CORRESPONDENCE. 
LARGE ORDNANCE FOR SIEGE OPERATIONS. 
To the Editor of Lanu and Watkr. 
Sir, — In Land and Water of February 20, Colonel 
ICaiule made some intoresling remarks on the operations at 
the siege of Sebastopol. A good deal of useful itiforraatioii 
iiiiglit be obtained from careful study of this siege, but of late 
years it has been quite ignored. The tactics employed by the 
great engineer, Todlebeii, which tlelayed the siege for so long, 
and the skilfiil co-operation of the French and British bat- 
teries in as.'-isting attacks on outworks and at the final assault; 
on the Malakoff, are worthy of careful study. Oue great 
lesson taught by the siege was the great power exercised by 
artillery and the necessity for its development. At Sebastopol, 
as C'olonel Maude points out, very much more powerful 
ordamice were employed than those used in former sieges, 
but the greatest effect was produced by the fire of large mortars 
— 13-inch. The result of the fire may be judged from the fact 
that for some two months before the fall of the place, the 
r.us.sian casualties were one thousand each day. C'olonel 
Maude mentions Mallet's mortar of 3o-iuches calibre, which 
was a trial in the right direction. But there were ditFiculties 
i.i the manufacture of very large ordnance at that time, and 
the authorities failed to grasp the importance of the idea. It 
i:i a curious fact that Antwerp, when besieged by the French 
in 1832, surrendered cluelly from the moral effect produced 
by a few shells fired from a monster mortar with a calibre 
of 24 inches, which the Belgians con.sidered " the finishing 
stroke to the enemy's barbarous manner of acting." — Yours, 
drc, 
Charles Owsn, Major-General. 
THE 9TII LANCERS. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sip.,— Can any of your military readers settle this ques- 
tion ? 1 see a much-advertised print which depicts the 
9ih Lancers charging German guns. The letterpress describ- 
ing this print tells how the Lancers captured the guns at 
Mons and that the original picture is by Mr. J. Halford Ross. 
The 9th Lancers have shown exceptional gallantry, and 
none are braver or have suffered more severely than they 
Lave. But I am told that they on no occasion charged gun.i 
at close quarters, as shown by Mr. Halford Rcss, and that 
their famous attack was against a great number of infantry, 
v.'hom they did not come near to on account of barbed wire 
defences. — Yours, 
Old Soldier. 
GERMANY S RESERVES. 
To the Editor of L.vnd and Water. 
Sir, — A corre.spondeut of the Times, under the heading 
of " Six Weeks in Germany," states that there are 750,000 
picked men in reserve of the 1915 category. I fail to see how 
this can be i^s^ible, for in 1897 the German population was 
only 54,000,000, and the number of male births did not 
exceed 945,000 at the then birthrate of tliirty-five per 1.000. 
The deatlis in the first year of life in Germany at that date 
were 138 per 1,000 in Prussia, and as high as 282 per 
1,000 in one State. At the lowest estimation 189,000 would 
Lave died in the first year of life. If to this number is added 
the deaths between the first and eighteenth j'ears, and con- 
sider the number of ivM, it does not seem possible that the 
estimate as given above can be correct. — 1 am, Sir, yours 
obediently, 
Medicus. 
THE EFFICIENCY OF AIR ATTACKS AND THE RHiNE 
RAILWAY BRIDGES. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir, — Up to the present no system of concerted air attacks 
has been attempted against the vital node points iu the 
.western line of German communications — namely, the railway 
bridges over the Rhine. 
Of the railway bridges from Cologne to the Swiss frontier, 
only those from Cologne to Mayenee are over 120 miles from 
Verdun, and the remainder are v/ithin striking distance from 
Nancy, if we take 120 miles— the distance from Beifort to 
Friedrichshaven— as a feasible radius for operations. Tlie 
aeroplanes might be used iu squadrons of five to make simul- 
taneous attacks on the bottle-necks formed by the bridges. 
I have only a copy of the 1896 Times Atlas by me, which 
would make it appear that there were then only twelve rail- 
way bridges in the area in question. This would need a fleet 
of sixty aeroplanes, only some twenty more than the number 
used last week on the Belgian coa<t. 
The targets offered by the bridges are long, and the diffi- 
culty caused by the fact that they are narrow weald be 
counteracted by the adoption of Mr. L. Blin Desblcd's plan of 
dropping bombs in other vertical planes to the right and leffc 
by each squadron. 
Great delay and confu-.ion among the German transport 
would result even if half the bridges were severely damaged 
on the same day. In Colonel Maude's words, " Raiding the 
node points of the enemy's communications will gradually 
make the supply of men in the trenches almost a matter of 
iniiiossibility." 
The concerted operation ought to be repeated before the 
repairs to the bridges have been completed. To make the 
plan a success the two factors of co-ordination and repetition 
of attack are essential. — I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, 
H. J. Thomas. 
New House, Wadhurst. 
PERTHES-LES-HUKLUS. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Sir, — The village of this name has been prominently 
mentioned in many of the French official message;) concerning 
the war. An inquiry addressed by tlie present writer to ths 
columns of your contemporary, Xotes and Qticri.'s, as to the 
meaning of the latter part of this name has brought a valaed 
reply from an esteemed correspondent to the effect that the 
name signifies Perthes ni-ar Hurlus. ic? should bo spelt lez 
or /('?, an obsolete word weaning " near," " by the side of," 
from the Latin latus. It is now only used in connection with 
place-names — e.g., Plessis-lez-Tours. Hnrlus is a 
larger 
village, about a mile south-east from Perthes. — Your obedient 
servant, 
J. Landfear Luca.s, 
Spectadt Makers' Compioii/. 
Glendora, Hindhead, Surrey. 
SUBMARINES AND MERCHANT VESSELS, 
To the Editor of Land and W.ater. 
Dear Sir, — The instructions to the latter when attacked 
by the former are to give the submarine their stern and steam 
away as fast as possi'ole. Would it not be an additional 
security to the merchant vessels if, while thus acting, they 
were to throw overboard a quantity of old fishing nets, which 
would entangle a torjiedo sent in pursuit of them? — Yours 
faithfully, 
H. J. P. Thomas. 
Elcot Park, Kintbury, Berks. 
THE WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. 
To the Editor of Land and Water. 
Dear Sir, — Will you allow nie to appeal through the 
medium of your paper for warm gloves and miUens for the 
men of the 12th Service Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, 
now training at Leigiiton Buzzard • Much of these men'.i 
time is spent on the rifle range, and they suffer very mucTi 
from ccld hands and chilblains, neither of vidiich are con- 
ducive to good marksmanship. 
People send quantities of warm clcthing to our men at 
the front, but are a little apt to forget the men of the new 
armies at home. — I am. Sir, yours faithfully, 
Babette Jaques (Mrs.). 
Ashlegh, Grove Road, Leighton Buzzard. 
oil 
Mr. Hii.iire Bflloc will lecture at tlie Boroi;gii Hall, SlatTo 
VVcdiiosctay, 3rtl Jlarch, and at tlio Temperance Hall, Dcrbv 
lliiirg-lay, 4th March. 
Hia next lec-tiira at Queen's Hall, London, will be on the even'n" of 
'luesday, 9lh March. 
.Mr. Jane will lecture on the Naval War at Queen's Hall, London, 
on I'riilay evening next, the 26th inst. 
I'rofessor Lewca will lectnce at Queon's IlaU on " ilodera 
J':.xp!oiive3 " on Xucstlay, 2nd Jlareiii, 
16» 
