The Washington times., 1934-03-20
(continued from Page y


and the french great wall
would seem to be enough to
rive this country calm conf
Mence for much more than ten
Seafs.
China's great wall was 1850
miles long, 16 feet high. II feet
thick.
II was . wonder Of the
world. But the French great
wall Is more wondrous. 1t has
taken five years to bring it near
completion. It has cost to date
gAround $133, ,000, 900.
Under the Ground
II is o wall that goes, not 16
feet high in the air, but at ma
fljor points 100 yards deep in the
ground.
It's main part stretches from
Nhe Swiss 10 the Belgian from.
Ter. Midway down in the steel
md concrete bowels Of the wall,
The armies Of France can biv-
yG.1ac. Deeper down beneath
them he stored enough explo-
lives to rock the Alps.
81 Above ground, woods and grassy
fnoliS hide the outlets for the
Guns. From these innocent shrubs
and trees can come at one COM
mand a barrage Of fire that would
literally leave not so much as q
grasshopper alive on belt 20
miles deep.
So The wall Is not continuous. but
the guns can lay flawleSs stream
eof flying steel from Luxembourg
to Basel.
The French great wall, as far as
military men can foreSee, e iHu-
pregnable against any form Of at
tack or Siege.
II Is as though heroic verdun
had been multiplied q thousand
HmeS and stretched along the
border.
. But a moderni1ed and perfected
.ssNerdun.
SubteFranean Cities
- The forts are literally under
ground cities, so deep that no con-
ceivcble shell could penetrate
them.
II They are mechanical to the last
degree, they have their own elec-
trio power houses, interior rail-
:. ways, supplies Of food to feed an
army for months, and their own
water supply from wells within the
forts.
~ To keep out gas the air pressure
> within the forts IS raised trifle
above normal.
s. Here in Strasbourg is a corner
Of the wall.
Extent Of Power
- French guns can reach far into
Germany. Hermann Roechling
steel magnate Of the Saar, sat in
- Saarbrucken hotel and re-
marked to me:
e Remember that without NOV.
ing up o gun, but shooting from
a&Way behind their lines, the
French could blow this hotel off
: Tho map"
) But what DO the French think
Of the effectiveness Of their forti-
ficationS as q complete guarantee
Of safety?
No better expert could be found
TO voice the opinion Of the French
professional soldier than Gen.
Camille Walch, military governor
OF Strasbourg and member Of the
supreme war council, highest mill
tary authority in France.
'tOur Notifications are enough
70 make the enemy reflect before
marching. Maybe that is enough.
They are good enough to recon-
mend . good deal of reflection.
"But I am mot optimistic. For
seven years / was with the inter
allied military control cOmmiS-
don In Berlin. / know the
Germans. And when left BeF-
I'm felt confident there would
be NO war. I was optimistic
until Just . short while ago. To
day ! am optimistic no longer.
7 GERMAN AIR FLEET
''When sum up the infOr.
nation we have as to the prog
xess Of German rearmament
plus the welI-grOunded suppO.
BatiOns and deductions we are
compelled to draw, then I can
no longer be optimistic.
~Our Notifications are ex-
celIent.
'They should be able to repel
any land attack. But what can
they do against air offensive?
'.In my opinion the German
bombing air fleet is already
strong enough to be q most
considerable factor"
~And your flanks? Could an
enemy 60 around your fOrtifi-
cations? Neutral military men
have told me it would be inn