. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . ank attack against enemyforces seeking to forcethe Moselle barrier far-ther south and to pene-trate along the Troughof Charmes could alwaysbe counted upon tocounteract that detailed forms ofthe terrain were so fa-vorable to the defensethat even moderateforces properly estab-lished on the dominatingheights could be reliedupon to hold in checkgreatly superior numbersof the enemy. Finally,the pronounced bastion-and-curtain pattern as-sumed by the plateau margin would both simplify the defensea
. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . ank attack against enemyforces seeking to forcethe Moselle barrier far-ther south and to pene-trate along the Troughof Charmes could alwaysbe counted upon tocounteract that detailed forms ofthe terrain were so fa-vorable to the defensethat even moderateforces properly estab-lished on the dominatingheights could be reliedupon to hold in checkgreatly superior numbersof the enemy. Finally,the pronounced bastion-and-curtain pattern as-sumed by the plateau margin would both simplify the defenseand make it difficult, if not impossible, for the enemy to penetrateas far as Nancy. By utilizing a combination of the Amancebastion and Nancy curtain of the Moselle plateau, and theManonviller bastion, Luneville curtain, and Essey bastion of theSaffais plateau (Fig. 118), a combination rendered desirable bythe direction of the German attack and the change of courseof the Moselle scarp south of Nancy, the city could be renderedinapproachable either from the northeast into the Nancy curtain. Fig. 118—Natural bastions and curtains ofthe Nancy region formed by salients and re-entrants of the Moselle and Saffais plateaus. 484 BATTLEFIELD OF LORRAINE or from the southeast into the Luneville curtain, by flanking firefrom the bastion walls. General de Castelnau made his views prevail to such goodpurpose that the fortification of the Nancy region was finallyauthorized, and the work began a few months before war wasdeclared. Unfortunately, he could derive little benefit from thisfact in the battle which raged from August 28 to September 12,1914, so little was the important task advanced. But the mas-terly way in which the natural fortifications were employed vin-dicated the generals opinion as to the exceptional defensivevalue of the terrain. We may consider that the Battle of the Grand Couronneopened with that portion of the enemys offensive in the Battleof the Trough of Charmes which
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectworldwar19141918
