Page:"The next war"; an appeal to common sense (IA thenextwarappeal01irwi).pdf/80

 hundred miles long—“from Switzerland to the sea.” At the burst of hostilities, the French will loosen this defence; if it works perfectly, they will have leisure to mobilize. The Germans may elect to advance their force of gas-proof tanks through this cloud; they may wait for it to dissipate; they may have means to drive “alleys of immunity” through it, and so permit the passage of their forces. What method they try depends largely on the future of infantry; and that is still a moot point.

Certain optimistic soldiers have registered the belief that the dense masses of infantry, which have been the backbone of all previous modern wars, will disappear from the new warfare. Tanks, the cavalry of the future, will win and lose battles. It will be impossible for any nation to manufacture enough tanks to contain its whole mobilizable force; there is not so much steel-making capacity in the world. Therefore, we shall come down again to comparatively small professional armies of experts.

Most soldiers with whom I have talked do not endorse this view. They think that nothing will ever wholly displace infantry. Artillery was king of battles in the late war; all national resources were bent toward making guns and still more guns, shells and still more shells. Yet the masses of infantry remained; the General Staffs were shrieking not only for more guns, but for more men. You wage war to occupy positions and territory; nothing can finally seize and hold positions and territory but great