THE NEXT GREAT WAR.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XL, Issue 9195, 24 September 1891, Page 3

THE NEXT GREAT WAR.

A REGENT Germnn writer, Major Rindscrift, gives an interesting account of the probability of the next war, assuming that j France and Germany are the combatants, g and are left alone to fight it out. The fl Toronto Globe says:— Since 1870 France has expended about 800,000,000d015. in j fortifications along the Alsace-Lorraine frontier. The whole line bristles with c forts and cannon, belts, girdles, and shields r armed with the most modern cannon and j with rapid firing guns, as though the a French expected to act once more on the c defensive. Germany would have to cap- g ture at least two immense forts before , there would bo any possibility of a further j march onward, for a modern army with its j million of men, a hundred thousand horses and fifteen thousand waggons, requires a wide marching zone — that is, several parallel roads — before it can move a step, c The frontier in question was protected j prior to 1870 with but three fortresses of ] the first rank, supported by a few smaller c ones, whereas there are to-day three vast « entrenched areas covering the whole space, E and embracing over 30 fortresses, any one of which would stand a long siege. These areas are connected by two railways, which are fed by seven other railways, so that troops can be placed on the scene in a surprisingly expeditious manner. Toul, Epinal. Verdun, Belf ort, and Fort la Chaux are amongst the most formidable of the French fortresses, Verdun alone having 758 heavy guna. Everywhere the natural features of the country — mountain, valley, and river, — have been pressed into the service^ and redoubts and earthworks almost without number have been erected at every point of vantage. Forts have aho been built along the Swiss and Belgian frontiers, but the main design has been to hermetically «eal the German frontier againßt the invasion from that quarter. The Germans, on the other hand while not forgetting their fortresses, look for the defence of their country rather to a powerful strategical offensive. Germany • trusts largely to the hands that wields the spear, whereas France prefers to use the shield. It is admitted that the immense works of earth and stone which the French have constructed are masterpi' ces of engineering skill, but it is hinted^ that after all they could not long hold out against a rain of dynamite falling from captive ballons or projected out of guns of the Zalinski model. One of the principal German strongholds is Strasburg, which was taken from France in 1870. Jt forms the heart of an entrenched camp, capable of accomrao ■ dating 30,000 men, embracing 20 strong forts. The town itself, with a fortified wall, can be encircled on three sides by a belt of {water. It and. the torts are connected by railway and telegraph. . Metz, another of the places torn from Franco, has been greatly strengthened, though the burden of the responsibility for guarding it is laid on the surrounding hills, which are studded with forts. Inside these fortified hills there is a girdle of protection formed by channels which can be filled with water from the Moselle at short notice. Behind tho line of German defence, of which Metz and Straßburg are the most conspicuous featuaes, lies a second line formed by the fortresses of Ulm, Rustatt, Mayence, Coblentz, Cologne and Weael. Her new fortifications have cost Germany about 350,000,000d01., a good portion of which came directly or indirectly out of the war ideinnity imposed on France. JJJWhen it is borne in mind that France and Germany together would place 3,000,000 fighting men into > the field, to operate in and among fortifications that have cost years of labour and over a thousand million dollars in cash, some faint idea may be formed of the shock that would result from their collision. If Russia joined France, while Italy and Austria sided with Germany, tho magnitude o£ the contest would be vastly increased. It would in truth bo a war Buch as the world has never seen. We on the American Continent ought to thank God every day that we are free from such stupendous dangers. Call for W olte's Schnapps, and take no fraud, They not only imitate Wolfe's Schnapps cut copy ftdvortUemejitf .