The Wonder of War on Land

enace, worked over the wounded boy. The vibrations of the 6-inch guns, as the forts replied, shook the house, but no one flinc

w, I think

n't any hospital in Embourg, nor in Beaufays, and Liége will hav

plied. "Father will treat him and Moth

the distance with

rs of modern war," the surgeon continued, thoughtfully, "it's

p to take care of Descha

thin the zone of fire as it is. You m

ut that he knew the master's

way to Liége?" asked the doctor abr

was the

will need my case of surgical instruments as much as she

whom he introduced to the master and Horace, and to whom he described with technical detail

reedy voice, "leave the patient to me, my son. I have

d to the

is something of which we may be proud, is it not, whe

ng surgeon on the arm, tal

first to teach him, but he has outstripped me. Then, t

ut a shak

eur," he went on, "do not fear. Your

y his back straightened, his hand ceased to tremble, and, as he bent over the patient,

observed

ds," he said, in a low

to the age

lgium. The first young victim of this war is in your keeping. I-" he paused, "I have no childr

child of mine," th

d the little party of thre

e the mast

ark. Lose no time, but do not go by the road. Strike south across the fields from here until you come to the river

won't escape danger by making a circuit. Shells drop anywhere and everyw

vist shoo

but three-quarters of a mile from the fort. It is only in the immediate neighborhood of the fort that ther

d the surge

oves that they do. For that reason, at a distance of half a mile from the fort, the lad will be safe. Nevertheless, Monroe," he added, "i

ful, sir," an

rbes? Say that I do not wish her to come and see Deschamps, for I am sure she will wi

her, sir,"

ntinued. "It is a matter of pride to Beaufays, I feel, that Belgium's firs

d-bye, Dr. Mallorbe

thing more, then plunged across the fields, as the maste

lost in the shadows of the wood on the other side of the

t upon the road, "by your suggestion that the Germans possess th

agents are military spies. The exact location of our forts cannot be hidden. It is not a secret. They are plain to see. What is easier for a spy than to search the neighborhood of a fort thoroughly, perhap

he doctor, "when the g

time the battery might be subjected to fire from the guns of the fort. None of that. Secretly and silently, probably during the night or behind a screen of cavalry, a howitzer may be dragged up to the place selected by the spy and marked in detail on a large scale map. The officer commanding the battery kn

fficial P

ain Defend

fficial P

r Harassin

one with the forts at Liég

he results of gun-fire. Yet the German shells are falling on the forts with deadly precision, falling on forts which the gunner

nk they will

unless they were confident of success. Since they know exactly what we possess for defense, they woul

at the forts of Liég

for a weapon of that range was covered by the guns of the fort. But if pieces of heavier power can bombard the forts from positions outside the range of the fortress guns, then impregnability is gone.

e such he

n to exist, and the German War Party is reported to hold the secret of still more

d myself mainly with my medical books and haven't paid much attention to military affairs. Explain to me, if yo

ry controversy of our times. One way or the other, it will change the face of war forever. This question is whether modern artillery has become so powerful that no per

istance of five miles from the city. Thus the forts form a circumference of 32 miles, so arranged that if any one fort is silenced the cross-fire of the forts on either side controls the gap. Six

ngly armed?" t

and 4.7-inch guns and 8-inch mortars. The big 9-inch guns, which were ordered from Krupp's for delivery more than three years ago, have never r

6-inch a fa

2-inch guns in permanent fortifications. Naval guns, of course, are bigger. They have to be. You can't 'take cover' at sea and long ra

has never been completed. Besides, our army is in a state of transition, as you know, for it is only a year and a half since a new syste

ave the advantage of being on the defensive. I've read, somewhere, that it ta

ue," agreed

one," said the doctor, "so as fa

tfully, "if General Leman and our Third Division were here. But it's

a howitzer a gun? What's the d

built in the form of a triangle, each is placed in a commanding natural position, and each, in addition, is approached by a steep artificial mound, in the interior of which lie the works of the fort. At the top of the earth slope, the edge dro

hen," said the doctor, "they will have to storm

y wi

a heavy lo

nd thus they should storm the slope and win the ditch, they would be in a still worse plight. Powerful quick-firing guns, mounted in cupol

at heart-like space rises a solid central mass of concrete, on and in which are the shelters and gun cupolas. The mortar cupolas rise from the floor of the hollow, outside th

ubbed his ha

we ought to be able to snap our fingers at the Kaiser. All we have to do is to wait for the Germans to come and s

servist, "but you have for

answered, more gravely; "you we

ng charge of its shell. An armor-piercing shell, fired from a 15-inch naval gun, will go through the heaviest and hardest steel known, because of the terrific speed at which it travels, with a muzzle velocity of three t

he doctor, "I

uctive, mortars and howitzers drop their shells from overhead upon the object of fire by lobbing them up in the air with a very high trajectory. A howitzer generally looks as though it were shooting at the moon. It can be plac

most European armies-if our energy has been spent on disappearing cupolas and sunken masonry works which will resist gun-fire, is there not a terrible danger if w

