LAND AND WATER 
October 3, 1914 
,VERDUN 
■ Germ»n Line 
Zi Allied Lin« 
'■New German 
Offensive 
d*TOUL 
PLAN 8H0W1S0 KKW OKRMAX OKFiiN.SIVK IS TltK EAST, AGAINST 
THE LINE VKRDUN-TOUI.. 
as Avould the success of the turning movement round 
by the Oisc be vital in its ill-consequence to the 
(rermans. In the regrettable necessity oE retiring 
the ^vliole eastern or right end of the main 
Allied line before the serious threat of a German 
advance across the Ujjper Meuse, the French 
and their Allies would lose much country which 
the enemy would ravage ; they would suffer a 
dispiriting check after the general success of the 
last three weeks ; they would be retreating where 
they had hoped confidently to advance. ^J'he tide 
which had seemed to set in with a strong flood would 
liave appeared to ebb again. But nothing essential 
would have gone. No line of communication sening 
the Allies would have been cut, and though new and 
much better lines of communication for the Germans 
would have been ojjened, a success of this kind could 
not possibly be decisive. The corresponding success 
of the Allies upon the west wing, upon the other 
hand, Avould be necessarily decisive. Supposing the 
unlikely and bizarre coincidence of a successful 
German advance in foi-ce across the Upper Meuse, 
coming at the same time with a successful French 
advance reaching to the Upper Oise, the foni/er would 
have no decisive effect upon the direction of the 
campaign. The latter vvoidd compel an immediate 
j'nd rapid evacuation by the German Army of all 
positions in France. 
Important, therefore, as this Gennan demonstra- 
tion upon the Upper Meuse to the east is, if it is 
•being made in force, we must not lose sight of the 
fact that it is secondary only in importance compared 
Avith the priraaiy and capital business of that fighting 
in front of Noyon and St. Quentin, where the German 
Army is defending its very existence, and the Allies 
attempting no less than the decision of the campaign. 
AVith this Avarning we can turn to examination in 
greater detail of the new German movement which 
threatens the extreme French right. 
During the last few days, then, the enemy has 
advanced from the east against the ToulA^erdun line, 
the barrier of forts on the Upper IMeuse, and has 
pierced it. 
The district as a whole can be best appreciated by 
some such sketch map as that on the following page. 
The Eiver Meuse runs in a trench a little north 
of noi-th-east; on either side of this trench rise 
wooded heights, foi-ming ui)on the east a plateau, 
known as the Heights of tlie Meuse. This plateau 
falls sharply on its eastern side on to the plain called 
"the Woemi-e Country." In the midst of this 
stands Thiaucourt, the headquarters of the late 
German advance to tlie river. The heights of the 
ISIeuse have opposite them, beyond the river, a 
district neariy corresponding and about the same 
lieight Avith themselves, also falling steeply down 
some 300 feet upon the trench through which the 
Meuse runs. This stretch of the river is protected 
as follows : 
It has been made into a barrier first by the great 
fortresses of Verdun and Toul to the north and to 
the south, and next by a chain of Avorks dominating 
the river A-alley, the larger of Avhich arc called in order 
fi'om north to south : CJenlcourt, Troyon, Parodies, 
Camp des Iiomains, LiouvlUe, and Girouville. Two 
towns of some size stand upon the river between 
Verdun and Toul ; these are St. ^liliiel and Com- 
mercy, of Avhich St. Mihiel is the inost central, l}ing 
almost exactly half-way betAveen Yerdun and Toul. 
The German advance first got a footing on the 
plateau at the salient height of Hatton-Chatel, and 
then advanced to St. ^Mihiel, Avhere the river Avas 
crossed after the guns A\'ithin the Avork at Les 
Parodies and the Avork at Camp des Itomains had 
been silenced. 
With St. Mihiel and its bridge thus in possession 
of the enemy, the French line ran as the dotted line 
does upon the map. Its formation has been ofRcially 
communicated through the French Government to the 
Press, and may therefore be printed here. 
(Passage deleted by Censor.) 
It Avill be seen from the above and from 
the map on the foUoAving page that the total 
effect of the new German offensive in this region 
so far has been to occupy a projection or salient, 
the base of which is the dotted Ime marking 
the old French front of more than a week ago, the 
outer boundary of which passes through Apremont 
round to the Avest of the work of Parodies, and then 
to a jioint between Spada village and the Fort of 
Tro^'on. This salient giA'es the Germans their cross- 
ing over the Meuse. It is here that they have driven 
a breach tlu'ough the barrier Toul-A'^erdun. 
In order to seize the natiii-e and importance of 
the newly undertaken German operations upon the 
Ujjj^er Meuse Ave have to consider four points. 
(f/) First and most important, the object Avith 
which this ncAv offensiAe has been under- 
taken on the part of the enemy. 
(i) Tlie numbers iuA'olved. 
(c) The distances iuA-olved and the disposition 
of the advancing troops, French and 
German, so far as those dispositions are 
madcknoAvn by the official dispatches Avliich 
may be examined and explained A\itliout 
indiscretion. 
(d) The actual results achieved by the 
Germans during the past Aveek in this 
effort of theirs to cross the Meuse as given 
us by these same disjjatches. 
It Avill be seen that of these four points the last 
two are concerned with established facts and can be 
dealt Avith accurately while the first tAvo are matters 
our conjectures on which Avill dej)end tipon our judg- 
ment as AA'ell as upon official record, and that judgment 
cannot be final. 
Yet it is in the first two j^oints — and particularly 
in the first — that the Avliole interest of the matter lies. 
For our one concern in this ATry grave subject is 
the purpose the German commanders had in mind and 
their poAver A\'hen they at last attacked the Toul- 
Yerdun line to achicA'c that purpose. 
NoAV, AA'hatever their purpose be their power to 
to achieve it Avill depend upon numbers ; as, indeed, 
other things being equal, does everything in Avar. 
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