LAND & WATER 
October 19, ■ 1916 
Enemy Attack on Roumania 
By Hilairc Belloc 
THE principal interest of the moment turns upon 
the enemy's attack against Roumania. 
Before discussing the piobable relative strength 
of the combatants here, or the. military and 
political objects of the stroke, let us see how it is appa- 
rently planned. . 
There would seem to be three converging mo\ements. 
The first is mainly directed across and against the 
Oltuz Pass, on the northern^sector of the Roumanian 
frontier. 
The second against the southern passes, particularly 
those just in front of JCronstadt whence an advance 
directly threatens Bucharest. 
The third, more obscure, but noticeable, is the threat 
of a crossing of the river Danube near Sistov to the south 
of Bucharest. We will examine these three points in 
their order. ' ■ ; 
As to the first, the attack on the Oltuz Pass. The 
Roumanian forces have retired almost entirely from 
Transylvania. The Roumanian armies upon this Car- 
pathian front are no longer occupied in an advance, but 
in maintaining a defence which shall close the gates of the 
country, that is, the passes over the hills. And of these 
they report that the Oltuz is threatened with excep- 
tionall}' heavy concentration of the enemy. 
The second Austro-German attack upon Roumania 
is developing against the southernmost group of passes. 
It is at its strongest in the Pasul I3ran (called by 
the Aiistrians the Torz-burg Pass), the westernmost 
of the two passes which converge upon Kronstadt. Why 
has this point been chosen ? To answer that question we 
must study the lateral communications of the two 
opponents now facing each other across the Roimianian 
frontier. 
Wherever a mountain chain presents itself as an obstacle 
lit armies, communications, whether of road or railway, 
are of two kinds, one of which is always present, the 
other of which sometimes arises naturally and sometimes 
is artificially ]>roduce(l for military reasons. 
The first of these is the perpendicular type of com- 
iiumication. that is, the communication perjx'udicular 
to the obstacle and crossing it from one side to the other. 
These are the roads and railways across the passes, from 
the easy country on one side to the easy country on the 
other. 
The second is the parallel type of communication, that 
is -the communications parallel to the obstacle and 
running along the base of it, joining up the ends of the 
tirst sort and jHTinitting the rapid transfer of troops from 
i)ne pass to another. 
Now it is evident that with the first sort of communica- 
tions the passes \\ ill be naturally isolated one from another 
in a moimtainous region. ; You have a road going from 
one point on the plain, across a pass, to the easier country 
upon the other side. It may be several days' march 
before another opportunity of crossing the moun- 
tains occurs and another road and pass make a com- 
munication across the chain. 
Suppose an army is occupied in attempting to force the 
jnountains and to invade the country on the other side ; 
it must have a column in each of the passes because if 
it had not, if it left one pass open, its enemy would use 
that pass to come round upon the rear of the neighbouring 
(olumn and cut it off. Every jass must be.; occupied. 
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