NOTES ON THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15686, 13 August 1914, Page 6

NOTES ON THE WAR.

•GERMAN' PACIFIC ; SQUADRON. " Tub roport sent from Sydney that tlirco German cruisers aro at Samoa derives credibility from tho fact that it was stated a few days beforo the declaration of war that tho Gneisenan, Scharnhorst, and Nuernborg woro on a cruise in tho Pacific, and,were ; duo shortly at Apia, Samoa, Tho ships on the China station | have never utforo como down into the South Pacific. Henco their presence w peculiar, and raises the suspicion that Germany, in anticipation of war, had ordered the squadron south. The German naval strength in China is too slight to have any chance with tho British squadron. Tho ability of the Australian fleet to deal with these cruisers cannot be doubted. Tho Scharnhorst is stated by the Navy League Annual to bo in a most inefficient state, unable to attain 20 knots, even for short spurts. She went ashore in tho Elbe Estuary in 1908, and was sent to the Pacific becaufio Her failing speed made her useless in tho North Sea. The German squadron normally in the Pacific consists ol three vessels, the cruisers Condor and Cormorant, and tho surveying ship Planet, Iho Condor and the Cormorant aro used for patrol duty in the islands of the Bismarck Archipelago, and aro sister ships. Both aro third-class cruisers of 1614 tons. JL'ho Condor was built at Hamburg in 1892, and tho Cormorant in tho samo year at , Danzig. Each has a longth of 246 ft and | beam of 33ft 6in, with engines of 2930 b.p. The armament of each ship consists of eight 4.lin guns, and seven machine guns. i'hoy each have two torpedo tubes. The speed of tho ships 'is given at 16 knots per hour. Each has a complement of 165 all : told; and the coal capacity of each ship i is 300 tons. INVASION OF BELGIUM. A London newspaper states that three German armies were detailed to smash France. One to hold the French right on the strongly - fortified Franco - German frontier, one to work through the Ardennes, and the third to co-operate with it through Belgium against the French left. This is the plan on which it has been generally supposed tho Germans would work, but it remains to be seen to what extent the Belgian resistance will foil it. If the Belgian forces aro pushed north of tho Liege-Namur line, Germany will then have a strip of south Belgium and Luxemburg, about 70 miles long, through which to move her armies. The true FrancoGerman frontier, from Luxemburg south to Switzerland, is about 140 miles long, and all of it is fortified except about 40 miles. Therefore, the 70 miles of Belgium which Germany is trying to commandeer would increase by 50 per cent, the gateway into France. It is true that another line of French forts would confront the Germans when thoy reached the FrancoBelgian frontier; but, in the opinion of a writer in the Round Table, "an advance across Belgium and Luxemburg, north of Verdun and south of Maastricht, turns the French frontier fortresses and leads direct on Paris." CONTEMPT FOR RIFLE FIRE... A feature of the operations round! Liege has been the marching up of German troops in close order against a devastating fire. The German soldier has been educated in the doctrine of selfbelief, a corresponding contempt for the arms of all other nations, and a contempt, too, for tho effect of modern riflefire. His feeling upon that point has never of late years been disturbed by experience, but Liege must .have been an eye-opener. The military correspondent of the London Times, in a recent criticism of German troops, said he discovered, as the consequence of long-sustained and monotonous drill, a certain staleness, as compared with tho spring of French infantry. Officers who have to wait 16 or 17 years for a company are tired, too, beforo they achieve high command. GERMANY'S WAR PLANS. If the report bo true that plans found on a Uhlan show that the Germans expected to reach Brussels on August 3, and Lille on August 5, it is apparent that Germany, reckoned with but slight opposition from Belgium. On the Ist inst. Germany declared war on Russia, and immediately violated the neutrality of Luxemburg, and sent a force across the French frontier. On tho 4th inst. a state of war was declared to exist between Britain and Germany, and on tho same day the French Ambassador in Berlin and the German Ambassador in Paris wore recalled. It was on the following day, according to tho report, that the Germans expected to be at Lille. It may be taken for granted that rapid movement was a factor in the German plans. A German general said not long ago:— the English are not in Antwerp within the first five days of tho war they will never be in it." Ho estimated that it would take the German Army two days to get to Antwerp, the chief commercial city and seaport of Belgium, and three days to take Antwerp. That would mean one of two things— either that Germany would invade South Belgium, smash through tho Liege-Namur defences lined along the River Mouse, and penetrate tho intervening country, about 60 miles as the crow flics, to Antwerp; or else violate Holland's as well as Belgium's neutrality, and, marching through Holland, reach Antwerp by a route lying north of the Liege-Namur line. Whichever way tho German general proposed to go he was going to do the marching part in two days, and on the sixth day 'the British expeditionary force was to find tho Antwerp guns turned against itself by tho victorious Germans. ARMY ORGANISATION. The organisation of tho British Army and that of tho armies of Germany, France, and Russia differ in one important particular. 'Whereas, the basis of tho British field army organisation is a division, the basis of tho German, FrenCh, and Russian field army organisation is an army corps. A Germy army corps is about twice as strong as a British division. It numbers 41,000 men and 144 guns. A French army corps has an establishment of 33,210 men and from 120 to 144 guns. A British army division, which numbers 18,670 men and 76 guns, consists of three infantry brigades of four battalions each, four field artillery brigades, one heavy battery, ono ammunition column, two companies of engineers, ono signal company, one squadron of cavalry, one acroplano squadron, one divisional train, and threo ambulances. The war establishment of a British battalion of infantry is 29 officers and 995 other ranks, in * eight companies. A British cavalry division has 486 officers and 9410 other ranks. A Gorman infantry division number's 16,500 men, and a Gorman infantry brigade 6400 men. A Gorman cavalry 'division _ Las 4800 men, and a German cavalry brigade 1410 men. A French army corps is organised on much the samo linc3 as a German. It conins two infantry divisions, each division consisting of 14,380 men. A French infantry division contains two infantry brigades, a 'brigade of infantry numbering 5300 men. A French cavalry division has a war strength of 4580 men, and a French cavalry brigade a strength of 1400 men. A Russian infantry division has 17,900 men and a cavalry division 4000 men.