The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, September 10, 1918, Page 3

charred ~“ La ~ TUESDAY, SEPT. 10, 191 RMANS U.S. WILL END WAR - BY CAPTURING ESSEN FORTIFICATIONS ON WEST BANK VULNERABLE AFTER METZ LINE IS CROSSED BY ALLIES Lene quire it. The German army cannot retire behind the Rhine, take up defensive; positions, and defy the world to do its worst. The Rh Furthermore, every important city on the Rhine is situated on the west bank. America’s armies will not have to cross the river to capture Strassburg, Mayence, Coblenze or, Cologne. | They are ready now for seizure : But, before.reaching the Rhine, the Americans must first break Germany’s. great offensive line, which runs from Metz, southward to Chateau Salins, then southeast through Saarburg to Strassburg. This front, across the, border from French Lorraine, is Germany’s first stronghold ~ against invasion. (It is \Probably the most heavily-+fortified line in the world, and the most scien- tifically constructed. Back of it is a remarkable web of military raijways, constructed years ago, for the pur- pose of preventing a French army get- ting into Germany. The key to the line is Saarburg, wherer immense strategic railway yards have been con- structed. The defenses have been planned with ususual care, not only because, they guard the Rhine. Immediately to the north of the line afte the great coal and iron fields of the Saar dis- trict. These fields are one of the three main mining groups in Germanff If they are captured by tle Americans, as they will be, Germany’s munitions output will be seriously curtailed.,One reason for believing that General Pershing’s plan of campaign calls‘ for an invasion of Germany northward through Lorraine is because of the lo- cation of the Saar mines so near to the American front in France. Rhine Extensively Fortified. Having moved back’ the Metz-Chat-; eau Salins-Saarburg line, and having got possession of the Lorraine mineral | area, the Americans may then be ex- pected to reach out further east for the Rhine, and widen their front. The Rhine is lavishly: supplied with fortress -protection.. From the S border northward, the principal fo. tresses are Neu Brelsach,°S8trass Germersheim, Mayence or (Mailiz Coblence (with Ehrenbreitstein), Co- logne and Wesel, which is a defensi against invasion Ehrenbreitstein. Regardless of their situation, the value of these fortresses for defensive purposes has been greatly reduced by tactical developments during the past four years. Before the present war began, many believed in the impreg- nability of the Rhine line. Not so now. _ The Ggrman guns that reduced Liege, Antwerp, Maubeuge and other entrenched camps carly in- the war, made obsolete the Rhine - fortifica- tions. 2 The allies now. have similar cannon of their own. range they will be able to p verize any fortified German pos! tion above ground which the kat > ser may be foolhardy enough to defend. [J I. This doesn't mean the Germans can-} not protect a single point alomg the Rhine ‘by a lavish use of men, The French defended Verdun, but it wasn't; Verdun that defended France. fortification, was held from the en- emy not by its own immobile guns, but by the infantry and mobile cannon sthdt, protected the citadel in, distant outlying positions. So it will be;when the Americans reach the Rhine. The Germans may, cling tenaciously to Strassburg, Co- | logne or any other one point, but they haven’t got enough men to cling to all. of them, and k violate. It will be part of the. Ameri- can strategy to try to prevent Luden- dorff from accumulating a sufficient reserve to hold ‘eyen a single Verdun permanently along the Rhine. To do this, the battletront-on German soil must be miade very long. The greater the mileage the Germans are called upon to de- rend, the weaker will be their re- serves. On the other hand, the allles will be so superior In man ; This gives a vivid idea of what the-allied troops get when they capture a town on the old Shinme battlefields. This is view , taken before the present allied offensive began. Nothing remains of the town but! of Morval, captured by the Briti: ® from Holland, and | Ver-| dun, equal in strength to any Rhine; eep the Rhine in-{ tree-trunks and ashut or two. BY J. W. T. MASON : Famous American Military Authority. ‘When America’s millions begin their invasion of German territory, in the final offensive of | the war, they will be able to cross the ‘Rhine at m any points if th ine is vulnerable. on the near side. ANNO WILL THEY GIVE e necessities of the campaign 1'e- . (By Newspaper Enterprise Ass’n) Washington, D. C., Sept. 7.