THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15685, 12 August 1914, Page 10

THINGS IN GENERAL.

THE SEA FRONT OF GERMANY. •Maritime greatness has boon the goal of ; German William's ambition, and tne -rippling of England's Navy, followed by an invasion of England itself, have always been regarded as the essential factors by which he planned to achieve his purpose. Many wild romances have been written upon this theme since he Quex's " Invasion of 1910.'' but none has been more convincing than a striking story of amateur secret seryiro. written about eleven years ago by Ersk'me Guilders. It is not a stoiy of invasion, hut of a giant design to land an army upon the eastern shows of England, depending for its success upon tho peculiar formation of the Herman const, In comparison with her national importance, Germany's seaboard is ridiculously short, divided by Denmark, so that most of it looks on the Baltic, practically an inland sea will) its entrance blocked by Danish islands. It was to evade that obstruction that William built the ship canal from Kiel to the Elbe, the mighty waterway that is the

strategic link between the two seas of Germany. Broad and straight, massively embanked, lit by electli'-ity at night more brightly than many a great London street, it is traversed by great war vessels, rii.h merchantmen, and humble coasters alike. The canal is the thoroughfare to the most important portion of the coast line, that stretching west of Denmark, looking on to the North Sea, and in which her greatest ports rue situated. There are only 200 miles between the frontiers of Denmark and Holland. The coast of Schle3wig-Ho!stein. 12G miles in length, has no practical value, for it is hopelessly fenced by sandbanks six to eight .niles wide, with only one moderate river, the Eider, cutting a navigable channel to the tea. In the angle between the Danish peninsula and Germany proper is a lay comprising the great estuaries of the Jarlo, the Weser, and the Elbe, leading to Wfl. Bclmshaven, the North Sea naval base, Bremen, and Hamburg. This bay is only 20 miles in width, and is littered with sandbanks. Between the Jade, to the western limit of the German seaboard, the estuary of the River Ems is only 50 miles as the crow flies. The mainland between these two rivers is that district of Prussia known as East Eriesland, a low-lyinp country, containing great tracts of marsh and heath, and few towns of any size. Seven islands lie off the coast— Borkum, in the centre of the Ems estuary, Juist, Norderney, Baltrvm, Eangeoog, Spiekeroog, and Mangeroog. Borkum is roughly circular, till the others attentnatcd strips, slightly crosscut, rarely more 'than a mile broad, varying in length from the seven and nine miles of Norderney and Juist to only two and a-half miles in the case of Baltrum. Of tne area between the islands and the mainland, twothirds is dry at low water, and tho remaining third becomes a system of lagoons. Nono of the islands are of any commercial importance, and even the fashionable watering place of Norderney is deserted during tho greater part of the year. AN INVASION OP ENGLAND. The remarkable feature of this Friesland peninsula is a railway system, ''directly associated with the main strategic lines, and following the northern coast lino some miles inland, with several tranches to the sea, and seven artificially 1 improved streams, flowing into the lagoons behind the seven islands, Tho geographical advantages of this desert coast were made the base of a daring scheme to fling an invading force into England. The schema relied 'upon a coalition of three Powers against Great Altain. Germany was to be exclusively the invader, remaining ostensibly neutral until the English fleet was either beaten or so crippled by a hard- victory as to be incapable of withstanding compact and unscathed forces. Then Germany would strike her blow, possibly only with the perfect organisation and perfect secrecy which could be secured by her military methods. The plan was to mobilise an army of infantry with the lightest type of field guns ): by means of tho loop railway, embark it in big sea-going lighters, towed by powerful but shallow-draught tugs, and despatch the flotilla under escort of a powerful squadron of warships to the English coast. The natural features' of. the German coast enabled such an expedition to be prepared in absolute secrecy, sufficient water to float the lighters and tugs being obtained in seven insignificant streams, improved and deepened ostensibly for commercial ends. A landing-place similar to the Frisian coast exists on the north side of the Wash, where the coast, though bordered with sand flats, is easy of access from the east by a natural deep channel. The distance from the seven islands to this point is only about two hundred and fifty mile.!, and the time estimated for the passage after the flotillas •were assembled outside the islands was from 30 to 34 hours. There were obvious dangers in such an expedition, but it was argued that if the end is worth gaining the risks must bo faced. _ The advantages of the scheme were claimed to be that the transport could be arranged without attracting the attention that would immediately fasten on the assemblage of largo steamers in the main ports, and the use of vessels that could be flung straight upon the shore, would avoid the enormous difficulty of landing troops in boats from transports anchored in deep water on an open beach, where the most hastily improvised resistance might cause a humiliating disaster, THE POWER OF OXYGEN. Of all the forces over which mankind lias obtained control there' is none so mighty and so useful as fire. In an ordinary grato of burning coal there is enough explosive energy to throw a 10001b shell through a foot of solid steel. There is practically no difference in tho chemical action of rusting iron and the explosion of cordite in the newest and largest naval puns. A decaying tree and a burning candle are the result' of a similar action. It is oxydisation. A certain amount of tho oxygen of the air como.nes ' with iron, and produces rust; it is an affair of weeks. In the burning fire the union of coal and oxygen is quicker—a matter of minutes. In the case of gunpowder and powerful modern explosives the speed with which the oxygen enters into a chemical reaction is practically instantaneous. For instance, in uynumito the wave of explosion travels at a pace of more, than 5000 yards? a second. A mile of dynamite cartridges blows up from end to end in one-quarter of a second, while a much greater speed of reaction' occurs in cotton dipped in nitric acid and mixed with glycerine that has also been nitrated. So 'all that is necessary in order to convert any ordinary combustible substance into'a terriiic explosive is to increase the supply of oxygen Wood burns slowly because 'it draws" its oxygen from the surrounding air by a gradual process. If. however. the charred ■wood is mixed with saltpetre, which contains three thousand times' as miicii oxvgen as .ordinary air does, the application of heat,results in a rapid combination of chemical elements. Each particle of the charcoal has its, particle of oxygen ready ' to hand in the saltpetre, and the two combine with explosive rapidity and all the solid matter swiftly expands into a hu?e mass of gases. It is tin's sudden transformation of a small amount of solid substance into a vast quantity of ens that produces an explosion." Such is the simple explanation of the production of the terrific forces, utilised with such terrible wJiict in modern warfare.