"if it be true what is whispered about these new German siege howitzers, then destr

g upon the range and power of a modern weapon. We await the eruptio

ce and looked up unconsciously, half i

t very ugly

k, a glow from the distant gunfire mingl

nd be ugly," he replied, "so lon

following the trend of his own ideas, until, where t

late news?" th

nd Chaudfontaine," said the older of the newcomers, "and the

-where d

nswered; "there will be wor

of what numbers we

hrugged his

, maybe two-maybe all

h vivid streaks from the flaming fortress guns. Powerful searchlights hunted the countryside with their malevolent eyes. Death screamed and screeched in

ptly assigned to one of the hospitals. The two reservists from Chénée were sent to the shallow trenches defending the

h of his pessimism passed away. He fell, naturally, into the fatalism of the soldier, and, as h

being ready. But everything

rvist who had served with the batte

them. General Leman has reached

hty miles away, the day before y

eir spies, don't know it. They'll try to rush the forts to-morrow, ex

at give us here at Li

enty-two

he Ger

red thousand men, at least,[4] and

ident of brea

ng German officer captured yesterday at Visé who j

iége, in a week we are before Paris. It is all arranged. It is like a time-table. Nothing can

htfully, "and it is worth remembering that the more rigid is the orga

n check t

aster, "they will

of 120,000 Germans. They knew, those heroes, those martyrs to the ideals of honor, that German

hem, saw what seemed to be an undulation of the earth, as though the soil were heaving like the sea. As the morning light cleared the mi

arp order

and the insistent rattle of the ear-rasping machine gun. In this hideous repertory of noise, the Hotchkiss machine-guns, u

pected to find the Belgian trenches so strongly held. The check was only momentary, however, merely long enough to allow the face

no horses curveting around a golden-tasseled standard, no blare of bands, none of the pomp and panoply of war. Only, above the hills which circled the forts, rose the

"Panorama de

irst

the invasion of their country by the hordes of the H

describing this first day's fighting, "we simply mowed them down. It was all too ter

again in a dense, close fo

der, until, as we shot them down, the fallen were heaped one on top of another, in an awfu

f he ever said it, and I doubt it

n'est pas la guerre!' (Mag

rman infantry that day was not war

ve liked to extricate some of the wounded from the dead, but we dared not. A stiff wind carried away the smoke of the guns quickly, and we could see some of

r and actually charge up the glacis (slope of the fort). Of course, they got no further than half way, for our Maxims and

war that day, i

e be which would justify the reckless sacrifice of men against the gu

ted with the task of breaking through Liége quickly, at all hazards. Everything must be made subservient t

utrality, the Army of the Meuse was traveling light. It had not been hampered in its onward drive with the heavy siege guns. Those monste

dered the element of surprise less valuable. Wherefore, as an advocate of the German theory of war which declares that any place can be rushed, no matter how strongly def

hose slopes, never to return. The human tide seemed endless. For not one moment, in all that day, did the billows of soldier victims cease to pound forward to their bloody doom; for not one moment, in all that day, did the Belgians, though

r, the German theory that masses of men can overcome machine-gun-fire by sheer weight of numbers. It displayed that the German system of firing from the hip, instead of from the shoulder, resulted in bad marksmanship and a reckless waste of ammunition. It revealed that th

an outposts were scattered by an assault on the heights of Wandre, the Garde Civique cut up and practically destroyed an attacking force near Boncelles,

cessation. With an army of only 22,500 men, there was no relief. Every man was on continuous duty. It was evident from the first that the forts finally must fall, for the attacking 8.4-inch howitzer

ggest siege guns to the demolition of Liége. Indeed, they could not spare them. Those monstrous behemoths of ordnance could only crawl, even when dragged by thi

post of duty in Fort Boncelles, was at the point of exhaustion. He realized that age was a serious handicap. Though as full of spirit and fire as the younger men, the physic

lf well on in years, touched the

," he said. "To be able to give the last flare of o

the old patriot might snatch

ns were rushed from point to point to fill in the defense as best they could. It was cruel, driving, killing work, when the muscles clicked from sheer fatig

