Evening star., 1939-09-20
Allies May Follow NopoIeon's
Campaigns in South Germany
Rhine River Region of Seefried Line
Crossed by Little Corporal to Victories

~
OF century ago.
Although for more than 100 years
ago, since the eagles of Napoleon
went through the Black Forest by
way of the Belfort Gap, there has
been no major war on German soil,
there are two major war arenas in
Germany which were of great i'm
portance in the earlier military his
tory of Central Europe.
The southern arena Is the great
valley Of the Upper Danube, be-
tween the Alps, the heights of the
Bohemian Forest and the Rhine,
forming roughly a great triangle,
with Munich near its center and its
base on the Swiss and Italian from
tiers. Near the center of this from
tier is the celebrated Bremen Pass,
pathway through the Alps for armies
from time immemorial.
The other great German war
arena composes all of Northern Ger
many and the Polish plain, with
Berlin as its heart and the Dutch
and Belgian frontiers as its western
boundary. Its southern boundary
is natural mountain barrier, cross
ing Germany eastward from the
Ruhr and including the Ore and
Sudetes Mountains, which were un-
til last year the northern boundary
of Czecho-Slovakia.
That the allies did not pour into
the South German war bowl during
1914-1918 was a result of the Ger
man occupancy of Alsace and Lor-
raine. which took the brunt of the
fighting Had the fighting been re-
sumed after November II, 1918, there
unquestionably would have been
very soon thereafter an allied ad-
vance through one or both of the
natural gateways to Southern Ger
many, the Lorraine Gateway and
the Belfort Gap.
In 1870 the French had their
great opportunity to push into Ger
many through the Belfort Gap from
Alsace-Lorraine. which they then
owned. The hope was blighted when
Marshal Bazaine permitted the Ger
mans to besiege him in the great
fortress of Metz after abandoning
the initiative in situation which
gave every promise of great French
success.
Rich Military Terrain.
Napoleon, however, had on sew
eral occasions used the Belfort Gap
as the highway for his legions on
the way to French victories at Ulm,
Ratisbon and Hohenlinden in the
South German Valley.
1t was largely with a view to
closing Lorraine and Belfort to the
French that the Germans built the
southern half of the Siegfried Line
along the eastern heights of the
Rhine. From the standpoint of
military history this is all rich
country. Metz, capital of the de-
partment of the Moselle, was known
to Julius Caesar as one of the most
important and oldest towns of Gaul
and was named by the Romans
Dividurum. 1t was fortified by the
Romans and supplied with water
by an aqueduct, the ruins of which
still may be seen. The Romans
built military roads from Metz to
Toul, Langres, Lyons, Strasbourg,
Verdun. Rhiems and Trier, and
some of these roads again are feel
ing the tread of armies.
Metx was plundered by Attila and
his Huns in the fifth century. 1t
later was possessed by the Franks
and became a free imperial town in
the thirteenth century. 1t fell to
the French in 1858, was taken by
the Germans in 1870 after they had
starved out Marshal Bazaine and
was ceded to Germany in 1871. 1t
came back under the French flag
again after the World War and to-
day is key point for the supply
and maintenance of the Maginot
Line and for the present French
drive into the German Saar.
Gamelin's Opportunity.
On the other hand, should the
French push their drive through the
Saar section of the Siegfried line
east of Luxembourg and Belgium,
they would find before them the
vitality important industrial area of
the Ruhr and the gateway to the
great basin of North Germany.
The allied commander in chief,
Gen. Maurice Gamelin, is perhaps
the worlds greatest living authority
on Napoleonic strategy. Although
the Siegfried Line as it stands today
may prove to be an insurmountable
barrier to the French arms, it is
not inconceivable that the allies
may succeed in preaching it as they
did the Hindenberg Line in 1918, in
which case Gen. Gamelin may have
his chance to retrieve the misfor-
tunes of 1870 and carry the tricolor
of France along the route blazed by
the Napoleonic eagles into South
ern Germany which has not known
the tread of an invader for 100 years.