LAND A T^ D .WATER. 
April 3, 1915 
® 
T^ffxemysl 
ToSambor 
L«mbeig& Pnem'fl 
.^ 
recently-built railway crosses the crest near the 
liamlet of Xlzok (5), and proceeds down upon the 
.Galician side to Samlxjr, and so beyond to Przemysl 
(like its neighbour, through the Lupkow), and by 
another line to Lemberg. These two railway lines 
mastering the range do not meet until far down on 
the Hungarian Plain. There is a fairly good 
lateral road leading along the Hungarian side of 
the foothills from Honionna to Berezna, but there 
is no railway communication. 
If the llussians, therefore, content tlierasclves 
with trying to force the Lupkow and obtain posses- 
sion of the railway communication over the crest 
at that point, tlicy will be relying upon the 
Austrians having to abandon the Uzok (5) (the 
crest of which they still command) on account of 
tlie fear they will feel of the appearance, sooner 
or later, of liussian forces behind them upon the 
Hungarian plain. The Russians cannot move in 
any great force in Hungary without a railway. 
To command the Lupkow alone would not be 
enough; they must, for a general movement, ulti- 
mately command the Uzok, too. But, supposing 
they do not force the Uzok, they can have no lio]>e 
of obtaining it save by the threat of this lengthy 
turning movement. 
Now, there are excellent reasons, in spite of 
the inconvenience of working with a single rail- 
way, for leaving the Uzok alone and concen- 
trating upon the Lupkow for the moment. It is 
not conceivable that the Uzok will be left alto- 
gether alone, supposing that the Austrians cling 
to it obstinately in spite of the threat to their rear. 
It is only a question of time for the Russians to 
bring up sufficient reinforcements to permit them 
to act upon the Uzok as well as upon the LupkoAv ; 
but for the moment it would seem as though the 
Lupkow were their principal objective, and a 
detailed examination of the tv»'o passes shows why. 
The Lupkow is roughly thus. The railway 
having come up a very easy valley from the Gali- 
cian side, enters its last gradient towards the ridge 
at a point rather more than 1,200 feet above the 
sea — at a point marked A in the sketch. It only 
rises some 240 feet more to Radoszyce, and thence 
to the summit at B, the total rise is but just over 
300. Upon the further side the gradient is slightly 
steeper, Vidrany being only just under 1,100 feet 
and Mezolaborcz under 1,000. 
At the summit there are two short tunnels, 
the longest of which is barely 400 yards, and 
the crests in the neighbourhood are quite low — 
2,100 feet or thereabouts. Therefore the destruc- 
tion of these tunnels (which are rock tunnels) 
should be repaired without too much difficulty, and 
the heights in the neighbourhood (some of which 
are already carried) are neither steei^ nor 
elevated. 
There are no considerable viaducts or long 
bridges. Lastly, and most important of all, the rail- 
way pass is easily turned by road. One road turns 
it in its immediate neighbourhood, running from 
the village of Radoszyce, on the Galician side, to 
Vidrany on the Hungarian side by A'cry easy 
gradients, over a summit but slightly exceeding 
2,000 feet. The other road coming in from the 
Jaliska Pass (which we have seen to be already in 
Russian hands) strikes the railway just beyond 
Vidrany at Mesolaborcz, and turns the railway 
line yet again. It should be impossible for the 
Austrians to command the railway summit if or 
when these roads arc in the Russian possession. 
And it should equally be impossible for them to in- 
flict any very permanent injury upon the line 
w'hich here crosses the range. 
Further, let us remark that the country all 
about here is open, with only isolated woods; and 
the formations, though of limestone, not craggy or 
particularly lending themselves to local defects. 
Lastly, the height of this Lupkow saddle is so 
inconsiderable that it is already only patchy with 
snow, and the snow will be no serious encum- 
brance before the end of the month if the season is 
reasonably open. 
Now, with all these conditions, those of the 
Uzok Pass form a complete contrast. 
In the first place, the Uzok Pass, being in the 
heart of the mountains and avray from the central 
-' waist," stands higher; though that is not an im- 
portant point, for it is less than 3,000 feet above 
the sea. But it is also far steei>er from Turka, the 
mountain town at the Galician foot of the Uzok. 
The rise to the summit is over a thousand feet, 
and on the further side the road presents all the 
character of a true mountain pass, zig-zagging 
down towards Hungarj'^, on to the hamlet of Uzok 
itself. A few miles further it has fallen (follow- 
ing the upper torrent reaches of the River Ung) 
by nearly 2,000 feet, and is still a mountain road 
Avhen it enters the larger flat above Berezna and 
there receives the lateral road coming from the 
LupkoAV Railway and Homonna. Again, dense 
masses of wood on the Hungarian side clothe the 
mountains everywhere in this part; beech on the 
lower slopes, pines climbing up thickly to the 
central road. On the further, Galician, side, from 
which the Russians must approach, there is but 
bad lateral communication for the massing of their 
troops. The mountain formation here resembles 
that of the Jura. It runs in parallel ridges, 
crest upon crest, of which the main ridge of the 
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