10 
overcome, especially after they have been played upon for a considerable time by 
siege batteries. The co-operation of the other arms is only necessary for the 
actual occupation of the works dismounted by their fire. This is evidently the 
author’s idea, as otherwise his system of attack would be inexplicable. He begins 
by selecting a narrow front of attack, upon which he accumulates a great number 
of guns. This front comprises one fort and two intervals. It would naturally 
have been thought that this fort, as the strongest part of the front, would have 
required a series of special operations for its reduction. But General Wiebe 
describes the course of the siege exactly as if the fort had no separate existence, 
and does not even indicate the time of its capture. This detail, however, should 
have been noted. Moreover, in order to turn the enemy’s position, he talks of 
capturing one of the collateral forts, so that it almost looks as if, in order to take 
the fort attacked, it would be necessary first to take one of the neighbouring ones. 
Here, as in many other passages, some explanation would have been useful. 
At all events, the General only attributes a very secondary importance to the 
detached forts and does not think them capable of any great resistance, and in 
this opinion he agrees with General von Sauer, whose methods of attack have 
already been noticed. 
But is not this opinion founded upon an exaggerated notion of the destructive 
power of artillery ? For the author of the Ideen uber Befestigungen has established 
the fact, which ought not to be lost sight of, that a fort whose artillery has been 
reduced to silence is still a formidable obstacle, because it can be vigorously 
defended by infantry, and it is exactly this infantry defence which renders the 
attack by sap necessary. We hear a great deal, and with reason, of the recent pro¬ 
gress of artillery and of the extraordinary effects produced by powerful explosives ; 
but has not the armament of infantry also made progress, and will not the introduc¬ 
tion of the magazine rifle render very costly the execution of an attack from a 
long distance against works whose passive defences are still partially intact ? 
Even if the interior of the fort is untenable, there will be places in the flanks 
and gorge (as is pointed out by the author of the Ideen uber Befestigungenf 
comparatively under cover, where the troops intended to repulse the attacking 
columns can assemble. On this subject General Brialmont says, “ The history 
of modern sieges shows us how costly it is to assault a fortress without sapping 
up to the foot of the glacis. The attacks by open force on Ismail, Badajos, 
Silistria, Kars, the redoubts of Euppel, the c enceinte ’ of Sebastopol, and the 
entrenched camps of Plevna, having regard to the circumstances which caused 
some of them to succeed, others to fail, and caused a great loss of life in all 
cases, are so conclusive, that no General who is anxious for the life of his soldiers 
and for his own reputation will wish to follow the example. This sort of attack 
is less feasible now than formerly, when there were no quick-firing rifled guns, 
no segment and shrapnel shell, no armour-plating to protect the guns, and no 
electric appliances to illumine the ground up to a distance of more than 2000 
metres.” 
It is then to be regretted that General Wiebe has not gone more into detail 
with regard to the means to be employed to gain possession of a detached fort 
with the rapidity he expects. 
It has doubtless been remarked that he makes no allusion’to smokeless powder, 
but this omission is no doubt due to the fact that his essay was written before 
this question came to the front as a military study. 
Although General Wiebe, in his essay, only deals with the artillery combat, we 
can, in reading it, form an idea of the manner in which, in his opinion, the siege 
will be conducted. The salient points of his method only have been dwelt upon, 
so as to enable our readers to compare the method of attack proposed with those 
which are now recommended in Germany. 
(Conclusion ). 
