Show 0 1 FOT doas of tho adix her Eno i TI tito tho to line of groat rort t anva ani in 1 trenched camp on the tae Ii storn r frontier fronti or K arm I 1 A feature of F prances rances preparation for the next war with germany all that h hnz cis not attracted much attAn tva thul thin fur is tile the line of forts and camps guard guarding hig her cz eastern astern frontier s ays says a writer in the illustrated ai american rican if little has haa been said about kllc these e forti fortifications fl cat ions it is only y because little is ir known the government hlas has endeavored to preserve secrecy in rc regard 3 ard to them even more strenuously than it has denied information about in clinite and the lebel rifle in taw modern system of fortification much stress is laid upon the importance of keeping the enemy in the dark no longer 0 frowning parapets nn announce to him we quarter whence lie he may expect resistance resistant c the pr present sent aim is to lure him into a trap and then mow down his regiments by a hail lika fire from hidden bidden guns for this purpose rapid fire r guns uns will be largely C ii aeed ed the maxim gun can deliver about soven seven hundred bullets per minute it can be directed by one man who will show only liis his head above liis his screen and vill be tended by one other man completely I 1 covered smokeless celess powder bein 0 used a regiment would be decimated and panic stricken in a moment by such a fire and would bo be in full rout before the location of the gun could be discovered to ea e carry a ry out huch a defense successfully cess fully it is important of course to preserve the mot most complete secrecy about the alie plans of the fortifications I 1 therefore only general facts fact are known about the lint of forts on an the eastern frontier of france the fortifications consist cansis A of great in trenched camps and huge fortresses the largest forts frouard brouard Fro pont pent st vincent lucey luccy villey ie see barches dAr dA ches Kemi romont and Giro maguy have added to their otherwise enormous armaments armored towers with the heaviest candon every frontier fort or entrenched trenched in camp is within gunshot gun shot of the bic nest vt one ancis is connected with the others by telegraph and is linked to the lu other members of the ellain chain by a double track raff railway ivay the only break in the railway connection is between F fort ort giromo Giro maguy aud and fort de servance batteries occupy between the forts all the positions commanding approaches the guns of the tibe forts vary in number for each between twenty and fifty some however have bave as many a as eighty in several forts there is room for two thousand head of cattle and ana in all for enormous quantities of provisions the qular quarters of the men and officers are airy nud and ample the cannons command completely the slopes which are moreover so woven woren over with wires and so mined with torpedoes that the stand of an enemy there and the undermining of the walls are impossible |