owitzers were hurling their shells directly on Forts Fléron and Evegnée. When daylight broke, Evegnée was a ruin and th

ible to defend a line 33 miles long with an exhausted army, now reduced by losses to 18,000 men. He summoned his officers

owing that the Germans were hammering at the gates of the city and that Fléron had fallen, he feared an advance

ral dart

ol!" he

hey did not dare to touch the invaders, knowing that any effort would be deemed a "host

ing wall, which chanced to be the boundary of a foundry yard. At the same instant, the rest of the officers who had been at the council came clattering out. Swords flashed out. Three of the Germans were killed and, some members of the Garde Civique being att

of the retreat, Major Mameche, the Commandant of Fort Chaudfontaine, the strategic value of which lay in its controlling the entrance to the Ch

destruction, but General Leman, as Military Commandant, curtly refused to abandon the forts. He was fighting for time. Already two days had passed and only one of the

of the bombardment of the city jamming every out-bound train. Every possible

rts mus

damage the city seriously, but heavy enough to denote the fate tha

anic furies upon the doomed forts. The continuous hail of bombs served a double purpose, n

of Germans appeared in front of the for

t them," grow

Germans wouldn't be so dishonorable as to violate a flag of truce.

went with the party of twenty which sallied from

's incertitude was shared by several of the men, but

cried, in toke

murderous cross-fire from the woods on either side was poured upon the advancing Be

llow trenches near by, in a crisis of fury, charged the woods with infinitely infer

n, and yet-and yet-five of the great forts remained unsilenced. The unique capture of a city when its defenses were still untaken was only possible because the Belg

still holding out. Moreover, if the little Belgian army had defied them on a long line, it would be still better able to do so when holding a line only a third as long and re?nforced by fresh troops. Von Emmich was savage, and his savagery showed itself la

fficial P

p to the F

down on the approach of a shell. Note ba

turn, and, in taking up a position on the farther side of the Meuse, he was prepared to make things still hotter for the invaders. He was not trying to stop the progress of the army but had concen

den positions available for the 8.4-inch howitzers. If the Germans were to take Pontisse, they must cross the Meuse. Over and over again they stormed the crossing, fighting like madmen. Ten pontoon bridges, one a

l hours of sharp fighting, the Germans secured a landing on the western bank, but could not bring over any heavy artillery. The little army of defen

concentration of enemy artillery. On the other hand, the ground around Boncelles was well adapted to the sweep of the larger fortress guns. If there was the slightest pause in the German attack, a cupola would rise and send

ion against Liége, entered the city and crawled through it to take up positions against the western forts. So affrighting were these engines of war that the

engine going ahead to test the road and to assist each section in going up hills. The caliber of the gun is 16.4-inch (42-centimeter). The shell stands as high as a man's chin and weighs 1684 pounds. The percussion fuse is of mercury fulminate, which in its turn explodes ni

these great shells. Men were not simply killed and wounded, they were

e, his spirit knew no thought of surrender. In Fort Loncin with a handful of men, he awaited the bombardment which could mean n

he wrote admiringly, "combined all t

falling masonry, dislodged by our guns, both General Leman's legs were crushed. Undaunted, he visited

by the guns. Before this, General Leman destroyed all plans, maps and papers relating to the defenses. The food supplies a

tered masonry and exploded in the main magazine. With a thunderous crash, the mighty walls of the fort fe

to storm the fort and never returned. All the men left alive in the fort were wounded and most were unconscious. A corporal, with one arm

ral! He is dead!' said

valiantly and stubbornly, our infantry released the general's wounded form and carried

is. The men fo

ning to us

spatches that I

the two generals saluted. We tried to speak words of com

Be sure and put tha

would n

nor of being the last to fall. It is not known,

d. The men-the master among them-fought all night through in utter darkness, groping for the mac

had been cardboard, and shortly before dawn, wide breaches in the walls showed the peacef

hell struck the

one knee beside him, he

his to

ted pocket, took out the little packet, put

lles and plucked it up as a weed is torn up by its roots. The Germa

n commanda

l two guns to

d was one of the shells from the 11-inch howitzers. The inner concrete walls fell to dust, pieces of arm

ine days and nights of the most terrific bombardment known to man. Dazed, deaf and exhausted to the verge of in

a junior officer, as the Be

snatched the pack

de," the Belgian mumbled, hi

Mme. Maubin's photograph, and, with a contemptuous exclamation, tossed th

e of prostration, lurched forward to seize the officer's throat. He was promptly seized, and, as he

the Germans

TNO

powerful vessel at the opening of the war, carried eight 1

vance force, irrespective o

of modern trench warfare, but th

are careful estimates from known facts