German plans for the next war . ofhostilities in 1914, the French had destroyedtheir own iron mines of the Briey and Longwybasins, which later fell into the hands of theGermans, and at the same time with their long-range guns destroyed the iron mines on theGerman side of the Lorraine frontier, thewar could not have lasted more than a fewmonths. Continuing, this memorial demands thatthe frontier be pushed westward not only toinclude the present French iron deposits, butto place them beyond the range of the Frenchartillery. Only in this way, it states, canFrance be prevented from checking German
German plans for the next war . ofhostilities in 1914, the French had destroyedtheir own iron mines of the Briey and Longwybasins, which later fell into the hands of theGermans, and at the same time with their long-range guns destroyed the iron mines on theGerman side of the Lorraine frontier, thewar could not have lasted more than a fewmonths. Continuing, this memorial demands thatthe frontier be pushed westward not only toinclude the present French iron deposits, butto place them beyond the range of the Frenchartillery. Only in this way, it states, canFrance be prevented from checking Germanysfuture wars. Further, the memorial points out that thelife of Germanys own deposits is not morethan fifty years and concludes as a conse-quence: Let no one believe that Germany in peacetime will be able to assure herself iron reservesfor a future war. And let no one dare to pretend 36 German Plans for the Next War on his own responsibility that such iron re-serves would be sufficient. During the first forty months of this war. MINES THAT ARE THE TEST OF VICTORY The loss of the iron mines of Lorraine would mean, to Germany,the loss of more than half of her total supply of iron ore, uponwhich, in turn, depends the all-essential supply of guns, shells,and rails for the German Army. With ^these mines in Alliedhands, therefore, Germany could not long continue to prosecutethe war Germany, in order to meet the needs of hernational defense, spent over 50,000,000 tons ofiron and steel. We do not have the right to count that ina future war we will have the good fortune Germanys Plans for the Future Revealed 37 a second time to be able to exploit the terri-tories occupied and to increase our resourcesof first materials. Taking up the use of steel in the next war,and following in a general way the idea empha-sized so strongly by General von Freytag-Loringhoven, the memorial states: **For the future war it is necessary that wedispose of considerable resources in Germanore, for the richer
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