LAND AND WATEB 
August 22, 1914 
Aix-la-Chapellc— the last-named lino has been destroyed since 
the outbreak of the war. The Meuse, which flows through the 
city, is upwards of 500 feet wide at this point, and is spanned by 
sii bridges. The population of the city is about 200,000. The 
ring of forts which surrounds the city, although constructed 
in the latter half of last century, is of great strength, and 
provided with thoroughly up-to-date armament. In historic 
times Li*?ge has already undergone six sieges ; one of these was 
conducted by the English Marlborough in 1702, when the citadel 
was taken by storm from the P"rench garrison ; in 17S2 the 
French inflicted heavy defeat on the Austrians here. The fort 
of the Chartreuse and the " Citadel " command the town 
effectively from both banks of the river, and these, together with 
the remaining forta of the ring that encircles the town, render 
this one of the strongest positions in Western Europe. 
Longuyon.— An important railway junction in the 
extreme north of the department of Meurthe et Moselle. The 
Mezieres-Thionville and Luxembourg-Nancy lines cross here. 
It is about twelve miles from the German frontier. 
Longwy. — A fortified town in the arrondisscment 
of Bricy, department of Meurthe et Moselle, sixty-three miles 
west-north-west of Nancy, and situated on a plateau commanding 
the Chiers, a tributary of the Meuse, and also commanding the 
Luxembourg road. The fortress is about 400 feet above tlie 
level of the surrounding country, and is strengthened by outlying 
fortifications. In times of peace the garrison is maintained at 
a strength of about 5,000, of which about one-fifth are cavalry. 
The present population is about 10,000, and the chief industries 
are iron and steel mining and smelting. The town is situated 
on the railway line from Longuyon to Arlon, and for the past 
300 years has been a fortified centre. 
Loovain. — An important manufacturing town twenty- 
eight miles east of Brussels, in the Belgian province of Brabant. 
It is connected by rail with Brussels, Liege, and Malines, and 
other important centres, and has a population of nearly 50,000. 
The town is laid out in rectangular fashion, and is traversed by 
the small river Dyle. Its town hall ia considered one of the 
finest specimens of architectural art on the Continent. 
Luxembourg. — The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg is a 
neutral and independent State, bounded east and north-east 
by Prussia, south by Alsace-Lorraine, and west by the Belgian 
province of Luxembourg. It is governed by a hereditary grand 
duke and a House of Representatives consisting of forty-five 
members, and the total population of the duchy ia about 250,000. 
The State possesses valuable iron mines, and is traversed by 
about 300 miles of railways. It consists for the most part of 
wooded, hilly country, especially in the Ardeimea or western 
region, and from a strategic point of view is exceedingly difiicult 
country. As a state whose neutrality has been guaranteed, 
Luxembourg possesses no important fortifications. 
Macstricht oi Maastricht.— The capital of the 
Dutch province of Limburg, situated nineteen miles by rail 
north-north-cast of Li^ge on the Dutch State railway from 
Maastricht to Akon. The population of the town is about 
40,000, and its chief trade is in paper and firearms. It is built 
round the junction of the Gcer and Maas rivers, and is practically 
on the border between Belgium and Holland. 
Messina. — The city of Messina, which was destroyed 
by the most disastrous earthquake of modem times, was a 
strongly fortified and flourishing city at the north-east corner 
of the island of Sicily, with an excellent harbour opening on the 
Straits of Messina. These straits, in which the Goeben and 
Breslau sheltered for a time from the British and French fleets, 
are waters neutral to Italy, and are under five miles in width 
between the Sicilian coast and the mainland of Italy. The 
straits run in a north to south direction, from Reggio, on the 
Italian mainland, to Point di Faro, at the extreme eastern corner 
of Sicily. 
Metz. — A first-class fortress guarding the German 
frontier in Lorraine, of which it is the German capital. It is 
situated on the river Moselle, ninety-nine miles north-west of 
Strasbourg by rail, and lOJ miles cast from the French frontier. 
The principal fortifications consist of a ring of modern forts, 
encircling the town at a distance of from two to three miles from 
it, and the garrison, made up of Bavarians, Prussians, and 
Saxons, ia about 22,000 in times of peace— a number that would 
be enormously augmented on a war footing. The population of 
the town is about 60,000, and its industries are of little importance. 
It sharea with Strasbourg the distinction of being the most 
important German fortified station on the Alsace-Lorraine 
frontier. 
