The Irish standard., 1916-04-22
IMPORTANCE OF vERDUN r
FRANCE.

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FRANCE.
Verdun is prize, visible to all, con.
spicuous to the world, appealing to the
imagination of every Frenchman. It
is the last of the great fortresses with
which France has sought to defend
it's northern frontier. There, too,
France was born. There, in s43,
Charles, Louis, and Lothaire, the sons
of Louis 1, the "Debonaire," the Pious,
divided the Empire of Charlemagne,
brought France and Germany into ex.
istence, began the modern map of Eu-
rope, and sowed the seeds of war
from that day to this present hour.
Awarded to Germany then, it came
back to France under Henry II in 1852.
From that day on, this place. the juno.
ton of the road that runs down the
Mouse to Belgium and the road that
goes straight as an arrow-fight from
Metz to Paris, has been great fort
ress. A Benedictine abbey was razed
to put on its foundations royal keep.
Vauban planned its defenses. It was
the one great place of arms in the
north which, in 1870, made an honor
able surrender. The Republic has put
about it an encircling ring of forts.
Its plateau rises a steep 400 feet
above the valley Of the Meuse on the
west and on the east has short pitch
Of 200 feet above the plain dotted with
lakes feeding the stream, Louvois.
This plain the German army in the
fourth week of August occupied with
rush which carried the Crown Primo.
down to St. Mihiel on the Mouse, some
twenty miles above Verdun. The fort
ress whose outer works to the north
look out on a plain dotted with hills
carved out by the streams that seek
the Mouse was the screen behind
which the French army, driven back in
defeat after it had cut the railroad be-
tween Strassburg and Metz, was able
to reform on the line of the Marine.
But for the delay this fortress caused,
the three army corps under the Crown
Prince on the southeast of Verdun, and
the four army corps under the King
of Wurttemburg, would not have been
delayed, leaving Won Kluck "in the
air." in his swift advance, thus fore
ing his headlong retreat.
What verdun Means to the Germans.
The German plan at Verdun looks
to no sweeping blow. The war has
seen no more careful attack. The Ger
man losses are pronounced heavy by
the French and reported light from
Berlin. Some loss can be more than
made good. If the Germans can close
the long re-entrant angle northeast
from st. Mihiel to Verdun and west to
Varenes, so that the line runs across
from st. Mihiel to the latter place, the
new line will take. according to con-
ditions, from $4,000 to 15O, 900 less men,
because fifteen miles will be closed
up. This is German gain. OF the
400 square miles or so about Verdun.
about 1876 square miles were won by
March 20. This area varies as the
line is run and these figures can be
but approximate. The German de.
tense and offense would be greatly i'm
proved by the taking of Verdun, even
II nothing else followed, and under
conceivable circumstances 1000 square
miles of France east of the line drawn
from Verdun through Epinal, already
noted, to Switzerland would have to
be abandoned. The French right in
Champagne would be seriously threat
ened and would fall back twenty-seven
miles to level with St. Menehould.
the next fortress west of Verdun.