WAR GAZETTEER

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2228, 14 August 1914, Page 6

WAR GAZETTEER

PLACES MENTIONED IN THE NEWS. Alkmaar.—A town in Holland, 18 mile's north-east'of Haarlem, arid has a trade in butter aiid cheese. The population is abou'c 10,000. , . ' . Basel , .—A city in the north of Switzerland, near the French and German frontiers).:'and is an important railway station.-. .-.'.. • ■', ...' ■ r..., , Czehstbchowa is a town in Russian Polandoa the left bank,of the Warthe, 143 miles south-west of Warsaw, 6n ; the railway, between the city and Cracow. Tho population in, 1900 was 53,650.' The town is the site of'a celebrated monastery. In 1430 the place was attacked and plundered by the Hussites; in 1655, and again in 1705 it bravely resisted the-Swedes, but in 1772 it , - , wa3 forced to .capitulate to Russia, and : in 1793 to Prussia."The , fortifications of the town, built.from 1500 on-wards,-were-razed in. 1813. The monastery, which is.-occupied by monks of the order.of Paul'.the Hermit, contains over the altar in its church a .painted image of the Virgin, traditionally believed to have been painted by St. Luke and visited annually by throngs of pilgrims from all over Russia, Eastern Prussia and other neighbouring' regions. The' inhabi-, tants of tho town manufacture cotton,' cloth and paper and do a lively business in 'rosaries,, images, scapularios, j and so Diedenhofen (formerly . Thionville).— Mentioned, in the cable messages as ,the present location of two German Army Corps, is a town\of 13,000- inhabitants, on the Moselle, in Alsace-Lorraine, distant .22 ■miles north from .Metzi by rail.,. It is' the junction: of important, railways to Troves, to Luxemburg,'to .Metz, and the Longuyon via . Fentsch, and also of a number of branch lines. . The station lieson the right bank of, the Moselle, the town on the loft bank, to which a stone bridge crosses. ' The town:'capitulated to the Prussians after a. severe boinbardmont, on November 25, 1870. It used to, be fortified but the fortifications, were rased "i'u -1903 and new streets Lave ; been laid'out on their-.site. . Duren,— A town of 80,000 inhabitants, in Rhenish Prussia, about 18 miles cast of Aix-la-Chapelle. It is the midst of a fertile plain and has iron and. papermanufactories. ■■'~■'■•■ Grat (or.Gratz).— A city on the river Mur.v the . capital. of-. Styria, in , Austria, and. headquarters' of the Austro-Hungar-ian Third Army Covps. '■. . v Herstal—A town. on . the .Austrian east of Liege, and has a' population of 14,200. . - '. - : ■.. . : -, ".;' '■ .- ' Hungo.—A port arid eea-bathing resort situated on the promontory of Hangoudd, to the extreme south-west of Finland. The, place owes its oommerciftl importance to the.-fact'.that-it is'practically the only, winter ice-free port in Finland, and -is thus pf value both to the Finnish And the Russian. sea-borne trade. When:'incorporated, in 1874 it had only, a few hun-/ dred inhabitants; in 1900 it had' 2501, and in 1904, 5986. It is' connectedly railway with Holsingfors and Tammerfors, and. is the centre of the Finnish butter-export wJiich now amounts to over .£1,000,000 yearly, and of • other export trade. There ■ is also a considerable import trade. During the period of emigration, owing to political troubles with "Russia, over 12,000 Finns sailed from Huriffo in a single y«ar (1901), mostly for tho United States and Canada. Hungo now takes front rank as a fashionable- watering-place,- especislly for wealthy Russians, having, a dry cliuinto and &. fine strand. , ■ Hassett,—A Belgian. tow,n :.the province of Limburg,. about 16 miles N.W; bv W.. from. Maustricht and, 11' miles I N.N.W. from Liege. ' ' ;.; . ■ " , ■ . Innsbruck.—A town 2in. the Austrian Tyrol, C 2 miles south-west of Munich and has a , population of about 23,300.'.. Insterburg.—A town in the same neighbourhood as Sedan, with a population, of' H7.787. "' • -:,' . ' ' Jodoigne.—A small Belgian town a little over,thir'ty>miles west of Liege.. •., ' Kalisz.—This, the chief town of tho government of Russian Poland bearing the same name. It lies 147 miles by railway W.S.W. of Warsaw on , the'banks of the Prdsna which there,forme the boundary of Prussia. The population is •: about 21,000 and contains . a- large .proportion of Jews. Kalisz is one of the oldest and finest citiese of Poland. It is identified with the Calisia.of In. 170G it ; .was the scene of a decisivo victory by Augustus the Strong of the Swedps. : Later"! it was tho place , of a friendly-meeting of Russian and Prussian troops in 1835 in memory of which, an iron obelisk was erected- in the town by Nicholas I. in 1841.. The treaty of 1813. betweeu Russia and Prussia was signed there. . ! : Longwy.—Stands on the river Chicrs, and has a population of 10,000. is or* wal a fortress of the second class, and has' belonged to France since 1678. It was taken by the Prussians-in 1792 and 1815, and by the Germans in 1871. The town is in two parts which are united by, a tramway. In the lower town are' several important iron-works and a porcela'in!factory. ' . . ' Lonnuyon.—Situated <it,the confluence of tho Chicrs and the Criisne; ;a centre of the hardware trade. Population, about 3300. ■ : . • .' ■ Longues.—A town U miles W.S.W. of Mastricht. It has mineral waters, distilleries, tanneries, and boot factories. The place hiis been pillaged and burnt by succc-ssive invaders. '. •. Montmedy.—Formerly rated as a fortress of . the- second ' class, , Montmedy is a town of . about. 25.00 inhabitants, -picturesquely situated ' on tho river Chiers. Tlie citadel stands ti nori a rocky and isolated hill from which the town takes its name. Montmody was taken' by Louis XIV-.in 1657 and by the Germans in 1870. .'■-.. '.- . Maostricht (or Maastricht).—A town in Holland, 15 miles north-north-east of Liege, on the river Maas. Formerly strongly fortified town; the:works have been dismantled, but a strong garrison is retained.' Population about 36,000: ' Neu-breisach.—A town-and fortress of GeTmany in the Imperial province of Alsace-Lorraine, situated on the'- RhineRhone canal, 12 miles east of Colmar by the railway to Freiburg-im-Breisgau. The including a garrison of 2300 irieri, is about 3520. ..It is built in' the form of a hectagori.'and, together with Vort Mortier, which lies on an arm of 'the Rhine opposite, forms a place of great strategic strength. In the Franco-Ger-man war i , ; was bombarded from November 2 to 10, 1870, when it capitulated. . Sarajero.—Now l>eing threatened by the Servians, attained notoriety not long ago as the scene of the assasinntion of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, is the capital of BosniaHerzegovina, the seat of the '■provincial government and (in peace-time) the hetulfliinrters of the Austrian lath Army Corps. It lies in a narrow .valley and ,on the slopes of partly wooded hills rising to a height of 5250 feet. The numerous minarets and tho little houses standing in gurdeiis givo the widely scattered town a picturesque nppoaraucis which; howovor, I he ■numerous' modern buildings threaten to obliterate. The inhabitants- number =•1,870, that number including 18,460 Mo^

