SontcmLor 5, 1914 
LAND AND WATEE 
As for the Maftdcltiirrt. she was one of the latest German 
cruisers, nominally designed to steam at 25 knots, but capable 
of somethin<; up to 30 knots at a tpurt. Her armament was 
slight^ — twelve 41-inch guns, but she had a belt of 3^ inches, 
and so was fairly immune (anj' way on paper) against attacks 
from others of her kind. She is correspondingly a decided 
loss to the German Navy; for all that the Eussians have 
nothing available in the same class with her. Such Russian 
cruisere as are available are considerably more powerful, but 
also a great deal slowei*. 
The consort of the Ma^rldturq was the Mumchcn, of about 
the same gi:ii power, but somewhat slower and uuarmoured. 
In the division presumably employed in the Baltic are three 
other light cruisers — Aiiffsbuif/, Sluiiyart, and Dan:!{f. 
Of these the first is nominally nearly as fast as the Ma(iJe- 
htirg, bub rumour ha^ it that her turbines have been damaged. 
The other two little ships are comparatively old. 
The net result of Baltic operations to date is that tha 
really effective German scouting force is reduced about one- 
third, and that apart from this there have been no losses on 
either side, saving the few Eussian lighthouses v.'hich the 
Germans have wantonly desti'oyed. The value of this parti- 
cular operation is the cost of the rounds vfhich the Germans 
Lave fired. 
A TOPOGRAPHICAL GUIDE TO THE 
WAR ZONE. 
By E. CHARLES VIVIAN. 
Allensfein. — An important railway junction on the 
East Prussian strategic railways, upward of fifty miles north- 
west of the Russian frontier, and about midway between 
Gumbiunen and Thorn. It is connected with both these points 
by rail, and is also on the line from Oertelburg to Marienburg 
and Dantzic. 
Belfcrt. — The territory of Belfort, at present about 
twenty-eight miles in length by thirteen in breadth, is all that 
is left to France by the Treaty of 1871 out of the former Depart- 
ment of Uaut Rhin, and comprises less than si.^ of the former 
thirty cantons of which the Department was made up. It is 
bounded north-east and east by German Alsace, south-east and 
south by Switzerland, north by the Vosges Department, and 
west and south-west by the Departments of Haute-Saonc and 
Doubs. The chief town of the Department, also named Belfort, 
is 27j miles south-east from Paris, on the railways Paris to BAlc 
and Lyons to Strasbourg. The population of the town is nearly 
35,000. Its fortifications have been greatly strengthened since 
the war of 1870-71, and the town is now one of the strongest 
frontier defences on the French side. The chief fortification is 
the citadel, in front of which is placed a colossal figure, " The 
Lion of Belfort," by Bartholdi, erected to commemorate tlie 
brave defence of the town by the French in 1870-71. Situated 
as it is among the wooded hills of the Vosges range, Belfort is 
of great natural strength, and this, together with the French 
fortifications, renders it an almost imjiregnable position to attack 
from the German side. 
Chambery- — Capital of the Department of Savoje, 
situated between the upper valleys of the Rhone and the Isirc 
rivers. Popidation about 22,000. It is about fifty miles distant 
from the Italian frontier, on the Paris-Lyons-Turin hne of 
railway. 
Diewze. — A railway station in German Lorraine, on the 
Saargemund-Avricourt line of rail. It is about ten miles from 
the French frontier, and about five miles north-cast of Marsal. 
Gumbinnen, — The chief town of a Government district 
of the same name in East Prussia, situated on an affluent of the 
Ri\cr Pregel, on the railway from Eydtkuhncn to Koenigsbur^'. 
and about twent3--two miles west-south-wost from the Russian 
frontier. The population, including a small garrison, is estimated 
at about 12,000, and the town is engaged in various industries, 
of which the chief are iron-founding and the manufacture of 
agricultural machinery. 
Jodoigne. — A small town about seven miles south of 
Tirlemont, in the province of Brabant, Belgium. It is a station 
ou the Namur-Tirlemont line of rail. 
