October 10, 1914 
LAND AND WATER 
sufficiently show the importance of this news. It 
means that whether by tho releasing of men i'roiu the 
gaiTJsons in Belgium, or from the anival of new 
contingents, or from transference from the east, the 
enemy proposes to bring further forces u])on the ilank 
of the existing French line, that is upon if not behind 
its western extreme. It is he avIio is attempting to 
lengthen still fmihcr the extension of this great new 
front which during the last fortnight has crept up 
from Noyon northwards until it has now reached the 
Belgian frontier. 
What fortunes the move may have we cannot 
tell for at least two days. 
AVe learn from the same communication and 
from one previous to it that there has again been 
some slight advance in the centre or rather in the 
left centre over the trenches that have defended the 
crest of the plateau above Soissons and towards 
Oraonne. In this local success the French acknow- 
ledge the aid of the British contingents. But there 
has been no serious development or change along tho 
old main front between the Oise and the Argonne. 
THE SIEGE OF ANTWERP. 
have the ring of " old forts," the original works by 
which the modem city was defended. tStrictly speaking, 
the scheme is not a ring but three-quarters of a cu-cle 
reposing upon the Scheldt, most of the country 
behind or to the west of which is not available for 
siege operations because it can be flooded, and 
because the last portion of it is foreign territoiy 
and Dutch. 
Finally, a thii-d set of defences, at an average of 
about ten to fifteen thousand yards from the centre 
of the city, consisting in a chain of modem forts, 
completes the scheme. 
It is against the southern sector of these outer 
forts that the (jcnnan howitzer lire has been directed 
during the last few days. The attack began last 
THiesday morauig upon the works of AYaelhem and 
Wavi'o St. Catherine. Next day it was extended to 
the work at Lien-e. Upon Thursday evening these 
works were still replying, but iipon the Friday a 
bi'each in the outer ring was so far effected that the 
besieguig army was able to reach the line of the Eiver 
Ncthe behind it. 
Here appeared, and is still appealing, what has 
become a characteristic of all efforts against permanent 
"Ratide of lODOOyds. 
rtAX SllOWIXa tub rOCTI^ICAIIO^-S BOUND A>TWlajF. 
There arc many reasons Avhy sjjecidation upon 
the course of the last great Gemian operation, tho 
Siege of Antwei-p, should be prudejitly restricted. 
But it is impossible to give a summary of the news 
this week without saying something of this most 
important development. It will be sufficient if we 
confine ourselves to the official commimiques and noto 
their bearing upon the situation. 
The City of Antwerp is protected by three groups 
of works. Fii-st, immediately round its densely- 
inhabited portion the old continuous ditch or enceinte. 
This rampart, though it has no relation to modem 
fortiiicatiou, prevents something which has happened 
to all the other brailment rings in tho nortli, and 
which would not have happened to them had they 
also possessed a ditch and rampart. I mean the 
introduction of small l)odies of the eTiomy between 
the outer forts into the heart of u place. 
Next, outside the suburbs and at ranges varyuig 
from 3000 to 4000 yai-ds to the heart of the city, you 
Avorks in this war, and what will be just as apparent 
when we come to attack Gennan permanent works iu 
our turn. It is one of the chief lessons of tho 
campaign. Howitzer fire dominates regular fortifica- 
tion far more than was imagined before the war broke 
out, but on the other hand the resisting power of 
infantry and field artiUeiy behind any defensive lino 
is far greater than was expected. It is exactly what 
you had in the attack upon the !Meuse the other day 
in front of St. Mihiel. The permanent works fell or 
were silenced by heavy howitzer fire in a little over 
two da3s' engagement, but the defence of the infantry 
upon the other side of tho stream rendered useless 
this achievement, and, though a breach had been driven 
through a line of regular fortification, progress could 
not be made beyond that line. The Beli^ian Amiy has 
been able to maintain itself behind the Nethe and the 
Dyle ever since tlie first attack was made. The 
ofiieiid communique which tells us that the (Jcrmaii 
shells were falling as far as Conticb also tells us that 
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