hamruedans and 6100 .Tews. There is a garrison of 500 men. The population ot Bosnia-Herzegovina as a whole is mostly Slavonic (Croato-Servian). Scutari.—The principal city, though not the capital, of Albania. It stands on the south-eastern shore of Lake Scutari near the confluence of the Driu and Bozara rivers. The town was invested in I'ebruary, 1913, during the Balkan war by the Montenegrins and capitulated on April 22 after a siogo which witnessed some heavy fighting. The Powers, howorer, insistd that the town,should go to tha new State of Albania and on May 6-lung Nicholas's troops evacuated the . place which had cost them 10,000 casualties out of 35,000 men engaged. Soldau—A town in the S.W.' of East Prussia, G8 miles E. by W. of Thorou. The population is about 4000. Togoland —A German colony, cast of the British Gold Coast; lias been a German protectorate sincb 1881 . The booindary towards the interior is somewhat indefinite. The area is 33,000 square miles and tho population about 1,000,000.Togoland was the most prosperous-of Germany's African possessions. Togo (the largest native town), with a population of 8000, is on Lake Togo. Lome is the capital and chief port. , .. . Thann.-Occupied by bhe French, is a town of 8000' inhabitants in Alsace-Lor-raine district about twelve miles,H.W. by ,W. from Mulhauson and some eight miles from the nearest point on the French border. Thann is-situated-at the mouth of the narrow valley of' the Thur, - and mountains enclosing which are covered with woods on. ,1 their upper,; and .vineyards on their lower slopes. The town is the site of thriving manufactures and boasts a phurch which is famed as a gem of Gothic architecture. ■. - . . Virton.—A little town in Belgium. Wielun—A town in Russian Poland with a population of about CflOO. ■ • ■ _ Four towns mentioned in. recent cablegrams as the scene of engagements between the French and Germans are m or near a tract of country, near the junction of the/French, Belgium, and Luxemburg frontiers, ■ which saw a great- deal of fighting in the .war of ;iB7O. The towns aro Longwy, Slontmedy, Virton, and Longuyoiiv Upon tho map they form a diamond of which: the northern point is Virton and the 6outhern Longuyon, while Montmedy.is on.tho western'and Longwy on tho eastern extremity." Montinedy and' Longwy are about seventeen miles apart. The four towns lie from twenty to thirty mites north of the; fortress 'of Verdun and from ' thirty-five to forty-five miles north of thev German fortress of Metz. Sodan lies twentv-five rd-iles' away from Virion, to/the N;W. Marville, also mentioned to-day- as the scene of- an- engage-' meut, i 9 about -twenty miles eputh of Montmedy. ,■:".'■ . . Gjedser Lighthouse.—On , the southern extremity of, -Falster Island, tho southeasternmost, point of the and cast of Kiel about 75. mil«s.: It is in the direct .sea route -from Kiel to Stettin,.and from Lubeck to Copenhagen;.and it is , the terminus of a submarine cable 'from-:Germany.'. * ■'■ ■ .■. ' , \. ' -' ! ; Tirlemoht,—lV town of about 18,000 in-habiiant3,-<25-niiles east of Brussels, and SO miles norEh-wes,tward of Liegej It is a point.on-one of the main lines of communication fjrom-Eastern.Belgium to the capital. , ■'; y,-'£-..- v .;'' ;-, •■- '