The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1918-09-11
FOUR DEFENSE LINES
OFFER REFUGE TO HUN
ALLIES HAVE BROKEN ONE
AT QUEANT ALREADY.
In Meeting New Obstacles Basis
for Calculating Success
Changes,

with the French Army In France,
Tuesday. Sept. 1O.-The rapidity of
the splendid operation that wrested
the initiative of the battle from the
Germans, drove them behind their de-
fensive lines of 1917 to recuperate their
forces and reconstitute their shattered
divisions is no longer the proper basis
for calculating the thread of progress.
The allies are now in front of obstacles
that do not appear on ordinary maps
! by which the general reader follows
| changes at the battle front. No maps
show them in all their details, but
enough is known of them to recon-
stitute them in a general way. First
is the Hindenburg line system OF field
| Notifications which the Germans built
by the forced labor OF prisoners Of war
and French and Belgian civilians. 1t
runs from Lens southeastward to the
| Aisne north of Rheims by way of
| Queant, st. Quentin, La Fere and the
st. Gobain forest. 1t consists of an
! elaborate system Of trenches. multiple
lines OF barbed wire entanglements,
concrete positions for artillery, block
houses for machine guns. shelters for
the infantry and is further protected
oy flooded stretches of country where
the means were available for that pur-
pose.
The second line Of defense runs from
the fortress of Lille to the stronghold
of Metz. generally parallel with the
Hindenburg line to the region north
of Rheims and at distances varying
from seven to twenty miles. From
scissors. north of Rheims. 1t runs
southeastward, joining the old front
north of Verdun and continuing from
there to Pagny on the Moselle river
south of Metz.
There are secondary lines attached
TO this system. notably along the
Escaut river from Cambrai north be-
tween the valleys of the Disc and the
Serre and northeastward from La Fere
along the Suippe river north of Rheims.
A third line of defense runs from the
Scarpe river, south of Lille. to the
Meuse, near Sedan. then southeats-
ward to the iron region of the Basin
of Briey, which 1t protects from the
west and the south, and joining the
second line at Moselle. There are
secondary defense works to this line
also in the region Of Vervins.
A fourth line, as yet uncompleted. ID
intended to furnish another defense be-
tween the Escaut, near the Belgian
frontier and the Meuse, at Givet.
First Line Alreauy Broken.
Each one of these lines furnishes a
strong refuge for armies obliged to
retire upon 1t. The lines also offer
to forces dwindling in numbers tho
Of progressively shortening
the battle 'front.' The first of the
lines already has been broken between
Queant and Drocourt. The develop-
ment of this success may determine
the question whether the Germans can
oblige the allies to resort to trench
warfare. The enemy's second life OF
defense almost touches the Hinden-
burg line at Cambria, Just below the
breach the British forces have made
N 1t. If they are able to join the two
ines there. the Germans will still have
IN uninterrupted defensive position in
which the second line enters for only
he distance from Lille to Cambrai,
icing continued to the Chemin-dcs-
Danes by the Hindenburg line.