New-York tribune., 1918-11-19
Our Road to X.
Rhine
By Frank H. Sirnond,
Copyright. 1918. New York r-,.

American Army, our s asr lind
Occupation, has ALREADY uy hay of
march to the Rhine viii nssul.i Dssun its
awaken much speculation as s'4rally ~ aa
portion of the German TERRITORY ~ What
tor occupation in the aYmistios MARRIED
celve our garrisons. WI re.
AS yet we have no Official s+.+..
to guide u.s. but the first news nsas ~ q
progress of our troops would s.. y, The
supply much light. We are 80 sssn to
that Pershing's forces will to.daS s'aaea
on the line Longwy-Briey, havins ia aaa
pleted their first stage from tba '0a
OF the Meuse. This can only me.. S4aN :.
we are taking the historic route -, nsa VA
leads through Luxembourg and don' "uiSa u
Moselle Valley to the Rhine At c.u zoe
where the Moselle enters the I0ien' ,
stream and where Rhine tourists sosls. ,se
century have been called upon n a as'
the reluctance of the Moselle was. ~ A0s
mingle with those of the Rhine s.' =.
alca'ed by the extent to which ~,
French waters retain their ind;,;s we
color. ''0'Viooal
Southwark along the road we .,.
following in the opposite direction .. aVN
the army of the German Grown Do; salns
IN the first days of the present as ~a
borrowing the historic Gap of St."' Wal
recently reconquered BY Aras;a'
troops, to enter France. Montnss
which we have occupied; Longwv wb;.,
we are to enter to-day, were fortros.s.
blocking this road, and both of them
were taken after very gallant res;.s
ance, that of Longwy memorable for ~
time, in the first weeks of August ,o.
But back of the day of the c,ov,
Prince other invading armies have h.
rowed the Moselle- Meuse road n ;rr.s.
France. By this route the prus..s.
came to Valmy in the first davs ~ y.
Wars of the French Revolution and h~
the same road they retired after a.
1eat which marks the beginning of do.
mocracy IN Continental Europe. Bv tbs
same route came Blucher in 1914 !, IN
invasion destined to succeed and to con.
tribute to the expulsion of Napoleon
from France and the capture of Par,
by the invader, although not until N.
Prussians had been many times do.
teated and once almost annihilated
In 1914, before the war had been Do.
clared, the Germans crossed the from.
tiers of Luxembourg and occupied this
little principality with its capital, which
anciently was strongly fortified and
commanded the road to France by the
Stenay Gap. Then, when the genera
{ advance began, the Crown Prince cans
south, took Longwy and Montmedy,
crossed the Meuse, after desperate fght.
ing between Stenay and Dun, wherewr
own troops have recently won a great
battle, and then pressed southwark be.
tween the Argonne and the forts Of
Verdun.
Our advance now, unless there be
some complete change of route in the
next few days, would seem to be des-
tined to descend the MoseIle, passing
through Luxembourg and the northeast
ern corner of Alsace-Lorraine, through
the German city Of Treves and reaching
the Rhine on a front between Coblenz
and Bingen, which might fairly be ex-
pected to be the main posts of our occu-
patton. In such case we would almost
inevitably occupy the great fort Of
Ehrenbreitstein, just opposite Coblenz
constituting, with the forts on the left
bank, one of the chief buIwarks Of Ger
man defence
If this be the plan, then it is probable
that the British and Belgian forces will
move eastward through King Absrts
kingdom, taking up their positions On
the left bank of the Rhine from Coben
to the Dutch frontier, with Cologne as
the chief city and fortress in their pos
session. They would follow the patti
way of the armies Of Kluck and BaoV'
which came through Liege and Eastern
Belgium to win the battles of ChsrNso
and Mons and thereafter to make tnen
mad dash into France, which ended "
the Marne
Finally, the French on their par'
would hold the left bank Of the KnlnF
from Bingen or Mayence, conditioner Oh
the extent of front held by us, ngn'
down to the Swiss frontier, with as'
ence, Strasbourg and Neu Breisacn .
the main fortresses to be occupied. DIV
it is well to recognize the dlstllc'''D
that the armistice makes between Alsa'S
Lorraine and other German terriS0''
The former is treated as in the sA'',
category as the districts of France CIV
Belgium occupied in the present "S'
II~taI6