The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1915. HOW TO INVADE GERMANY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 43, 22 February 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1915. HOW TO INVADE GERMANY.

Tiie Director of Military Studies at' Sydney University, Colonel H. Foster,; R.E., lias written a clear ■ statement of how Germany may be invaded. Herj vital part, he holds, is the Westphalian coalfield, because, always important,' this region becomes much more so inj war time as the place of production; not only of the guns, rifles, and ammunition required in such great quantity, but also of subsidiary adjuncts to war, like locomotives, railway rolling stock, and motor engines for aviation and road transport. When the turn of the tide comes and the German flood of expansion ebbs, every/effort will be made to delay the enemy from reaching Westphalia. This accounts for the prodigious efforts put forward in Belgium to form a strong line of resistance from Antwerp to Namur, south of which the Meuse, running' in a rocky gorge, forms a good defensive, position. In the rear of this line, 1 a second ' shorter line, and therefore one capable of being held more strongly, runs from the Dutch J frontier by Liege, through the hilly' region of the Ardennes, only passed by half a dozen roads, to the Moselle, l where it reaches the fortress of Thionville, itself an outliner of the strong,! fortified region round Metz. Colonel Foster holds the view that this lino may be forced or turned from the south, if the Allies feel strong enough to push masses of troops between the fortresses of Metz and Strassburg, an operation not devoid of strategic risk,! If the German forces are driven out of this line of defence, they find no other in front of the Rhino, and the Allies will cross the open frontier and at last occupy German territory. Ho' also suggests that if Holland could only! be drawn into the war on the Allied side, the Rhine could be turned at its lower side, and this, although at present unlikely, ' might in the end prove a solution of the problem. The other alternative—to turn the Rhine fortresses by the south—still requires a passage of the river to be forced, and a fortified position has been purposely prepared at Lorrach, near Basle, to make such an operation difficult. The picture then drawn is a cheerful one—from the Allies’ standpoint, for Colonel Foster says that once over the Rhine and Westphalia will bo at the mercy of a triumphant invader, and the occupation of this industrial region, and the destruction of Krupp’s gun and ammunition factory will have the greatest possible effect on German resistance, far more than a Russian advance to or even a Russian occupation of Silesia. The latter is, | however, lie thinks, likely to take place earlier than the advance to the Rhine, and, although not of the same importance, will yet prove a very serious event for Germany, and particularly for Prussia. Silesia is, after Westphalia, the most populous and Important manufacturing district of Germany, and unlike Westphalia, its riches and factories lie close to an undefended frontier. i