—The | Watson bill to grant a federal char-| ter to the War Mothers of America has been started on its way through the senate. Some fears are expressed that the house of representatives will delay action upon. the same resolution lintroduced by. . Representative Den- jton. This would be in line with the house record of holding up bills to grant federal charters. RHIN .erritory. He will be unable to carry out this strategy if, after his line is | shortened in France, it is stretched | across the Rhine well into Germany. — BUY Ww. Ss. irk *BRUSSELS Lillep ELGIUM Rowe, Liege =“ SNathur | i | line, and the Metz-Saarburg-Strassbu | bet he can invade Germanys power that their own reserves will not suffer through an enlargement of the front. i The Rhine runs through a wide val- ley from the Swiss border as far as Mayence. The banks are low and flat. The river is wide, varying from 500 to 3,500 feet, but at many points there are {slands which will materially assist:mititnry bridge making. Above Mayence, the banks are ro and difficult to bridge. But, beginning at Coblence, these obstacles gradually disappear, and at Cologne, the west bank is flat, though there are hills across the river. ° Essen’s Fall Would End War. The rocky sides of the river are a protection for Frankfort from a wes! ern approach, but do not prevent a sortie across the river from thé south. the Rhine, and will certainly be a point of attack if General Pershing makes. a serious effort to carry the war back of the Rhine barrier. Frank- fort is the financial capital of Ger- many, and its capture would be in- ferior in importance, politically, only or Hamburg. Q | Proceeding northward “alorg the |Rhine, the Americans wil probably seek ‘to reach+Cologne. The fall of |Cologne would threatert Germany with strangulation. In the immediate en- virons of Cologne the second of Ger- many’s three great coal and iron fields jis located. Dusseldorf, the center of ;this mining district, is 25 miles north lof Cologne, and the great Krupp works at Essen are about 20 miles still fur- [ther northward. MORVAL—CAPTURED IN THE ‘BIG ALLIED DRIV sh last week a \ This map shows. the principal Rhine fortitied elth |Frankfort is about 20 miles east of! to the capitulation of Berlinfi Cologne | DAKOTA PRISON | CROP VERY LOW: Board of Control at Loss to Know How it Will Operate Industries Aix -la b3 Bonn Coblen | The North Dakota prison popula: | ‘tion of 113 is at the Jowest ebb in the history of the dnstitution. Of this number four are women, leaving ‘but 109 men available for (he various pri- son industr As a result the board of control is in a quand For y the ave Datmstadt _ Mannheim e prison popu- lation has been and it has ex- ceeded 290. Mighty nle-hodied men | bare required to. successfully y ‘the prison twine plant, and ‘the ger eral day-to-day conduct of the vario} peniton: activities, aside from industr' has required the services of 100 convicts, Probably 15 to 20 |of the 109 men ‘now within the prison ;walls are not qualified for general | service through the Jack of an arm or |a hand or other defects, and the board | }of control is at its wits end to de- » the present battle | termine how it can stretch these 109 g line, which Pershing must break | men over the prison routine and the : 2 twine plant and not run short some- where. | The shortage in convicts is ascrib- ed to several causes. North Dakota’s last bumper crop. bringing into the State a big floating population, large- lv made up of I. W. W., thugs, gam- s Ba S vas in | Probably Essen marks the furthest Bee ee ee vests imit of America’s war plans for the! jittte foreign labor has been. import- time being. Cologne itself, which; eq, and there has been comparatively would be the base for operations |}jtile lawlessness. North Dakota be- against Essen, is on a line almost) came pone dry July & 1917, and since arallel to Brussels. Expressed this; that time the usual crop of .short- . the distance doesn’t seem s0 far,! term bootleggers and blindpiggers has though by direct measure from the| gradually dwindled into nothingness. present American front it is about 150)” the war has’ monopolized: the float-| miles