Johannisburg. — Situated on the strategic railway from 
Lyck to Allcnstein, in East Prussia, on the south of the Spieding 
Lake, and about fifteen miles north of the Polish frontier. 
Maubeuge. — A first-class French fortress town about 
five miles south of the Belgian frontier and eleven or twelve miles 
south of Mons. It is the point at which the main line from Paris 
to Belgium branches for Brussels and Liege, and is the site of a 
huge arsenal. It is about midway between Valenciennes ar.d 
Thuin. 
Philippsville. — A town of Southern Belgium about ten 
iniios from C!ivet, on the French frontier, find almost midway 
Lotwccn Givct and Charleroi. It is situated in wooded country, 
and is connected by railway with Charleroi and Charlevillc on 
the French side of the frontier. 
Posen. — A Prussian province with an area about equal to 
that of Belgium, bounded on the north by the province of Prussia, 
on the east by Russian Poland, on the south by Silesia, and oii 
the west by Brandenburg. The population is upwards of 1,900,000, 
the majority of whom are Poles, with a minority of about a third 
of the population Germans. Posen, the capital city of the 
province, is situated at the confluence of the Warthe and Cybina 
rivers, 150 miles cast of Berlin ; it is a first-class fortress of great 
strategic importance, consisting of an inner citadel and an outer 
line of twelve main forts encircling the city. The main town is 
on the west bank of the Warthe river, and the eastern or Polish 
part of the town is regarded as the poor district by the superior 
Germans of the west city. The total population is about 70,0()U, 
including a greater percentage of Jews than in any other German 
centre, and in normal times there is a garrison of about 8,000 men. 
The town is on the main Berlin-Thorn-Petersburg line of rail, 
and is also connected by direct lines with Stettin and with Brcslau, 
from which latter town it is about ninety miles distant in a direct 
northerly direction. In the north, and especially in the north-ea&t 
of the province, the country is dotted with small lakes and ponds, 
and these are interspersed with large tracts of fen and marshland. 
Ill addition to the railway facilities which exist throughout the 
province, numerous canals and navigable rivers afford means of 
communication between the principal trading centres. 
St. Amand. — An important railway jimction situated in 
the line of fortifications extending from Lille to Maubeuge, in 
Northern France. It is on the left bank of the River Escaut, a 
tributary of the Scheldt, and is a junction for no less than six 
lines of rail, which connect it with practically all the main Belgian 
lines, and with Lille, Douai, Valenciennes, and Paris. 
Soldau. — Situated about ten miles inside the German 
frontier, on the railway line from Warsaw to Dantzic on tlic 
Baltic coast. This line is crossed at Soldau by the strategic 
railway from Oertelburg to Thorn. Definite occupation of Soldau 
and command of its railway junction threatens all the railway 
communications of East Prussia. 
Thora. — A town and first-class fortress in the province of 
East Prussia, situated on the right bank of the Vistula river, about 
ten miles from the Russian frontier, ninetj'-two miles south of 
Dantzic. It is a point of considerable strategic importance, and 
has ranked as a first-class fortress since 1878. The popuhition 
is about 25,000, of whom two-fifths are Poles, and the town has a 
considerable trade in grain and timber as well as a certain amount 
of manufacturing activity. The Vistula, navigable at this point, 
provides means of communication with Dantzic and with inter- 
vening towns toward the north, and Thorn is also connected by 
rail with Posen and AUenstein by means of the strategic railway 
of the eastern frontier, and with Warsaw to the east, and Berlin 
to the west by direct lines. 
Wilhelmshaven. — The principal German naval station 
and port on the North Sea, sixty miles north-west from Bremen. 
The harbour has an extent of about 200 acres and a depth of 
27 feet, this being known as the " new harbour," and connected 
with vaiious repairing and equipment docks and with the outer 
harbour. There is also a special torpedo harbour, together with 
three dry docks and a shipbuilding basin — altogether Willielms- 
haven is admirably equipped for the production and shelter of 
every class of battleship and naval war craft, is protected fully 
against any attack by sea, being rituated on the western sid^ 
of Jade, or Jahdc, Bay, and defended by the Elbe fortifications 
and the Heligoland defences. 
17* 
