The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-07-20
PARIS SAVED
BY MOTOR CARS
Gen. JOffre Said He Would
Defend France, But Not
the Capital
1000 MACHINES
REQUISITIONED

Galliem Used Them in Transporting
Men, Guns and Ammunition and
Surprised General Won Kluck by His
Sudden Attack.
The Street Railway Bulletin has pub
lished in full the address of C. w. Barron
recently delivered before the New Eng
land Street Railway club A portion of
the address, which expands a situation
only very briefly treated in Mr.. Barrons
book, The Audacious War, follows:
You viii read columns and columns in
the papers about the defense of Paris
| viii tell you something about it, and you
have never heard it before. Paris was
called, in the books, the strongest forti-
fled city in the world. 1t had 400 square
miles of Notifications, with Paris in the
/ center. Such have been the politics of
/ France that they never coHld get through
an appropriation to properly man these
defenses The French thought themselves
/ in pretty good shape Germany had 500
/ GOO men; France, 100000 France had
only a small area to defend, about 200
miles or more, or one-fourth her eastern
/ frontier. Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium
/ have each about a quarter. So all they
had to defend was the portion from Lux
embourg to Switzerland. They had it very
well fortified and very well manned, and
| they thought they were invInclble, and
they were invincible, as it proved, at that
point. When the Germans came through
Belgium the French moved north to meet
them.
At the battle of Charleroi, 10000 of the
French went down, yet they never saw the
enemy.
Such was the force of the German inva-
sion, such was the range of the guns, that
before the French ever saw one man they
had lost 10000 men. Joffre, in command,
cashiered at that time over 100 of the
generals and sent them to the rear; dis
missed them in disgrace and recognized
the army. He sent word to Paris: Il
cannot stand, or hold the Germans, and
my only safety is to keep retreatng and
fighting as best | can. At some point, if
the Germans come farther, we can stand,
but we cannot stand here"
Willing to Sacrifice Paris.
With Won Kluck were armies of 200
600 men as he marched through Belgium.
Joffre had then only about 100000 in all.
He could not mobilize quickly enough
The French had been warned for a year
Iidb Ilfe NrtliidiS IiVNtu tIcii tdltibttd
trains in military service 80 miles an hour,
while it was demonstrated that perishable
goods moved ONLY about 80 miles day on
the French railways.
i The Germans were marching straight on
to Paris, meeting only what defense could
be made by the expcditionary force of
England, about 100000 or 100000 men,
who were holding the German flank at
bay. There were against these English
$40, 600 Germans The military governor
of Paris was summoned, and the President
said, "NVhat are your defenses?" He re
piled. eve can hold Paris only four days,
We have neither the guns nor the men"
Poincare said, I'VE must surrender Paris
unless Joffre will defend it." They sent
for Joffre and said, "Will you defend
Paris?" He said, No, | will defend
France, but / cannot defend Paris. / will
not have my army locked up and besieged
} in Paris" So it was agreed (and this you
will not find even from the French people
except in high station) 1t was agreed to
sacrifice Paris to save France, and the
destruction Of the whole of Paris was eX-
pected
There are 20 ACCOMPLISHMENTS, or wards,
in Paris, and the plan of the Germans, it
was said in diplomatic circles, was to de-
,, stroy one of these every day the indemnity
remained unpaid. In 20 days there would
be nothing left of Paris. The French
: were willing to make the sacrifice They
: said, Give up beautiful Paris, but save
France" Then came Clemenceau and he
said to Poincare, ''You are to give up
Paris undefended, and you are not yet
: shot?"
5 Gallieni's Auto Thrust.
/ So they again summoned Joffre. eve
!, had better blow up the city ourselves and
J. not give it to the Germans. Who can
/. save Paris!" The response was "There
!. may yet be one man." They summoned
! Gallieni, 60 years of age, and on the re
: tired list. They said, General, can yor
. . save Paris?" He replied, "Talle your gov
d eminent away. Give me carte blanche
= with the power to requisition the arms anC
q the men and the goods and | will save
q Paris" They gave him carte blanche, anC
/. he posted on the walls of Paris that h
z. had been made the defender general o
I. Paris and that he would defend it. People