LAND AND WATEE 
October 3, 1914 
attack from the one fortress or the other. If they 
Lave sufticiont forces they should be able to mask the 
gsirrisiiiis of both those stronglioMs without fear of 
interruption to their cohiinns passing across the 
^fcuse between them. 
i^cxt, unless the forces opposed to them upon 
tlic Meuse are strong enougli to arrest this westward 
march, it is but two days' advance from a German 
crossing of the Meuse in force near St. ^Mihiel to the 
appearance of the German columns at Ecvigny, 
directly in the rear of the French line. A similar 
niunbcr of days would bring the Crown Prince's Army 
down round or through the Argonne until it Avas at 
Ste. Meuehould, and abreast of the companion force 
which had come across the Meuse from St. ilihiel to 
Eevigny. 
We sum up and find that any decisive German 
success upon the western or left bank of the ^leuse 
There is the whole matter of this new German 
offensive movement upon the Upper ^Nleuse. If it is 
seriously intended, if it is being prosecuted with large 
forces, and if no correspondingly large French forces 
are present to arrest it after the crossing of the Mouse 
and the forcing of the fortified line Toid- Verdun, all 
these consequences AviU follow. But if it is only a 
feint nndei-takeu with insuflicient forces, and if the 
French commanders disregard the distraction attempted 
here, the decisive Held of the canii)aign will still be, not 
that of the Upper Meuse, but that A\here the heaviest 
ilghtijig is now j^roceeding between St. Quentin and 
Peronne for the possession of the Oisc Valley with its 
railway line and canals. 
Lastly, we may easily establish how much has 
actually been done in this region of the Upper Meuse. 
To folloAv this 1 will ask tlie reader to look at this 
sketch. 
•;::;•■' 
■X. 
'•. FOR-, OF TROYON 
^; f- : ••••• 
VILLAGE OF-.'--. •; 
W0IM3EY .•• 
BATTERIES OF LES „.^.' 
o 
re 
u 
d) 
VILLAGE OF APREMONT 
:••''©:•;• FORT OF LIOUVILLE 
SCALE. Of MILES 
r.AK SHOW^O .K..US OK XH. ^r.....rosr KOW n... BT -n,. OKKM..S.S OVK„ THK M..S. .. s.. m:h.k.. 
64 
\r,-S T k"*'"\P^'"* '' *^'« neighbourhood of St. 
Mihiel. half-way between Verdun and Toul, would 
mean a threatenn^g of the Allied line in Cham]™ 
^af,co day,^jra,e to cscap, cnnl no more. In X; 
A\orcls, it would mean an immediate retirement of that 
^^Xf""^ f^' ^ — I-"'ii"g retirement of he 
m2i vT ^>>"g'-«"»^l Nancy and upon the Upper 
Moselle Valley south of Toul.-" The whole French 
me would be bent backwards behind Bar-le Due "nd 
he upper valley of the Ornain. Verdun and Toul 
vojdd be mvested. and when, or if they fell, he new 
i^"il";'T — '--tions fL. GeL^an; 
enemy ^^"^'^^-^«"-«'"« ^vould be opened by the 
Die nature of the crossing which the Germans 
have obtanied over the Eiyer Meuse at St. Mihiel can 
here be grasped in some detail. 
They hold a bridge-head, or teto-de-pont, and, sa 
long as they hold it, they command a bridge in what 
was formerly the unbroken barrier between Verdun 
and iou . But they do not possess this entry with- 
out drawbacks in their position. There are two roads 
leading across the hill country between the Meuse 
and the plain of Woeuvre. There is no railway, 
lie rad-head is more than a day's march away at 
ihiacourt. Of these two roads, the main road passing 
through Apremont is in the hands of the French, for 
the iYencli, coming up from the garrison of Toid on 
8» 
