THE GREAT BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 159, 11 December 1914, Page 2

THE GREAT BATTLE.

ENEMY'S POSITIONS. ; A POWERFUL FOiITKESS.. Although it is now clear tlidat the Germans (lid not fall biidk up,on Ike Aisno lo stand upon the defensive, but to reinforce and rest their troops for a further attack, everything goes to show tliat I'lisir 'nevr front was prepared will such ca.ru and skill that an extraordinary strong defensive position was ready for the occupation of a. hotly pursued army. Part of this defensiva lino was a natural horseshoe of quarries, extending round the iliver Oiso Tliey are stone quarries extending for miles, with galleries coin-munio-iting with eacih other underground. About live years ago these quarries were acquired by Gorman interests, since ■when considerablo work has been secretly done in them in tile way of reinforced concrete traverses, and' ■possibly gun emplacements. The result was that this extensivo plateau constituted a most powerful fortress, capable of containing large numbers of troops. And tlie German sappers had prepared a line of trenches itiretciiing practically right acros? Northern France ready for the German Army to bolt to cover in the event of a, retreat. Tlie German Genoral Staff was certain of victory, bui iJioy took no chances on it. Tlie Germon trenches furnish one of the most scientific demonstrations of the thorough methods of the German military machine. A war correspondent of the London Daily Mail lias forwarded to his paper tlie lirst description that has readied London of the German Army .under cover in their carefully constructed trenches. "They are very elaborate, ,these trenehes. They are floored, many of them, with cement; ttoy are roofed over with boards covered wilih sods, that serve both to keep out the rain and to hide tihem from, French or British aeroplanes; tliey aro divided into chambers communicating by doors. There are, of course, several' lino of them. J here is the moat advanced trench, in which the outposts mount guard at night, then t/ivo.or three hundred yards and behind that again are great pits dug and behind that again are great pits dut out of tTio ground to serve as kitchens or dormitories, in which the reserves and (rapports for the first line live. These rearward trenches are connected with Uie foremost lino by 'parallel passage ways, and thero are other parallels in which machine guns aro posted lo lire over the heads of tlie men that line the parapet. Then, behind all, often in the chalk quarries of the hills, are the cmplacements where the l>ig siege guns liolted down to their cement pTat forms' - and (he howitzers, that toss a shell high Into the air for it to fall several miles away, arc posted.'''