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Show German Genera! on Conquest of England. ! I Considerable attention is attracted here by a pamphlet just published by-Baron by-Baron von Edelsheim, an officer in the chief general staff of the German army, says the Berlin correspondent of the New- York Sun, in which he declares that Germany could throw 100,000 men on the English coast within a very short time. The baron put forward his statement as a matter of absolute certainty, and it is considered somewhat some-what curious that he is permitted by his government to publish it. He also discusses the possibility of landing troops in Russia and France, and proceeds pro-ceeds to contemplate the hypothesis of a war between Germany and the United Unit-ed States. He starts from the assumption that Germany must one day be involved in a conflict because the growth of her traffic and commerce is a source of danger to England. He holds the opinion opin-ion that Germany might hope to secure some success at sea shortly after hostilities hos-tilities began, as the German navy could start mobilization first, but before be-fore long England would be able to set such powerful naval forces in action ac-tion that Germany would be reduced to defensive tactics in which success could not be reckoned upon. His paper proceeds: pro-ceeds: "England's weakness is our strength. The land forces of the English army correspond neither in strength nor in quality with her position as a great power. England is convinced that every ev-ery hostile invasion can be prevented by her fleet, but this conviction is not by any means well founded. Even if England after a time could set in motion mo-tion great naval forces, those which would be ready at the beginning1 are not so overwhelming that an opponent oppo-nent essentially weaker at sea, who has everything ready, may not havp a I chance of scoring a temporary sue- I cess. Germany must throw part of her land forces on the English coast and thus bring the conflict to an issue on land, where German troops are much superior to English." After summing up the shortcomings .of England's land forces, the baron declares that only her present standing army and regular reserve can be counted on in case of sudden invasion, as the others would take a considerable time to mobilize. He observes: "We must also take account of their slight, fighting value compared with I well trained German troops. The only j troops ready in England for action are j three divisions of the First army corps. I about two divisions of the Second and a combined division of the Third together to-gether with three cavalry brigades The strength of an English division on a war footing is only 10.000 men. while a similar German division numbers about 16.000 men. Germany can transport trans-port six infantry divisions or one cavalry cav-alry brigade and five infantry divi- 1 sions to England in a very short tim. How the operation could be carried out must not, of course, be explained here. j But this can be said, that It can b done within little more than thirty hours in favorable weather from German Ger-man harbors in the North sea. Large tracts of the English coast furnish Rood landing places for troops, and the country itself has so many re., sources that an invading army could live on them for a long time. -On the other hand, the island is not large enough to allow English troops to destroy de-stroy a once victorious hostile army. It is unlikely that such a war would last very long and considerable re-enforcements would, therefore. not be needed." |