Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-10-26
FOCH'S THREE
GUARANTEES

When Marshal fuc1 uefa1HOtu tllS
surrender 10 the Allies of the German
I fortresses of Metz. Coblenz and Stras-
f burg as a guarantee of good faith by
The Huns pending ary Peace proceed
/ ines. he demanded the means OF hold
ing the faithless Hun in the hollow
of his hand Those three cities are
the keys TO the entire Rhine valley,
and properly garrisoned and defended
/ BIZ the powerful forces available by
I the Allies would not only confine the
/ Teutons to the east bank of the
Rhine. but would menace such great
centres as Cologne, Frankfort,
Maymce, Mannheim and other towns,
containing the munition plants sup
plying the German armies.
/ With Metz as the central apex, they
would form a great triangle, with
Strasburg los miles to the southeast
I and Coblenz, lis miles TO the north
east, with Metz backed by the French
fortresses of Verdun on the west, %
/ miles away, and Nancy TO the south
/ 35 miles distant. The base of this
/ triangle would be the Rhine, on which
/ between Coblenz and Strasburg lie the
cities of Mainz, Worms. Ludwigshafen,
Karlsruhe and Spires on the west
bank, and Wiesbaden and Mannheim
on the east bank, with Frankfort on
4 the Main, and Heidelberg on the Neck
ar but a few miles from the Rhine. In
this triangle would be numerous i'm
portant towns, including Treves,
which is on the Moselle, about half
way between Metz and Coblenz This
territory includes all of old Alsace and
Lorraine, and the Rhineland which
created by the French during the
great revolution.
All three cities date back to Roman
times and were strategic outposts of
the Roman Empire All three are
heavily fortified and absolutely nee
essary for the defense of Germany.
Since it became part of the German
Empire when stolen by the Huns in
1870, Metz has been surrounded with
% great forts, the outworks reaching
to the battlefield of Gravelotte on the
west, and Thionville CTeutonized to
Diedenhofen) on the north. The
American forces are now within strik-
ing distance of both those points and
Foch may shortly get Metz in spite of
the Hun. When he does, the entire
Lorraine country will fall to the Allies
and Strasburg would be endangered
from the north, as well as from Nancy
on the west
With Metz in the hands of the Allies
Coblenz would also be endangered and
Treves would undoubtedly be cap
tured
Coblenz was originally a posting
station of the Romans 1t occupies a
strategic position in the heart of the
Moselle and the Rhine. 1t rests on a
plateau 200 feet above the sea level
and has or had a population of about
$4,000 and a garrison before the war
of Prussian division The neighbor-
hood heights are, all strongly forti-
fed, there being three great forts and
the famous citadel of Ehrenbreitstein,
which towers on an elevation 1856 feet
above the two rivers, and affords a
view for miles in every direction
, 1t has survived numerous sieges and
was in the possession of the French
from 1899 to 1915.
This old fortress was an asylum for
Kings and Emperors during mediae-
val troubles, and although Coblenz
was free episcopal city, so import
ant was the fortress that its COM
mandants were required to take the
oath of fidelity to the Emperors as
we'll as to their own princes
The original Karl Baedeker, whose
guide books are in such demand by
the Pershing Crusaders now on their
way on pilgrimage to the Rhine, is
buried here, as is General Won Goe-
ben, one of the conquerors of Metz in
1870. How their bones will rattle
when they hear Pershing's boys give
their college yell in University
square"
kirchen, has monument there, if the
who was killed at the battle of Al
kirchen, has monument there, lift he
Huns have not destroyed it, and it
was here that the grandmother of All
Highest lived in her palace during
the Franco-German war and where
old William 1 sent her his famous re-
port of the battle of Sedan which has
been anglicized to read:
Glorious news my dear Augusta:
We've fought and won another
buster.
Ten thousand Frenchmen sent be-
lowl
Praise God from whom all bless
ings fiow"
One wonders if that was All-High-
est's Gott to whom Old William re-
ferred.
Strasburg, only 80 miles from the
French frontier. had been a French
city for nearly 200 years when All
Highest's grandfather, the above-men-
toned Old William, forcibly stole it in
1870 after a heroic defense by the
French General Uhrich.
Surrounded by great Notifications
extending five miles from the city. it
is just 3S4 miles from Berlin, and is
considered the southwestern bastion
of the Hun Empire. 1t is the capital
of Alsace-Lorraine and has a popula-
ton of 10000 1t is situated on the
river Ill, rather a significant name at
this time, and is connected with the
Rhine, three miles away, by the
lRhine-Marne Canal 1t is also con-
nected with the Rhine-Rhone Canal
From the time of the Romans If has