LAND AND WATER 
September 13, 1914 
comljiuetl manoeuvre ui>on wliich the Allies are now 
c'.neentmted, and which, if it is imiwsed upon the 
(U-nuan invasion, will compel that invasion to retreat. 
Tlie other held in whieh the Allies are concerned 
is the equaUv i.ni)ort;int one stretcdiing in a great 
concave throncvh A'itrv-le-Franct.is.to the fortified line 
b.>tween \'erdun and Toul. Here the conditions are 
as follows : — ■ 
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FALLS. 
The eastern side of this field, that lying towards 
the Meuse and the fortified line Verdun — Toul, is 
country both hilly and thickly wooded. It is a 
country not only 'of deep i\niues and considerable 
fin-ests, but of pasture lands, often fairly "close " and 
" blind " — cat up by hedges and full of spinneys and 
copses as well as woods. To the north stretches the 
long low ridge of the Argonne, a lump of clay, crossed 
by five or six main roads, but only two railways. The 
main tJerman effoi-t to break the French line must be 
made to the west of this wooded, ravhied, and ditlicult 
coimtry, for to the Avest of it lie plains, at first very 
o])en and bare ; and even farther east there is easy 
roUmg ploughed and heath country with Avide 
horizons; such as is suitable to the manoeuvring of 
great forces. 
It is across this open country — the plains Avhich 
take their name from the town of Chalons on the 
IMarne, and the great Avheat district that lies to the 
south and east of those plains — that the main German 
effort to pierce the French line, now in progress, is 
directed. Its centre of effort is against Vitry. 
In this critical effort, upon the success or failure 
of Avhich Avill so largely turn the fate of France, the 
Jinnies of the Crown Prince of Prussia and of 
AViuiemberg, the 10th Corps and the Guard are 
traversing country Avhicli has been throughout all 
recorded history the battlefield of tlic (hnils. 
It is the first time, I think, in history that the 
parallel eastern obstacles which cover France have 
been thus turned, or that an invader has been approach- 
ing from the north, but, saA'e for this anomaly, history 
here repeats itself in an astonishing fashion. 
It must have been about the 4th of September, 
Friday last, that once more men from Brandenburg 
saw before them south of the great camp at Chalons 
the half-staiTcd rolling plain of the Cliampagne- 
Pouillcuse, utterly bare sa\e for dwarf lines of newly- 
l)lanted firs. And as they looked over that mournful 
country, Avhicli is like a tumbled sea of hillocks and 
rounded dips Avidi the dull, low line of Argonne 
crossing the eastern horizon, one crest and roll over 
Avhieh they marched Iwre the tomb of Kellennan, and 
Avas the lonely position of A'alray. "Whatever column 
it was that cro.ssed this field, some man among them 
as he crossed the high road rested for a moment where 
young Goethe rested, and If he glanced back during a 
halt, may liave Avondered, as Goethe Avondered, whether 
he Avere not at the beginning of a new world. 
But there is more tlian this. In that same lost 
and barren region of the huge Catalaunian Plain, 
coming along the Pomau Poad, Avhicli skirts tliu; 
Camp of Chalons and is the main avenue of advance 
soutliAvard, by Suippes, some column passed imme- 
diately beneath the ramparts of that amazing thing 
Avhicli' is still called the Camp of Attila. It is a huge 
oval bank, reminding one in its shape of those modern 
tracks (such as Brooklands) Avhere petrol races are 
run, and also in its size — for it is many hundred yards 
in length. But it is piled much higher than the 
banks of these modern racing tracks, and in its bulk 
and isolation it is the most iiupressiw thing a man 
may see in the Avhole course of European travel. This 
Camii. tradition afiinns, Avas the fortification Avherein 
the Huns secured themselves before they marched 
some two days further south, and Avere broken t > 
pieces at last by the discipline of the lloman people, 
and by that })OAver there is in the Latin blood to digest 
and to bring into useful service the barbarians. 
Even as I Avrite these lines upon the ^\''ednesday 
of the week I do not know, for there is no immediate 
news in England, Avhether this effort of the iuA'ader 
upon the French centre at Vitry has succeeded. But 
1 know that he is marching o\er sacred ground Avhere 
there rise against him the infiuences of the dead. 
Not so far av>-ay, a day's march behind the defending 
line, is the house that nourished Daiiton. If that line 
is pierced the iuA-ader may burn the house, still 
standing, AA'here Joan of Arc Avas born. 
Such, then, is the nature of the ground and sucli 
the position of the opposing forces at the most critical 
])oint of all in this campaign. Sliould tlie extreme 
French right fall past Pevigny-aux-A'aches and 
approach Bar Ic Due, it Avill be high time for tiie 
French Army in Loi-raine at L L L to retire. 
And here one cannot but digress to consider the 
aiTcsting of the Gennan offensive Avliich has been 
acluc^-ed so far by the troops covering the open 
country betAvecn Nancy and the Vosges. 
Indeed, one of the chief puzzles of this great war, 
Avith its astonishing armour of concealment, is the 
position ami the implied success in their resistance of 
the forces that cover this bit of open ground. 
I have seen in more than one telegram the phrase 
" Fortifications of Nancy." In particular avc Avere 
told in one despatch three days ago that the German 
Emperor Avas Avith the troops that Avere '• attacking 
the fortifications of Nancy." But the phrase has nu 
meaning. Nancy is an open tonn. There are a few 
field Avorks in front of it Avhic'i C(.)uld ha.ve no effect 
sa\'e to delay for a very short time any determined 
advance upon the city. There is only one permanent 
Avork Ea.st of the Nancy line, and that is the Fort of 
Manonvillers, Avhich fell (apparently) after a bombard- 
ment of some twelve days, and has been in the liands 
of the enemy for over a Aveek. For the rest tli.'? 
defence of Nancy and of all that gap depends entirely 
upon an army in the field. That army cannot be 
of any gi-eat size. ' It is only composed of just 
Avhat can be spared to cover the gap bctwee'i 
Toul and Epinal, but it has so far apparently fulfilled 
its task. It will bc^ of interest to discover, Avhen news 
can be given us, Avhether the Germans have pursued, 
in the case of Nancy, their hitherto constant practice 
of bambarding open towns. There is no town in 
Franco that Avould be more vulnerable to an argument 
of that sort and there is none Avhere greater destruction 
could be caused by such a breach of civilised traditiou.s. 
10* 
