Evening star., 1931-06-21
FLOWERS CONCEAL
DEATH ON BORDER
France Building Huge Hive of
Hidden FcrtS Along East
ern Boundary.
Continued From First Page.)


with every detail of the terrain over
which their FIRE is to be projected.
Such a miniature fort is of two sto-
RIGS The upper story, which we have
nkened to a coming tower is revers1-
bic turret Of steel, furnished with mar
row Sits through which the mouths OF
the mechine guns point.
Twenty or thirty yards under ground,
depending upon the soil formation and
other circumstances, is the second story,
serving as a reserve depot. This is the
dugout replacing the muddy hole of the
last war. 1t is relatively comfortable
chamber, 10 by IL yards, furnished with
camp beds. electric light and heat, run
ming water and electric cooking facili-
ties At the same time 1t serves as
reservoir of munitions and contains
spare machine guns.
+, No Two Alike.
No two of these miniature forts are
exactly alike in shade and every one
is an independent unit of defense care
fully adapted to the particular exigen-
cies of the surrounding terrain. The
spaces between the pill boxes can be
covered with cross fire and artillery
fire from the second line in the rear.
By a tunnel so feet underground the
advance posts communicate with sec
ond girdle of forts of more elaborate
construction. This second chain runs
about a mile to the rear. Here are to
be massed reserves of manpoWer and
equipment Here also, deep in the
ground, are forward dressing stations
and hospitals, electric generating sta
tions, water reservoirs, gas projectors,
food stores ard electric railway sta
tions communicating with the rear by
broader subterranean passages.
The steel turretS of the second chain
forts have rapid-firing light artillery.
This second chain may be said to serve
as a feeder to the front line. Things
are so arranged that one second-line
fort serves as feeder and support to 10
or IL front-line pill-boxes on the
average.
Huge Cities Under Ground.
The third line is made up of two
immense underground cities, at both
ends of the frontier, one in the north
and one in the south, each capable OF
containing or sending into attack 100,-
600 men equipped with field artillery,
tanks, armored cars, gas and liquid-flre
projectors. To the third-line defense
must also be reckoned scores of "parcs
mobiles" or rolling forts. These can
be moved rapidly from one sector Of the
front to the other, to the support of
any threatened point in the line. In
case Of necessity they may also serve
as wedges to be driven into the enemys
front and as jumping-of places for
infantry attacks beyond the frontier.
No other details of the elaborate new
defense system of France are guarded
with more rigid secrecy than the num-
Der, strength and mobile capacity of
these rolling forts, which would un-
doubtedly figure as the surprise element
{v1
simultaneously with the northern
border, from Basic to Luxembourg, the
Italian frontier, from the Alps to the
Mediterranean, where not a single fort
existed hitherto, Is being put into a
state OF defense. In this sector the
French engineers are overcoming inn
mense difficulties. AS they are unable
ton posts are drilled and blasted into
the granite.
AS the Alps offer a natural and i'm
paSsable protection in most places, there
has been no necessity for a long chain
OF forts. Small posts have nevertheless
been constructed overlooking mountain
roads and passes between Italy and
France.
Use "Water-Line" Defense.
The system of defense is of an en-
tirely different nature from that en-
ployed along the German borders It
IS somewhat reminiscent of the famous
water line" Of the Dutch in that it
relies on blowing up the approaches, as
the Hollanders would their dikes. there
with inundating the country and max
Ing 1t inaccessible to an invading army |
The moment war should be declared
on France and hostile force advance
over the few Alpine roads leading to |
Nice, the French would blow up roads |
HAr{e L4Ty
ton In the mountain lookouts. manned ;
by detachmentS of the famous Blue /
Devils. The mines to do this destruc- !
tive. work have been installed in various |
places unknown to any one but the |
French high command.
The fact that all the northern forti-
flcations are of concrete is a surprise |
to French public opinion, as it was
taken for granted that not even the |
thickest walls of reinforced concrete |
could resist the pounding of modern |
heavy siege artillery. The experience
of 1916 was cited In the belief that the |
forts of Verdua were totally pulverized |
under the Crown Princes sledge-ham-
nler blows.
The contrary is the truth, however.
The forts of Verdun may have been |
ruined on the outside, but inside they |
remained intact, of eighteen subter- |
ranean chambers in Fort VauX IS !
were unchanged. They had withstood |
two months uninterrupted artillery |
fire of the heaviest and most de- |
structive caliber. Vaux surrendered |
through lack of water and munitions, |
not because it had been annihilated
and had become untenable. Mass was
celebrated in its deepest cellars half an
hour before the white flag was hoisted.
Walls Five Times as Thick.
five times as thick as those OF Vaux
and Douaumont, they are considered
immune to the heaviest artillery fire
known at present. An ingenious system
of ventilation that in addition to keep
ing the air always fresh inside the cham |
bers also excludes poison gas waves by
maintaining higher atmospheric pres |
sure inside than out, largely removes
danger of suffocation.
With the installation Of numerous
enti-aircraft batteries and the main- |
tencnce Of her own air fleet at the !
highest point of efficiency, France fig |
ures that in two years she will have !
frontier as inpregnable as this can be, |
E''n1anly speaking.
This gigantic system of defense will /
Re the most efficient and powerful the
wcr-d he's ever seen. For 10 years 90
Geo foreign laborers have been at work
cn it, under the guidance of the entire
military engineering corps of France.
In its main outline it is the conception
CT Marshal Petain. That its compile
ton in two years is virtually assured
may be seen in Petains resignation
from the supreme direction of the
scheme, to devote himself exclusively
to the study Of the weakest link in the
defense Of an armed camp, as France
would become in the event of war, that
is to say, the aerial approach.
(Copyright, 1881, by North American News
paper Alliance, Incl