OLD BATTLEFIELDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23661, 21 May 1940, Page 8

OLD BATTLEFIELDS

PLACES OF RENOWN VITAL STRATEGIC CENTRES . GREAT WAR RECALLED Once again British, French and German armies are marching over roads rich in military history. Conde, Turenne, William of Orange, Marlborough, Villars, Napoleon, Wellington, and in our own generation, French, Haig, Joffre, Foch and the German von Kluck, von Bulow, Hindenburg, Ludendorff, are among great commanders who led their troops to war over these fields. Malplaquet, Ramillies, Quatre Bras, Waterloo, Ligny, Mons, are in the neighbourhood. Here aro strategically important roads, rivors and valleys, towns and villages. They are figuring in this war as they have figured in the wars even back to the days of the Romans. Laon, capital of the Department of tho Aisne, 87 miles north-east of Paris on the northern railway, is in a hilly district that has always been of strategic value. It was fortified by the Romans and successively checked the invasions of Franks, Burgundians, Vandals, Alani and Huns. Blucher held it against Napoleon in 1814, and in 1870 a devoted engineer blew up the magazine of the citadel at the moment German troops were entering the town. It could not resist von Kluck in 1914 and it was hold by the Germans until General Mangin took it in October, 1918, when he broke the German salient south of tho River Aisne. St. Quentin's Importance St. Quentin stands at tho junction of five military roads near the headwaters of the River Somme. Hero aro canals which'unite tho Somme with the River Scheldt and another which joins tho' River Oise with the Somme. Tho British knew tho town in olden times as Mary .Stuart's dowry. It figured in two battles in the 1870 war, fell to the Germans in 1914 and was the centre fropi which their attempted break through was made in 1918. La Fere was tho left pivot of this attack. St. Quentin's importance in the present war lies again in its road and canal junctions and in the access it affords to the valley of the Somme and thence to Amiens and tho Channel. Maubeuge, which appears to bo the northern cor.tier of the German salient, which they are trying to widen, is valuable for its control of road and railway communications to Belgium, and also behind tho German front. It was the only fortified city between Paris and Belgium in the last war, and was the longest to resist the German siege train. Von Kluck tried to trap tho "Contemptibles" against the fortress in 1914, but Sir John French was too clever for him. In 1918, the town was the objective of the Allied advance with the idea of breaking the lateral communications behind the Germans to Meziercs, corner-stone of Allied resistance on the other side of the present salient.

Scene of Famous Stand About 10 miles south-west of Maubeuge are Lanclrecies and Le Cateau, both in the news again. Haig's difficulties at Landrecies in August, 1914, led to Smith-Dorrien's decision to make his famous stand with the 2nd Corps at Le Cateau, a fight in which Sir Charles Fergusson, late Governor-Gen-eral of Now Zealand, led tho sth Division with distinction. It was duo to Smith-Dorrien's steadfastness and his slip away in the evening, that von Kluck lost proper touch with the British, moved to Amiens in search and then turned si>uth-east to link with the Germans on tho Marne. It was while ho was thus engaged that tho French took him in rear outsido Paris, making tho victory of the Marne possible. Not far away from Le Cateau is Le Quesnoy, which has a high place in Now Zealand's military history through its brilliant capture by tho Rifle Brigade. All three places, though comparatively small, are important road centres, leading in the present instance to Cambrai.

The Sambre, the Oise, the Somme and the Aisne are rivers as rich in military history as they are important in the flow of commerce. The Sambre rises to the south-east of Le Gateau and passes through Maubeuge and Gharleroi to join the Meuse at Namur. Do Lanzerac, with the French sth Army, fought hard for its crossings in 1914. The Oise has its source in tho same area and flows south-east to join the Aisne. As the Germans are reported to be at St. Quentin its value at tho moment is not great. The Aisne in its east to west course covers liheims and tho roUds to Paris. It was on the Aisno that the front became stabilised in 1914 after tho Germans had been forced back over tho Marne.