476 



The Review of Reviews. 



WEAKNESSES OF THE GERMAN ARMY. 



Ik the London Magasuie for November, Mr. 

 Hilaire Helloc continues his discussion of the German 

 Army, its strength and its weakness. One great draw- 

 back is that the Germans have condemned themselves 

 to a military plan which must collapse altogether — 

 and their political system with it — unless the first 

 onset is immediately and overwhelmingly successful. 



A POORLY DEFENDED FRONTIER. 



On the German side of the French frontier you 

 have only two great fortified points : — 



Upon the German side you have just two great fortified 

 points, Metz and Strasburp, neither of them fortified with the 

 thoroughness or at the expense of the corresponding French 

 points ; no system of fortifications holding the line of the 

 Rhine, and behind that line nothing whatsoever that military 

 science need take into account ; no rationally disposed system, 

 that is, or line of fortresses, supporting one another and com- 

 pelling the delay of .an advancing army. 



On the French side there is the first line of 

 fortifications, four great fortresses ; a second line of 

 fortresses runs from Burgundy through Champagne to 

 the southern fortresses of the Belgian frontier ; and 

 thirdly there is the capital, better fortified than any 

 other great town in Europe. Consequently the 

 chances of a successful onset at the start are small, 

 and difficulties would be very certain. 



" THE RUSH THROUGH BELGIUM." 



But it is continually taken for granted that Germany 

 would rush thiough Belgium. Well, rejoins Mr. 

 Belloc :— 



The German .\rmy possesses for an attack upon the Belgian 

 frontier precisely one main line of railway. There is no 

 strategical co-ordination of the lesser lines in the manufacturing 

 district of Aix-la-Chapelle. To the south and close to the 

 point of attack, crowding that point into a very narrow channel, 

 lies the high, difficult, and deserted country of the Fagne, 

 through which no rapid movement is possible ; and even if any 

 considerable force could reach the Meuse in the first few hours 

 after the outbreak of hostilities, in what way does current 

 journ.alism (or current politics for that matter) imagine that the 

 Meuse would be forced ? The journalist and the politician 

 have talked of the thing in general terms; they h.ave not con- 

 sidered it in detail. The Meuse is a serious obstacle, and it is 

 an obstacle fortified absolutely without regard to expense, and 

 in the most thorough manner possible. Its fortification was 

 carried through by the greatest engineer and the greatest 

 authority upon fortification of our lime. 



On the French side of the Meuse you have a closer network 

 nf railways than is to be found in any district of Europe ; and 

 though these were not designed for a strategical pui^jose, 

 industrial accident has made all the main lines lead up to the 

 Meuse from all the principal French military centres upon that 

 frontier. 



Mr. Belloc reports that in the mobilisation of all 

 her millions Germany has an advantage over France, 

 but the war would be fought not by all the millions 

 but by the first mobilised two or three hundred thou- 

 sand. And the French turn out of barracks quicker, 

 and alarm a town more promptly, and a soldier actually 

 with the colours is at his post in a shorter time 

 than the German. 



GERM,\N SLOWNESS. 



Moreover, Germany has shown great slowness in 

 understanding the significance of new things in 



inilitary .science. She won her victory over France 

 by means of a better field artillery. But, though 

 France within ten years was possessed of an artillery 

 superior to the German, for a whole series of years 

 Germany was armed with a weapon which would have 

 given France an overwhelming superiority. Even yet 

 Germany has not produced a quick-firer of the per- 

 fection of the French. The experience at Port 

 Arthur has shown that the German under-valuation 

 of fortifications was wrong, and that the French were 

 right. Germany was the latest to adopt the sub- 

 marine. Germany also went in for the rigid rather 

 than the semi-rigid dirigible, but has at last slowly 

 been compelled by experience to follow the precedent 

 of the French. 



The near possibility of war over the Morocco 

 question makes Mr. Belloc's paper of very real in- 

 terest. 



THE WIRELESS NEWSPAPER. 



In the World's Work Mr. F. A. Talbot describes 

 the development of wireless telegraphy. The whole 

 world seems to be dotted over with wireless outposts. 

 The competition with the submarine cables is not so 

 great as was expected. He says radio-telegrams can 

 now be despatched from Britain and Canada at a 

 uniform rate of 7|d. per word as compared with the 

 charge of is. per word levied by the cable companies. 

 The Wanamaker Stores have united their two estab- 

 lishments, one in New York and the other in 

 Philadelphia, by a Marconi service. This is esti- 

 mated to save about ^1,700 in telephone charges 

 alone every year, in addition to securing a quicker 

 service and one free from breakdown. Perhaps the 

 most striking result is the wireless newspaper : — 



Another striking display of enterprise is the system whereby 

 a bulletin of news is despatched every night to vessels crossing 

 the Atlantic. The " Wireless Newspaper" published on board 

 ship, which first appeared as a humble single sheet, has attained 

 the proportions of a weekly journal. Every steamship line 

 ■ completes its own arrangements in regard to the m.inncr in 

 which the paper shall be published aboard the vessels Hying 

 its fl.ig, and the general features of the paper together with 

 the advertisements are printed on shore. The news of 

 the day, in tabloid form, is sent out at night, collected by the 

 various vessels, translated into Dutch, French, or German as 

 required, printed on board, and the pages are inserted in the 

 stock copies, so that passengers at the breakfast table can post 

 themselves up with the world's happenings during the previous 

 twenty-four hours in a condensed form over the matutinal meal. 

 This development has proved one of the most popular enter- 

 prises on the part of the Marconi company, and its increasing 

 appreciation tends towards the fact that a p.-iper similar in 

 character to that on shore will be published daily on board ship 

 within a few years. Some of these publications already have 

 assumed an imposing appearance, are freely illustrated, and 

 handsomely printed. The varied character of the contents, 

 both news and jiiagazine, certainly provides one means of 

 whiling away the' tedium of tr.avel, and at the same time enables 

 one to be kept au coiirant with the progress of the world in 

 general when 1,500 miles from shore. 



The Germans have their Telefunken system, tlie 

 French their Rochefort, and the United States the 

 Fessendcn and de Forest systems. The Marconi 

 Company is at present the most widely extended. 



