WAR GEOLOGY 167 



explosives against supposed impregnable forts of Belgi"am. In general, 

 the strength or vulnerability of a fortification depends in large degree on 

 the nature of the rocks and their geological structure at and about the 

 place fortified, in respect to the destructive effect of shell fire, the practi- 

 cability of approach by tunnels or saps in mining operations, and the 

 abundance and security of the water supply. That in any such case the 

 military engineer and the geologist should work together for the best 

 results is a thesis needing no defense before this Society. 



In the Crimean War the Russians are credited with remarkable success 

 in defending certain points, such as the Mast Bastion, near Sebastopol, 

 because of their intimate knowledge and superior appreciation of the 

 surrounding terrain. Austrian army officers have repeatedly called for 

 geological surveys of the vicinity of Lemberg, Cracow, Pola, and other 

 important points by well known geologists, such as Tietze, Stache, 

 Waagen, and Vetters. A permanent and well protected water supply has 

 been the main object of these studies. 



In the Boer War a knowledge of the geological structure and water 

 supply is said to have enabled the Boers to select strong defensive posi- 

 tions, while the British troops attacking them were placed at a marked 

 disadvantage. 



It is believed that the services of geologists have been utilized in prac- 

 tically all armies in the last few decades preceding the great war, in the 

 limited field of the engineering problems of fortresses and of water sup- 

 ply for defensive positions. The organization of this special work was 

 no doubt most highly developed in the German army, and of this I shall 

 speak in some detail later. 



The greatly increased application of geological knowledge in the pres- 

 ent war has been due, first of all, to the development of position warfare. 

 The contest between the Japanese and the Russians in Manchuria is said 

 to have convinced some students of the subject that extended earthwork 

 defenses or trenches possessed such strength when defended by modern 

 arms and explosives that this might prove to be the dominant kind of 

 warfare in future. 



H. G. Wells, in "What is Coming?" gives a Pole named Bloch credit 

 for the first clearly expressed appreciation of the coming importance of 

 trench or position warfare, which was brought out in a book published 

 shortly before the Boer War. Bloch thought that the increasing efficiency 

 of defense by infantry, supported by artillery, along entrenched lines 

 foreshadowed the end of wars between armies of nearly equal strength 

 and equipment, because such contests must end in exhaustion and dead- 

 lock, and hence prove futile in the settlement of disputes. 