MODERN EXPLOSIVES.

I Till about forty-eight years ago gunpowder remained the greatest force that man could safely use. More powerful explosives had been discovered, but they were not used owing to the danger incurred by handling them. In 1866 the Swedish chemist, Nobel, mixed nitroglycerine oil with a porous eartu, producing a material resembling sawdust in appearance. This substance he called dynamite. 11l lhe ordinary way dynamite may he 1 kicked about and act alight or even 'fired from ii gun without exploding. But by using a small quantity of fulminate of mercury, expanded suddenly in a gaseous form, a pressure of more than half a million pounds to the square inch is produced. The explosive- wave set up is too strong to be resisted even by the dynaI mite, the gases of which expand with a smashing force. Purely by accident Nobel i discovered a .still more powerful explosive, half as strong again as dynamite, which lie termed gelatine. This is a mixture (if Kim-cotton and nitroglycerine, and this ; mixture, under the name of cordite, is J used in practically all modern guns. CorI ditc looks something like a cord of gutta- • peri ha. varying in colour from light to I dark brown, and is slightly clastic. This compound has revolutionised the science lof warfare on land and sea. When fired, i it produces comparatively little smoke to icloud the scene of battle, and yet it can drive bullets to a distance undreamt of by riflemen of 50 years ago. and can dis- ! charge a broadside of several tons of steel 'to a distance of over twenty miles. More ; terrible still than the cordite used in our i guns and firearms is the picric acid explosive that is employed to burst the shells sent from our great guns. But picric acid preparations have far too smashing an effect to serve as propellent explosives. They shatter any gun. but they can be placed inside a shell tired by a tremendous charge of cordite, and they will not explode until the shell strikes homo with devastating effect. Yet picric acid was for years employed smviy as a yellow dye. No thought was given to its terrifically destructive properties until its latent powers wero revealed by a disastrous explosion in a dyeing factory. Tire General.