Paris prepared for the worst when the Kaiser’s conquering army reached La Fere, about seventy miles away.  From Amiens to La Fere the Germans pressed their attack hardest.  As the Allies were seen to be gradually falling back, reserve troops were assembled in Paris and the forts put in readiness for siege.

THE FORTIFICATIONS OP PARIS

Paris has one of the strongest fortification systems of any city in the world.  The siege of the giant city would be a much greater undertaking than forty-four years ago, as the fortifications have been essentially augmented and strengthened since the Franco-Prussian war.

[Illustration:  MAP OF FRENCH CAPITAL WITH STARS INDICATING POSITION OF FORTIFICATIONS]

The fortifications consist of the old city walls, the old belt of forts and the new enceinture of the fortified camps, which have been advanced far outside of the reach of the old forts.  The main wall, ten meters (33 feet) high, consists of ninety-four bastions and is surrounded by a ditch fifteen meters wide.  Behind the wall a ringroad and a belt line run around the city.

The belt of old forts surrounds this main fortification of the city at a little distance and consists of not less than sixteen forts.  Those farthest advanced are hardly half a mile distant from the main wall.  The experiences of the last war, the immense progress of the artillery, and especially the wider reach of the modern siege guns induced the French army authorities to build a belt of still stronger forts, which surrounds the old fortress of 1870 like a protective net.  The forts, redoubts and batteries belonging to this last belt of fortifications are situated at least two miles from the city limits proper, and even Versailles is taken into this belt of fortifications.

The circumference of the circle formed by them is 124 kilometers (nearly 77 miles) and the space included in it amounts to 1,200 square kilometers.  This new belt of fortifications consists of seven forts of the first class, sixteen forts of the second class and fifty redoubts or batteries, which are connected with each other by the “Great Belt Line,” of 113 kilometers (71 miles).

FORM LARGE FORTIFIED CAMPS

The strongest of these forts form fortified camps, large enough to give protection to strong armies and also the possibility for a new reconcentration.  There are three of these camps.  The northern camp includes the fortifications from the Fort de Cormeilles on the left to the Fort de Stains on the right wing, with the forts of the first class, Cormeilles and Domont, and the forts of the second class, Montlignon, Montmorency, Ecouen and Stains, and it is protected in the rear by the strong forts in the vicinity of St. Denis.  The eastern camp goes from the Ourcq canal and the forest of Bondy to the Seine, and its main strongholds are the forts of Vaujours and Villeneuve-St. Georges, with the smaller forts of Chelles, Villiers, Champigny and Sully.