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The geography of the area and its importance is incredibly important to the overall understanding of Borges' message. The first paragraph immediately acquaints readers with names such as "Serre-Montauban line," "Albert," and "River Ancre." All are located in France and were key sites during the first World War. The Battle of Albert is said to have occurred here, as the British troops fought the Germans on the shores of the River Ancre. Additionally, the Serre-Montauban line is the name of the road that runs alongside the river. Amazingly enough, aerial footage of the region is available from the King's College London-Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives (www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/cats/montagu/do70-80-.htm). A city of Albert can be traced as a northern city in France, and Montauban, a large city near Toulouse and the border of France and Spain, is found nearby as well.
In addition, after exploring a home encyclopedia, I found some evidence that the Battle of Albert may have been chosen by Borges for its connection to the short-lived Belgian king, King Albert. According to the Funk and Wagnall's New Encyclopedia, King Albert was travelling through Berlin in 1913 when he got wind via Emperor William II that a possible strife could occur soon between Germany and the rest of Europe. Albert attempted to be neutral as per the Treaty of London, warning the Germans that any attack upon the Belgians would not be taken in a pacified manner. However, the Germans paid no heed to this warning and attacked the country, nonetheless, which was defended well because of the prior notice. After World War I, King Albert worked with the rest of Europe in reestablishing the European markets and cities. The rest of his life was spent destroying the Treaty of London in earnest, as it gave rights for Germany to attack Belgium despite its being neutral. |
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| However, the interesting thing to note is that, despite Borges' keen attention to detail, mistakes did occur in the writing of the text. For example, the beginning paragraph makes a huge deal about how the Battle of Albert was fought on July 29th instead of July 24th of 1916. Yet, the entire battle was over by July 5th of 1916. Why did Borges keep dates that did not correspond with the true dates? Borges also worked during the war, and would therefore had had knowledge of dates and times, making this error even more out of the ordinary. If Borges did this on purpose, what was the reason for doing so? What was his motivation? |
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