The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-09-17
DESCRIPTION OF
H|NDENBURG LINE
Famous Defense System
Runs Across Plains of
Picardy
FROM why RIDGE
SOUTH TO LAFERE
Not a Trench but a System of Field
Fortifcations Said to Be Ten Miles
Deep in Places German at One Time
Believed it to Be Impregnable.

NEW YORK, Sept 1.-THE celebrat
ed Hindenburg line or Siegfried line,
barring the Allies road to Berlin, has
been compared by the German leaders
to the great wall of China Until the
British broke it in the spring of 1917
they believed it impregnable to assault
as was once the Chinese wall and re-
garded it as the eighth wonder of the
world.
The Hindenburg line as generally de-
fined is about go miles long, running in
a general north and south direction
across the Pieardy plains in France. Its
northern extremity was guarded by the
| heavily fortified basIion of Vimy Ridge
and by the mining city of Lens whose
underground corridors and chambers
long have barred the British. The
southern end of the Hindenburg line.
proper, is in the vicinity of La Fere or
Laon. That end is protected in part by
the forest of st. Gobain and the for
tifeations around Laon.
Between Nimy Ridge on the north and
La Fere on the south the line passes
west of Cambria and st. Quentin so as
to protect those two important industri-
al and railway centers which are routes
for bringing up supplies for the German
| army.
Some war correspondents describe the
| German line as continuing southeast
ward from La Fere to the Aisne river
| and Rheims, following the line of the
Chemin des Danes. They call that part
of the line southeast of La Fere the
| Alberich line. This would add about 10
miles, making total length of more
than 100 miles. Generally, however, the
| Hindenburg line has been described as
running only from Vimy Ridge to La
| Fere.
Fearing that the northern end of the
| line might be turned the Germans es-
| tablshed n switch line connecting
with the Hindenburg line at Queant
and running north about % miles to
| Drocourt. They called this switch the
Wotan line.
The northern end of the Hindenburg
line and the Wotan line both have been
broken more than once by the British
armies and both are now in possession
of the British armies. Long ago the
/
failed TO retake it.
The Hindenburg line is not a trench
but n system of field Notifications. In
places il is said to be ten miles deep,
consisting not only of the trench system
but of multiple lines of barbed wire en-
tanglements, concrete positions for ar
ttllery, deep dugouts capable of housing
n battalion of troops, numerous pill.
boxes for machine guns and, in fact
every device the Germans have been
able to assemble to block the way to
Germany.
Near Bullecourt was a formidable I'M
derground fertilization known as the
'Tunnel Trench which the German,
believed to be impregnable. This tun
mel connecting the trenches was NOR,
than mile long and was mined for il
whole length, lighted with electricity
and had entrances at short intervals L
was reinforced by concrete pill boxes
and support trenches. The British cap
tured it in November, 1917.
Below Graincourt the British troop
found great catacombs along the Hin
denburg line. These were elaborated,
fitted up as battalion headquarters, elec
trically lighted and protected by con
crete trenches. In front of Cambria
the villages behind the line had beneatl
8 them great chambers which it would b
a SANDER to call dugouts. They wer
more like hotels fitted with electricity
J. water, sewers, drying rooms and kitch
/ ems. They were she'll proof and bonn
proof. The trenches there were bull
n along the banks of the Canal Du Nor
y which runs north and south near HAY
l. rinCOurt.
D Important German strongholds pr,
tCct the southern section of the lin
= near La Fere. The forest of st. Gobai
I presents an almost insupcrable obstacl
in attacking this end of the line
Laon, lying within the Big Corner
where the line turns eastward along II
Chemin des Danes is regarded as ii
keystone of the whole German syster
Hundreds of German batteries were i
stalled in the screened ravines arour