THE MODERN BATTLEFIELD.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 70, 6 November 1911, Page 8

THE MODERN BATTLEFIELD.

German minus are pondering over tlio or a modern battlefield, stim* plated thereto I>v the work of a German military authority, recently pnoiislie;!. The subject is an interesting one, and to those who have never given the subject a thought some of tho figures are ratlicr startling. When brederiek the Great fought his battles in the eighteenth century, four miles would cover the extent ol the operations. II lie battlefield on which V ranee and Germany might very easily have !>ecii some mouths wonJcl have occupied, perhaps, as much as id;),000 square miles. That is il hot!) tuitions in*d been tihle to inobilisc aIT their forces, some three million mou apiece. Naturally the question arises, will the generals of the present day ha able to control such huge armies spread over such a vast ritory? One man will have to have supreme control, and ho will ho able to call to his aid all the contrivances that human ingenuity has devised—flying machines, motor ears, dirigibles, b.ilhmim, bicycles, wireless telegraphy, and held telephones, besides signalling •apparatus. To effectively handle three millions of men, large numbers of whom would bo indili’orontly trained, no matter how perfect the means oi communication, is a problem that would tax i:lie ingenuity of the greatest strategist oi' any ago. indeed, it is the opinion of men com pet on I 1 fo judge, that the innumerable I 'gior.s lof the great powers are iuoflicie.ut, because they are of opinion that they | are too big and unwieldy to be handlied with facility, and because no hu- ! man brain can surmouu t tbe difficul--1 ties of directing their movements with, i precision. Outside the problem of genj erelshl?) there is another, equally imI portaut—how to feed a i:ugc monern I armv. Sum 'dung like three thuuj "•wi field Ir-tteri-s werdd K e i rquir.d. j There would ho - tors of tlmm. imis ol jlmrr.es to feed, and enormous quasi! r--1 tics of petrol would lie required for