Muihausen. — A German town in the Upper Alsace 
distiict, twenty-one miles north-west from Bale and the Swiss 
border by rail. It has a population of about Dfl.OOO, and ranks 
as the centre of the cotton industry of Alsace. Its importance 
as a railway junction is considerable, and it is connected by rail 
with Bale, Thann, Belfort, Colmar, and Strasbourg, and Mulheim 
and Freiburg. 
Munsfer- — A town of German Upper Alsace, £;7;tecn 
miles west-south-west of Colmar by rail, and at the foot of the 
Vosges mountains. Its population is about C,500. 
Namur. — Capital of the Belgian province of the same 
name, thirty-seven miles south-east of Brussels, with which 
it is connected by rail. It is situated in wooded and moun- 
ainous country, on the left bank of the river Meuse, and is 
connected by rail with Liege, Paris, Rheims, and Luxembourg, 
as well as with Brussels. The population is about 35,000, and 
the town ia defended by fortifications on the surrounding 
heights. It is even more strongly protected than Liege, and ia 
well garrisoned and difficult to invest, on account of the nature 
of the surrounding country. 
Nish. — The second most important town in Servia, 
situated on the left bank of the Nishava, a tributary of the liver 
Morava. It forms a junction for the important roads of the 
Balkan Peninsula, and is the point at which the Vienna- 
Constantinople and Vienna-Salonica railway linos divide. The 
hills surrounding the town are fortified by earthworks, and Nish 
is always the scat of a strong garrison, being considered of great 
strategical importance. It is one oi the most prosperous tovrns 
in Servia, and has a population of nearly 23,000. 
Novo Radomsk- — A railway station in Russian Poland, 
on the Warsaw-Tchenstochow line, about thirty -five miles from 
the German frontier. 
Pola.— The chief naval base and arsenal of Austria- 
Hungary, situated near the southern point of the peninsula of 
Istria, on the Gulf of Venice. From the village of Fasana, 
which overlooks the Fasana Channel, to the Brionian Islands, a 
system of fortifications protects the harbour and port of Pola, 
which is in normal times occupied by a garrison of about 8,000 
men. The total population ia about 45,000. Pola forms the 
southern terminus of a railway extending from Trieste, with a 
branch to Eovigno, a small port on the Istrian Peninsula. 
Eechicourt, — Village and railway station on the 
Luneville-Saarbourg line of rail. It is situated just on the 
German side of the frontier. 
Saarburg. — A* manufacturing town in German Lorraine, 
about twelve miles from the French frontier. The population is 
about 4,000. 
Sanna. — A river flowing to the Vistula from the cast 
and forming the extreme northern boundary between Austrian 
and Russian Poland. The actual frontier line includes the north 
bank of the river, which is abo known as the " San." 
Sieradz- — A station on the Warsaw-Kalisch line of rail, 
situated in Russian Poland about twenty-two miles from the 
German frontier. 
Sopshider- — A strong mountain position on the bank 
of the river Save, in Servia, about ten miles south from Belgrade. 
Tiriemont. — A village about ten miles east of Brussels 
on the main road to Liege, and directly north of Namur. 
Verdun. — A town and first-class fortress in the depart- 
ment of the Meuse, France, situated at the junction of the Sedan- 
Toul and Rheims-Conflans railway lines. The detached forts 
surrounding Verdun form a circle of about twenty-five miles 
circumference, and are placed both on the right and left banks 
of the Meuse, and connected by defence works with the forts 
of Toul. Verdun ranks as the piost strongly defended town 
of eastern France, and has a civihan population of about 14,000. 
Vosges. — A department of France on the eastern frontier, 
adjoining Upper and Lower Alsace of Germany, traversed by 
the rivers Meurthe and Moselle, and bounded on the east by 
the Vosgea Mountains, wliich form the frontier line between 
France and Germany practically from the Swiss border in tl:e 
south to the latitude of Strasbourg in the north, where they bend 
north-eastward into the territory of Lorraine and the Bavarian 
Palatinate. Forming as they do a natural frontier line, the 
Vosges crests are of great strategic importance, and occupation 
of them is absolutely necessary to a force desiring to dominate 
either the department of Vosges on the west or the territory 
of Alsace-Lorraine on the east. 
Warcmme. — The first point of importance westward 
from Liege on the Liege-Louvain road. Situated about ten 
miles west of Liege, on the railway from Liege to Antwerp and 
Brussels. 
Wavre- — An important fortified point on the road between 
Antwerp and Brussels, about ten miles south of Antwerp. It 
is situated slightly to the east of the main line connecting the 
two cities, and its two forts form protection for the importaal 
town of Mechlin a<:ainst an advance from the nortL 
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