PERIODICAL literature; 447 



MISCELLANEOUS 



The strategic importance of forests in the pres- 

 Forests ent war is pointed out in an interesting article by 



in the J. Demorlaine. He recognizes, of course, the 



War vakie of the forests as producers of wood of all 



sorts for military purposes and the tactical im- 

 portance of small bodies of woods as shelter for machine guns, ob- 

 servation posts, etc., but believes that the most important role of 

 the forests in war is the protection afforded by continuous stands 

 covering considerable areas. He points out that it was the great 

 forests of Alsace, of the V'osges, and of Lorraine that enabled the 

 French in 1914 to stop the advance of the German armies at the 

 crest of the Vosges. It was the forests of Trois-Fontaine that enabled 

 the French to save Saint-Dizier, an important nucleus of roads and rail- 

 ways. Paris, both in 1914 and in July, 1918, was saved by the forests 

 of Villers-Cotterets and of Compiegne. In 1918 the retreat of the Ger- 

 mans was similarly favored by the great forests of the Ardennes and 

 only the rapidity of the Allied offensive and the heroism of the Allied 

 troops prevented the Germans from holding their ground in these 

 forests much longer than they actually succeeded in doing. 



M. Demorlaine closes his article with a plea that the devastated 

 forests be left to recover themselves in peace. He advocates making 

 the Germans repay the French in kind for the forest products which 

 they have destroyed and which they have forced the French to use 

 in their own defense. It is interesting to note that a special plea is 

 made to do away for good with the intensive hunting which formerly 

 used to be carried on in these forest regions. Military operations are 

 said to have driven out the rodents which formerly infested the forests, 

 and the author believes that they can be prevented from again becoming 

 a pest if hunting is prohibited. S. T. D. 



L. importance strategique des forcts et la querre. J. Demorlaine. Revue des 

 Haux et Forets, February, 19 19, pp. 25-30. 



