Many cannon now have telescopes attached to them to assist the gunner in taking aim. When we reflect that some of the guns can shoot five and six miles, the necessity of this will be apparent. [Illustration: Covered Field Artillery] For storming fortifications there are special heavy siege guns. A modern fortress is something very different from a medieval or even from an early nineteenth century one. The old city walls, however solidly built, are now regarded as mere pleasant bits of antiquity, and in dozens of German towns have been razed to the ground and converted into rings or boulevards. So in the city of Cologne, in Ulm. In their place we now have groups of sunken guns, of protected batteries and of underground bomb-proof rooms with walls of reinforced concrete twelve and fifteen feet thick. Here and there armored turrets project a few feet above the ground. Some of the rooms are large enough for a whole company of infantry. The sunken guns can rise from their resting-places, fire their charges and sink back into their beds. Germany has twenty-eight land forts in all, of which nine are modern in every regard, and eight coast fortifications. Should the Russians enter Prussia we may hear much of the great forts at Königsberg, Graudenz and Thorn, at Danzig, Kulm and Marienburg, or of the Silesian forts Glogau, Neisse and Glatz, which played a part already in the wars of Frederick the Great. In the west, Metz and Strasburg have been immeasurably strengthened since they passed into German hands, and Mainz, Coblenz, Cologne, Germersheim and Wesel are all formidable. To the south are Ulm and Ingolstadt, while in the north are Kustrin and Spandau, the latter but a few miles from Berlin. In Saxony is the Königstein, which, by reason of its natural position, is considered as impregnable as any fortress can be. Whether the Germans will ever be forced back into these strong positions remains to be seen. Their policy is to keep to the offensive and spare their own land as much as possible. However, what strength of arms may fail to accomplish may be reserved for famine. With her commerce entirely cut off, the food supply for the nation at large will be but scanty, and of all the criticisms I have read on the German army during the last six months those on the commissariat department have been the most severe. A change in the whole administration was ordered a few months before the war broke out, but it has scarcely as yet had time to go into full effect. _The Army of the Air_ Probably the greatest difference between ancient and modern warfare lies in the systematic use that is now made of balloons, air-ships, aeroplanes and kites, also of telegraphy, both fixed and wireless, and of the telephone. I should add to these, automobiles, motor-trucks, motorcycles and simple bicycles. [Illustration: Military Airdome at Cologne Showing _Zeppelin Number II_] [Illustration: Cabin of the Zeppelin Airship _Hansa_]