413 
PRECIS OF CONTENTS 
OF THE 
“ORGAN DER MILITAR-WISSENTSCHAPTLICHEN VEREINE ” 
PABT i, VOL. XXI. 
BY 
LIEUT. J. M. GRIERSON, R.A. 
In this part we would draw attention to the " Repertoire of Military 
Journalism,” published half-yearly by the " Organ” In it, arranged 
under such heads as "England,” "Russia,” "Field Artillery,” 
" Tactics,” " Military History,” are mentioned all the articles bearing 
on those subjects which have appeared in the leading military papers 
in Europe and America. For purposes of study it is invaluable. 
The first paper of importance is " A study of Constantinople, by 
Captain Ivanossich von Kustenfeld. After describing the advantages 
of situation, &c., of the town, and its historical development, the 
author proceeds to give an account of the defences of Constantinople 
during the war of 1877-8. Under this heading he includes the forts 
on the Dardanelles wbicb form the first line of defence of the 
town against a naval attack from the west. Taking the actual 
armament of those forts and those on the Bosphorus into consideration, 
the writer declares his opinion that they could not be taken, nor even 
silenced by a naval attack. A landing on the north shore of the 
peninsula of Gallipoli he believes impossible, likewise an attack on the 
rear of the forts on the south bank of the Dardanelles; and then comes 
to the conclusion that " the only possible way of attacking those forts 
by land is by a line of operations based on the Balkans and branching 
in one direction against Constantinople, in the other against the 
Isthmus of Bulair.” The latter is only five kilometres broad, and is 
defended by the lines of Bulair, built by the Allies in 1854, for a 
garrison of 20,000 men with 100 guns. For the immediate defence 
of the capital there are three lines of works, the Lines of Tchataldja, 
the Lines of Makrikoi-Kilia (begun in 1878), and a last line immediately 
under the walls of the town from Baliskii to Bujukdere. For the 
adequate occupation and active defence of those lines, 100,000 men 
with 250 position and 120 field guns would be required. Thus held, 
and adequately provisioned and supplied, Constantinople would be in 
a nut which, in Captain von Kustenfeld*s opinion, it would take the 
entire military and naval strength of any power in Europe to crack* 
The one weak point is the small and uncertain supply of water, which 
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