THE PARIS FORTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 87, 8 September 1914, Page 6

THE PARIS FORTS.

A THIi'LE LINK. UIUSATEHT ia'lK.).\(ii:<)LD X Till\iUUl.l(>.

Paivs, toward;* which thoughts are ROW turned by the mar appro;k,i of an: invading t.icmi.ui armies, ,ix, bee n reccntiy ucsciibed <by the (Jerniaiii themselves (according to the Lne .cionacdia Jiritiuuuc.i), as the greatest fortress in the world, if Ime three perieeiiy Unci, rings of defences, 'iue two' inner rings til.: enceinte, and the inner circle 01 ■ueKK'hcd fills, are of t>;ie Imstioncu type,and were Imut in the tune of Lou,a i'uilippe. Willi very little «uldiuoi:.they sustained the w kg e oil ]BiU-il. The outer works of qno;e modem type, forming an entrenched ca»p, whk-a'j ;i; aicil, in rivalled only it? the Antwerp system of defences, were built alter tii.e I'Yaiu o-Uenuan war. The enceinte has a deep dry ditch m Ironx, aiui, ,s nearly i >., my-two outca j:i eircumfercr.C'?. with .on.-, Oi gates, an.: !i railway .passvig >s, TIIK OLD DKI'KN'C'KS.

The are .iter part of tue enceinte lias, how.:vi! ,i)ecn given up am? a larger one j.x-ied —as at .-uiawi-ir-u, v„unetting up Wie od detuned' forjs. 'lhc.-.e tons winch sustiijicd the siege in ISTtI-'/'l, have a perimeter of ae.iu 34 miles, i'.ach is designed as ,i n:„iiaiuie foi'ciiss. the north s ~!e eiiere are tliri e forts around ;-t. Lt'ii.s, one of these being nuanged lo control an in-i-mhilion. Un tin; eastiward side is fort Aubervillieio. All these h-w urtu tie in relatively low ground. The eastern works are situated on hiulie:' "loum: (liOil-'aOft.), and consists or lour lofts and various sirci'4 redoubts. In low ground again Uiicru are two mransHH connected by a parapet, and betweeu the .Seine and ehe .Vlarne, in advance 01 their coitlliurxe, Fort ObarenCun. On the south sale of the city, hardily more than a mile trom the enceinii', it* a row of forts —Ivry, iiieetrc, iiontrouge, Yauves, and issy-isolidly construe,ted works in themselves, but", ns shown in IS7O nearly .useless for tile deieneu ~i me city against rilled guns, ivs they are overlooked by the plateau «.f Oaaiuillon. On the west side of Paris is the famous fortress of iMor.t Valtrieii, standin 1 ,' about 4.50 feet above the river. Two groups of works have slrengi'liened fie inner line—permanent forts at itaules Uruyeres, on tins plateau of Vibejua, one mile south of Fort liiee.tro and the Cliautillcin fort and ibattcries, whieli prevent access to the celebrated plateau which overlooks Paris from a height ot (iOll feet, and of which the rear lntterics sweep almost the whole of the ground between Jjieetre and Jiont vaierien.

A SEVENTY-FIVE .vIILK (ntCLB. The new works are eleven miles from tlis Louvre and eight nules from the e.iicicntc. They form 41 circle of seventylive :nilr.s in circumference, and an urmv which attempted to invest i'aris eo-iti" would have to -be. at least 3iW,»ob strong, irrespective of field and covering forces. The actual defence of the woi'ks, apart lroni trot.ps temporarily collected in the fortified nr?a, would mod some 17U,lH>U men, only. Tim entrenched camp tails into three .suctions —the JNort'h, pac uast, and the Southwest. The forts have fro,llll -24 to lil) hcarv guns and 000 to 1200 men, each, tile reuouots, batteries and annexe batteries generally 200 men, and (J guns each.

TIIE FORTS DKSCKUii',I). In the m-rWiern sceuon a ridge crosses the northern extremities ol the ht. (iermain-Aigeiiteuil loop of the Seine after the t.tshion of si horseshoe; on tins ridge (about Suult.) is a groin,) 01 works, named after ifce Vilage 01 1 ornieilles, commanding the lower Seine, the ArgenieiuV pcii'itisiria and lower ground towards .tlie O.se. Al an average distance of live miles front St. LSeni.s lie the works of the MontiignoinDomont position (about 0i)0-7(K.| feet), Wiiicn iswecp a; 1 ground to the north, cross tlic.r fire with the Cornic.il in works, anu deny the plateau of Atoiu-iin:,rency--.Mery-:.'iir-(>ise to till enemy. At Kronen, 011 an isloti.ted —ill, are a fori) am. a redoubt, and to the rig.it near Fort Stains, and two battcrk'.s 011 the cemtuie railway. 'The important eastern section consists of the Vuujours position, the salient of the whole fr.rtitts*, wliich cenumands the countrys.de as far <1? lJammartin and Clave., crosses its lire with :SUiiis on the one hand an I ,\ tillers 011 the other, and itsc'i lies.on a steep bill at the outer edge of the forest of Jiondy, which allows free and conanaled communication between the foit and the inner line of works. The Vatijours works «wc armoured. Three miles to the right of Vanjoum is Fort Chellas, which bars the .roads and railways of the Mar.no Valley. Oil the other side of the Manic, on ground nuade historic bv the events 01 J.s,u, are Forts Villiors and Uiamnigny, designed 1 ,as a bridge-head to I'liauie, ilie defenders to assemble in front, of the Maine. To the >rig,.t cf these is a fort near JJoipsy St. Leger, and 011 the right of the who'le section are the armoured works of tihe Villeiieuve-St. Georges j'usition, will id 1 command the 'Seine and l'eres country as far as Hue and t'oribeil. 'the left of the south-western section is formed >by the powerful Fort L'alaiscau and its annexe 'batteries, which command -the Yvette Valley. Hclnnd Fort J'alaisra.ll, midway liclwecn it and Fort (Tiatillon, is the v'crnenos group, overlooking t'lie valley of the Yievre. To the right of l'aiaiscau oil the high ground toward* 'Versailles are other works, wild around Versailles itse'ii is a semi-circle «{ ibatteries right and left of the armoured rort St. C'yr.. In various positions around -Mswly there are somo seven or eight batteries. Since 1870 i'aris ha* grown exceedingly fast beyond the second ring of forts described, and sometimes in suburbs a.bout the outer ring. In some tM.scs ,t has been .found Uui.ti ,|>uildiia;«i 'mask the fire 'cf the guns of the forts or otherwise afford protection to a pos-il;:e rnl---ieger, and these, are accordingly being demolished as rapidly «< possible.