| Show UNDER FROWNING FORTS germans german are wont to speak of their country a as a great plum pudding set on a platter among the powers of the continent to tempt their voracious appetites pet ites behind this figure of speech there are a few fundamental fat fant which all leaders and all parties accept as indisputable military aw and lay writers begin their defenses of militarism or their attack upon it with descriptions of germany germanas Germ anys Is eastern and western borders unprotected by nature marked not by rivers lakes or mountain ranges but simply by lines of posts labeled with 16 german empire Empi and the imperial coat of arms all acknowledge that germany German western neighbor is an open enemy and that the eastern easier neighbor is either a suspicious cleus friend oi or a covert foe the differences now dividing the parties 1 la germany are not due to disputes as two to these facts but as to the conclusions lobe to be drawn from them the indie pu potable table features of germany germanas Germ anys le military ary situation on the eastern and western era frontiers are declared by the NOW new vork sun to tie he substantially as tol fol lowe low just back of the french fro tier 1 the most wonderful line ot of alons ever constructed frum from belfort tu to verdun stretches an almost un brikei and fl aless belt of steel the one gavin gap in this belt between depinal and foul was left open so as to render enefer the operations of a french army marching over the border to take the offensive verdun has eleven detached forts fort and sand a citadel the circumference or of the fortifications is 8 twenty abree miles ten detached for foris a with within in a ao c roum terence ference of twe twenty 0 ty tour four miles surround tout toul eight ue de lacked forts within a circumference of twenty miles surround depinal belfort the key to southwestern germany the position over whose posses sion aion moltke quarreled with bismarck Bis marok baj six detached det forts within a circum ference of twenty one miles each of these tour four first class fortresses is as strong as aa metz or strasburg u rg t the h e only two germin germ in fortresses to defend we the left bank of we he rhine from luxembourg to switzerland verdun is notably stronger than its viza alz a viz 1 metz between verdun and tout toul along the mouse meuse stand the in iu depend ent aorta of St Minel I 1 Lion Ll onville and the upper meuse is defended by the forts forte of cagny la Is blanche C cote ot e and Bour lemont pont st vincent brouard frouard and villers south of depinal lie the upper mosel forts of arches mout bupt rupt chateau lambert and Giro giromagny Gi romagny maguy as well AS aa fort ballon de servance which guards the highway between depinal and belfort to this list should be C added the forts further north and south which are intended to prevent t the possibility of invasion through switzerland or belgium the fortin verdun to toul and from from depinal to belfort rt are connected by aud and underground ethle track railways telegraph lines the principal pain cipal ground strengthened with armored are parts the number ot heavy guus gune towers troied each fort varies between by twenty con enta and fifty though several forts forte each the eighty as have aa many already I 1 numerated enumerated together forts important fortified with ith less ia been an placed so go tio oil between betwee nave have n verdun and belfor thickly only the gap between excepting that t hal I 1 toul toni and depinal not dot a spot twe n the line lina Is beyond the range of along all modern de the heavy art artillery illery vines vices have beo been adopted toren to render dorthe the forte fort impregnable against siege and im a several beveral forts forte will surprise DIG of head bead of cattle each r kid hold 2000 or I 1 besides the usual stores and garrison each is protected against the surprise attack ty by bellej belle j wires traps of E night light plas R and electric signals the details detail of the situa situation tian beyond frontier are some germanas germanys Germ anys 4 e stern from those of the west waist what different although the total effect is virtually russian quadrangle the same the which may be roughly described as having its c corners eners at olessa rigs riga thorn and chacow cracow is bristling with with trenches is to ie furrowed bayonets ba yoneto with military rail railway waye in troops as numer numerous oui it t are garrisoned as the whole german army of today ready to be mobilized at an hours bourse notice and to sweep over the german germai or austrian boundary these theme troops markover mare mure over are organized organize dt dependence of the great rus RUB not as a sisin army of the be as a torce force complete I 1 lu itself with try and caval cavalry lYo technical and aad military stores in exactly the required for a complete proportions independent in the last ten lou years russia has surrounded nievo Georgiu wak with algat forts Iwan gorod with eight lort sWat sixteen forts saw with forts in 1884 there were with seven in toe wilna wilina and warsaw soldiers waiting to make ur or jjr copl the attack sa to the e command of f these districts has since been added that of the districts of olesa and kleff and the total force has been beed swelled to men on distributed among twenty nine divisions of infantry twenty nine dide artillery brigada briga bri gad deop ev enteen divisions of cavalry twenty four mounted batteries lour four brigades of sharp ati shooters botera lour four regiments rei menus ul of mortar artillery artille twenty six batteries of fortress artillery mi anerd nerd and sappers and railway troops and we the train such Is the straight jacket in which germany has been placed by her gas eastern t and western neighbors ira in arguing concerning her bar ability to burst buras it to in case ol of war wags the drat consideration bum been the comparative numerical strength of the armies of germany and her ailles and of france aud rubbia auses Accor according to the branc bea of t the jo service the strength le ie bat squad battalions ta lions rons rona teries aci many austria hungary aw ia italy 86 tow total tor for triple alii ance no 1343 iso 80 su fran franise 41 russia total for france bassia WS according to the tbt num number berol 0 men in the ming ar ardiet armie fr germany austria italy total tor alliance france russia EaB Bia total for france and russia 1 i acco Acci arding tu to the th number ut or men mail actually avle fur for trio the war ifft clive I 1 ve un UD er trio eventful ope op agiou of the pre eal laws la we germany 8 austria hungary I 1 im italy total for triple alliance russia france total toralf for or russia and france be army bill proposed that tbt contemporaneously with the introduction of the two years service terms term the of the german standing army be increased to men and the number of batteries from to under the provisions of af the bill the german army on a war footing would be eventually strong and the numerical disparity between the combined armies of franceane france and russia and those of germany austria hun gary and italy would be lessened while germany would be at least on the same numerical footing in war with france and russia |
