Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 85.djvu/613

Rh trying. It is interesting to note that the Belgian troops who were interned in Holland after the fall of Antwerp accidentally crossed the Dutch frontier in the dark, rainy night of their march.

These autumn rains were not limited to the Franco-Belgian war zone. In the eastern campaign, in late September, we read that the roads were quagmires and that the German troops who were advancing against the Russians were greatly hampered by the difficulty of moving the heavy guns and armored motor cars. In early October the rain and mud in this district interfered with the movements of both armies, but the Russians had the advantage because their field guns and wagons are especially designed for going through mud and soft ground, as a result of their development in districts where there are few good roads. The German artillery and automobile trucks, on the other hand, built low for service on hard ground, were moved with great difficulty or not at all. Hence the rain and the mud fought on the side of the Russians. The troops of the Czar got more of their artillery into action, and used it sooner. The Germans even found it impossible to protect themselves in the customary roofed-over trenches, because the soil was so saturated with water.

Late in October, in the campaign around Warsaw, heavy rains seem largely to have defeated the German plan of operations. The deficiency in railroads was to be made good by means of long trains of fast motor cars, but the mud was so deep that whole roads are reported to have been blocked with abandoned German transports and guns. In the advance towards Warsaw, the German artillery was so much delayed by the mud that it could not be brought up to strengthen the advance guard. The Russians captured many guns which had been abandoned in the mud. The big Krupp siege guns, which proved so effective in the west, where the roads are good, were a serious handicap in the east. Up to the end of October no important fortress had been taken by bombardment by the Germans in the east. In the west, fortress after fortress fell under the heavy gun fire. In such a region, of lowlands and swamps, winter cold, by freezing the ground, will make campaigning easier.

It is clear from these few illustrations that modern warfare has in no way become independent of the handicaps imposed by rain. Motors instead of horses are used to pull artillery and supply trains, but the guns have become heavier, and deep sticky mud is just as serious an obstacle as it ever was.

The grim specter of winter began to rise above the horizon as far back as the middle of September, and almost every day since then has brought some new evidence of the nearer approach of the cold, and the snow, and the suffering which are sure to come with the shortening days and the lowering sun. Modern wars are intense. They do not come to a dead stop in winter. The armies do not go into winter quarters as