RAILROADS OF FRANCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14048, 19 July 1916, Page 3

RAILROADS OF FRANCE.

"The battles of the Yser and Ypres were, m the first instance,, won by the French railroads, and though the , German lines possessed certain initial advantages over theni)'- they,) have held their own throughout the war," says an officer closely concerned m the mobilisation, concentration, and displacement of the. French troops. ' m* "The Germans have had the advantage of distance, since the line took the form of a triangle ; inside that triangle their points of concentration are nearer to the Yaer, or ' any other part of the front than the Allies' concentration points on the other side, where it if necessary to turn the angle instead of going across the inside of it." r,i - It appears that Joffre foresaw the German flanking movement towardsCalais during the last days of the battld of the Marne, and began sending troops to parry it as early as September 8. Between that date and the beginning of October, 800 trains carried, seventeen army corps and three divisions of cavalry northwards. A review of the military operations beginning with the mobilisation, shows i that railroads of France have accomplished everything that was expected of them, contrary to the. experiences of 1870; The relative cairn along the front] itself at certain periods brings no rest I to the railroads.,. From February to August, 1915, 3430 troop trains were run, while the average bt supply trains was 131 a day ; at the same time there were 238 ambulance trains m service. Besides assuring the transportation of troops, the railroads have, since the war, added 2000 miles of regular gauge and forty miles of narrow gauge track to their strategic lines, and largely transformed 153 military stations.