away. The terrain is about the} ey to a large extent. and kept him out same a that over awhich the present! of North kK and the war also fighting is proceeding in France, ex-| has resulted in the pardoning of many | cept that in one or two places, there; minor. offenders who, were anxious to are hills which | run ‘to mountainous | get into the service...Many men who proportions. — Neverflieless, wothing | otherwise would not have b freed, impregnable stands in the i have been restored to full citizenship While the main American offensive|in order that they might enlist. As will probably move northward along;a result, North Dakota today has the Rhine from Lorraine, a subsidiary | only one felon to each 8,000 people, drive may well’be developed in Al-/ and if the morals of the state continue , to the south. The Rhine is more|to improve the state will very soon ly. crossed in Alsace than’ clse-| have. an idle twine vlant and other, where. prison industries to let. BY moving to the east bank an@| ‘The prison. through cancellations ng into Baden, two important; which have come in from Jistricts af- will be served. First, south j flicted with partial crop failure, now y. which has no love for Prus- | has 400,000 pounds of last year’s twine sian. arrogance, will be given a bitter|on hand. This is befng sold at 22 1-2 taste of the world’s resentment against ; cents, and it is probable that most of the Hohenkollerns. Second,-and im-| it will be consumed this fall. At the portant, the line of battle will be|Fargo state fair Chairman J. A. Browr lengthened. ” disposed of 22,500 pounds of the twine Von Hindenburg is vow trying to| which had been turned back on the abridge his front in France so as to| prison, and P.M. Casey disposed of a accumulate enough reserves to make|small amount at the Grand Forks a concentrated defense possible | fair. where wet weather interfered against the Americans inside Gernian | with this enterprise to some extent. WAR ee oe s An advance by the Americans to Essen would meaw the ending of | the war, unless the Germans ac- knowledge ‘deteat before that ¢: tastrophe overtakes them. \ blers 19 sh’ = | 4 Thats Eiveeen., TO WAR MOTHERS? Left to right: Senators Walsh, Hoke Smith and Cummins. In the senate the bill,has been re- ferred to a subcommittee composed of Senators Albert B Cummins of Iowa, Hoke Smith of Georgia, and T. J. Walsh of Montana. It is believed that the senate will pass the bill without an opposing vote, and strong efforts are being made by War Mothers all over the country to persuade Chairman Ben Johnson of the House District of Columbia Com mittee to report the bill favorably. Whether the prison will have an op- portunity to manufacture more twine this fall and winter now appears prod- lematical. hands. Red Crown GASOLINE It ig made especially for automobiles. Never racks your engine. “an abundance of smooth, rhythmic power, and leaves a minimum of car- bon deposit. But best of all you can get it every-. where, and it is always the same. If you fill your tank in a strange town, put in Red, Crown, and you needn’t worry about getting home. 27.2e Per Galion At Standard Oil Service Station 1063 - Taking Good Care of Your Car— — Means Using the Best Gasoline and the wise m<torist is taking good care of hus car these days. You may have to drive it until the _war is Over. | If anything does go wrong, it isn’t the easiest matter to get it repaired properly. « You can grease. your own car; you can tighten up loose bolts, nuts and screws, but if your engine kicks up you have some real trouble on your Standard Oil Company Bismarck CHARTER ! ¥ 8 NS Good woolens and quality materials are hard! to get at any price. “Naturally; there has been much clever camouflaging and although shopping around may have been a-good policy in the past; you’d better stick to the well, beaten paths in. clothés- buying this season, confining your inspection and selection te stores which have never moved ar wobbled in‘ their policy of high quality, regard- less of price mark. Men’s and Young- Men’s Suits and Overcoats, $15.00 to $65.00 We are showing a big line of boy’s clothing, suits, overcoats and Mackinaws from $5. to $18. If you wish to Hooverize, buy your clothing now‘ and here. CUSTOM TAILORING EXPERT REPAIRING HAND PRESSING DRY CLEANING : -S.E-Berseson & SON Who knows? USE Develops ‘ On Main St (Undiana) LN. Dakota -