. Bclloc
showed how tho Rhine frontier would
present q 450-mile obstacle TO an In
vader In the event that the German
army should fall back on it rs n line
OF defense. The concluding para
graphs of that article were given up
to definition Of the word obstacle,
used In a military sensel
II column OF those trying to get
across an obstacle manage to pass
through the defile and debouch, and,
having debouched, to establish n posi-
ton on tho further side. that position
ID what the French call "Tete de
Pont." or "bridgehead," and the posses
alon OF such Is essential to an army
attempting to cross an obstacle. Once
such bridgehead Ia secured, whether
the further end OF n causeway across
a marsh or tho further foot Of n pass
across mountains, or tho further ex-
tremity OF any kind OF detile, the defile
can then be used securely by more and
more men who pass in succession across
IL and overcome the obstacle under its
shelter. for securely held bridgehead
guarantees ones debouching without
molestation beyond the defle.
To these first principles must be
added another, which is as follows:
When def1les are Of an artificial char
acter, the defensive which Is RELYING
upon the obstacle to protect It will.
OF course. destroy such dcfilcs. For .
Instance. II the defenders are lying
behind marsh, and there Is cause
way across the march. they will In
their retirement destroy the causeway.
and the enemy attacking them will have
to re-estabfish the artificial dehle--to
rebuild the causeway-hefore no can
get across. This is n process which
VIII take some time. and can also. in
many circumstances. be intcrfered with
while II Ia in progress
Now. in the light OF all this, consider
the special case of the obstacle pre-
scented by river too deep to ford. such
as Is the German portion of the Rhine.
Note that 1t Is an absolute obstacle.
Men unaided by art cannot get across
II at all, only by swlmming-that Is.
they must cross with their arms and
ammunition and provisions
The only possible deGles over such an
obstacle arc bridges-and bridges can
always, OF course, be broken down bv
the enemy defending the obstacle If
ne has few hours start OF YOU Your
only way OF getting across the obstacle.
then. Is to build q new bridge.
This Is done In the case of broad
river most quickly by laying across.
Side by side. n chain OF shallow boats
called pontoons. These are planked
over. and n road thus made But in
proportion to the width or the river
ana the violence OF the current the
operation takes time, and 1t can be in
terfered with and prevented from the
~, Lo
against those who are constructing the
pontoon bridges. In other words on
long as an effective force with weapons
FOR discharging missiles. is present close
enough to the further bank TO reach
the water with those missiles. YOU can
not build your bridge
RIVER OBSTACLE EASILY
DEFENDED AGAINST INVADERS
from these obvious characteristics of
river obstacle certain clear conse-
quences flow.
The first is this. that n river with
sood coinmunications-especially nova
days-along its further side can alyava
be defended il the man in command ~
the defensive on the further side can
concentrate enough men and arms nj a
threatened point In less time than IL
taxes the enemy at that point to throw
across bridge You do not have 70
line the whole OF 4 river as YOU limo
stretch or trenches. You are suffici
entity provided IL your stopping power
IN men and missiles can he concen-
trated at any threatened point moro
quickly than the enemy can buiId /,
bridge at that point
Next note that the enemy VIII. from
the nature OF the case, feint nj sov-
eral possible crossing places Will. la
IL making his real attempt elsewhere
for instance. in Map No. w. he will.
IL ne Is coming from II toward 4. feInt
III " ana I'D In order 10 draw the
e"e'h! toward the bank opposite those
points IL ne succeeds In thus deceive
Ing tho enemy. he VIII make his r.,l
attempt TO cross at EE, and perbans
build his bridge and secure his bridge
head before the enemy can sion h1r,
IF he docs that, If he gets his crossIns
at any point. he has broken the whola
hostile line. and the river can no lony.r
be used rs defensive obstacle
Further note that the chance ,ho
enemy from Il has OF crossing towards
y IL greater wherever there ia n loon in
Inc river pointing towards him and
away from the defense. (See Man
No. VIZ. "'
The reason Is this. that on such a
loop or 're-entrart" he can converge
his fire from all sides. while tho peoplo
by divergence. {"
II IL also evident on Map No. V. that
though the defensive Is forced TO aban-
don the territory inside the loop. and
though the offensive is allowed to cross
the river on the outer edge OF the loon.
the defensive can yet. by entrenchIne
at CD across the neck of the loop,
render the use of the bridge worthless
until he Is turned out OF such trench
Therefore. the best possible kind OF
crossing river Is one which Is a loon
pointing towards the offensive and away
from the defensive. and at the same
time one where the river above and be-
low the loop bends back away from the