LAND AND WATER 
August 22, 19U 
Aix-la-Chapelle-the last-named line taa been destroyed since 
ihe outbreak of the war. The Meuse. which flows through the 
city, is upwards of 500 feet wide at this P?i"\»°f „^!i^'''=lK 
rix bridses. 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, ana 
provided with thoroughly up-to-date armament. In historic 
times UiRO has already undergone six sieges; one of these was 
conducted by the English Marlborough in 1702, when t^e "tadel 
was taken by storm from the French garrison ; in 17 JJ tne 
French inflicted heavy defeat on the Austnans here, ihe Jort 
of the Chartreuse and the "Citadel" command the town 
effectively from both banks of the river, and these, together with 
the remaining forts 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, ine 
jiezieres-Thionville and Luxembourg-Nancy lines crosa here. 
It is about twelve miles from the German frontier. 
Longwy.— A fortified town in the arrondissement 
of Briey, department of Meurthe et Moselle, sixty-three miles 
west-north-west of Nancy, and situated on a plateau commanding 
the Chiors, a tributary of the Meuse, and also commanding the 
Luxembourg road, the fortress is about 400 feet above the 
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 cavaby. 
The present population is about 10,000, and the chief industries 
are iron and st«el 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. 
Louvain.— An important manufacturing town twenty- 
eight miles east of Brussels, in the Belgian province of Brabant. 
It°is connected by rail with Bmssels, 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 is considered one of the 
finest specimens of arcliitectural art on the Continent. 
Luxembourg. — The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg is a 
neutral and independent State, bounded east and north-cast 
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 is 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 Ardennes or western 
region, and from a strategic point of view is exceedingly difficult 
country. As a statfl whose neutrality has been guaranteed, 
Luxembourg possesses no important fortifications. 
M&estricht or Maastricht.— The capita,l of the 
Dutch province of Limburg, situated nineteen miles by rail 
north-north-east of Li^ge on the Dutch State railway from 
Maastricht to Aken. 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 Geer 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 modern 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 Godien 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 east 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 shares with Strasbourg the distinction of being the most 
important German fortified station on the Alsace-Lorraine 
frontier. 
Mulhauscn.— A German town in the Upper Alsace 
district, twenty-one miles north-west from Bale and the Swiss 
bolder by rail. It has a population of about 00,000, 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 Mulheina 
and Freiburg. 
Munsfer- — -A town of German Upper Alsace, sixteen 
miles west-south-west of Colmar by rail, and at the foot of the 
Vosges mountains. Its population is about 6,500. 
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 ia 
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 diflicult 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 livei 
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 lines divide. The 
hills surrounding the town arc fortified by earthworks, and Nish 
is always the seat of a strong garrison, being considered of great 
strategical importance. It is one of the most prosperous towns 
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 Gennan 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 is about 45,000. Pola forms the 
southern terminus of a railway extending from Trieste, with a 
branch to Rovigno, a small port on the Istrian Peninsula. 
Rechicourt. — 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 ia 
about 4,000, 
Sanaa. — A river flowing to the Vistula from the east 
and forming the extreme northern boundary between Austrian 
and Russian Poland. The actual frontier line includes the north 
bank of the river, which is also knov.n 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 fi-om Belgrade. 
Tirlemoat. — 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 Scdan- 
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 Ton]. Verdun ranlcs as the most strongly defended town 
of eastern France, and has a civilian population of about 14,000. 
Vosges. — A department of France on the eastern frontier, 
adjoining Upper and Lower Alsace of Geimany, traversed by 
the rivers Meurthe and Jloselle, and bounded on the east by 
the Vosges Mountains, which form the frontier line between 
France and Germany practically from the Swiss border in the 
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. 
V/arcmmc. — 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 importani 
town of Mechlin against an advance from the north. 
16* 
