LAND AND WATEB 
January 9, 1915* 
Evglish Miles 
About 1,000ft. above the plain, upon a peaky 
foothill, stand the ruins of the old Castle of Stein- 
bach, at the point I have marked C upon the 
sketch. Steinbach village itself is in the coombe 
below, and I have marked it S. Just to the south 
of Steinbach village and to the south-east of the 
Castle Hill, there is a flattish promontory or 
tongue free from wood (though there is wood upon 
the hillside leading to it), and by its position domi- 
nating the plain to the south as well as to the east. 
This gun position I have marked by the letter H. 
Batteries upon H (if the high ground behind is 
clear of the enemy) sweep the whole of the plain 
and the lower hills around. They ddininate the 
little lump of high ground near the village of High 
Aspach: they dominate the other gun position 
above Uffoltz, and they command the market town 
of Cernay. 
There is often a coincidence between a view- 
point for the picturesque and a good gun position ; 
and it is worth noting that the Castle Hill of Stein- 
bach, though not identical with and higher than 
the gun position I am speaking of, dominates to 
the eye all the plain of Upper Alsace. It is the 
position to which a man climbs who wishes to em- 
brace in one view the whole of that sweep of plain 
between the Vosges, the Swiss hills, and the Black 
Forest. 
The fighting, then, was for the village of 
Steinbach and the slight hills on either side. It 
was concluded, as we know, two days ago, from 
the moment of writing this: i.e., on Sunday, Jan- 
uary 3. The positions are apparently still held, 
and Cernay is already in danger of a further 
French advance. The thing can be seen in more 
detail in the following plan, where the gun posi- 
tion above Uffoltz at 150ft. above the plain is seen 
contrasted with the gun position south of Stein- 
bach, which is 200ft. above it. 
All the heavy fighting for the position of the 
heights was done by the Chasseurs Alpins from 
across the mountain stream called the Thur (which 
runs past Cernay and feeds a mill brook running 
to that town), and up in the direction of the 
arrows, A, A — at least, so I read the rather con- 
fused private telegram which has come through. 
And it would seem that the gun position which thn 
French now occupy had previously been defended 
by German field artillery, 77's, which were either 
silenced or captured. 
We must not exaggerate this local success. 
There are still ten miles between these foothills 
and Mulhouse, and another eight or more from 
Mulhouse to the Rhine. There is the bad obstacle 
of a large forest, and the virtual certitude of Ger- 
man concentration to relieve the pressure here. 
Still, the positions carried, if they are maintained, 
are the positions that dominate with their fire all 
this part of the plain. This novel pressure upon 
Upper Alsace, if it is maintained, will have oiie 
very great political consequence which should 
strongly affect German strategy: and of that I 
propose to speak next week. 
II.— THE EASTERN FIELD. 
IN the eastern field there is a dearth of action 
after the heavy work of the last month, 
which is due to two separate causes. In 
the north the second battle for Warsaw has 
Castk Hill 
150Feer 
^V^ 
Thcmrt 
jReights as ahoveptain 
^uUioust^ 
