Village books

In the Zeppelins the Germans had arms not possessed by any other
country and with which they undoubtedly believed that they could
do much more damage to England than was the case after the actual
outbreak of hostilities. They had paid great attention to the
development of the submarine. Their aeroplanes were superior to
those of other nations. They believed that in the use of poison
gas, which was prepared before the outbreak of the war, they had
a prize that would absolutely demoralise their enemy. They had
their flame throwers and the heavy artillery and howitzers which
reduced the redoubtable forts of Liege and Namur to fragments
within a few hours, and which made the holding of any fortresses
impossible.
On their side, by the imposition of a heavy tax called the
_Wehrbeitrag_ or supplementary defence tax, they had, in
1913, increased their army by a number of army corps. On the
other hand, the law for three years' military service voted in
France had not yet gone into effect, nor had the law for universal
military service voted by the Belgian Chambers.


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