PLACES IN THE NEWS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 156, 1 June 1940, Page 10

PLACES IN THE NEWS

' \ ■■ CENTRES OF WARFARE. FRANCE AND* BELGIUM. Courtrai, where the Germans are'attacking, is an important and once famous town of West Flanders, situated on the Lys.j Its population is about 40,000. It is now best known for its fine linen, and its lace factories are also important. The town was most prosperous in the Middle Ages, when it had a population of 200,000. In mediaeval history, it .is famous for the battle fought there on July IT, 1302, and because of the defeat inflicted by the despised Flemish burghers on the chivalry of France. The Lys River will be remembered for the great battle which was fought thero in 1918, the aim of the. Germans then being to break through the Brit-isli-Portuguese front. At the close of the* encounter, which developed from this original idea, tho Germans gained 30,000 Allied prisoners and penetrated the British front. At the close of the encounter, which developed from this original idea, the Germans gained 30,000 Allied prisoners and penetrated, thc'British front to a depth of 12 miles on. a 20-mile front, but failed to achieve their object, and the important railway between St. Pol and Hazebrouk was still intact. Tournai, a city of 35,000 persons, is in Belgium on the river Schelde, in the province of Hainaut. Spinning, weaving, cement-making and other industries arc carried on. It’s principal importance at the moment is that it, is a centre on the river, with bridges spanning the river.

St. Omor is a town and fortress in Northern France on the railway to Calais, and has a population of 16,000. There are two harbours outside and one within the city. It has many objects of historical interest, and during the last war was for a time British Headquarters. The industries include the manufacture of linen goods, sugar, soap, the distilling of oil and liquors, and salt-refining. Roubaix is a manufacturing town in Northern France, six miles north-cast of Lille on the railway to Ghent. It has a-population of 115,000. It is situated about a mile from the Belgian frontier on tho Roubaix Canal, which connects, the lower Dotile with the Scheldt by way of the Marcq and the Espierrc. During the war of. 1914-18 Roubaix was in the hands of the Germans, and tho factories were emptied. As t;ho mills-were largely spared, work was started again, with Government help and bank credit, in 1919 and the town again became a prosperous centre. Menin, where violent fighting is reMenin, where violent fighting has occurred, is a town in Belgium in the seven miles south of Courtrai. The population is about 20,000. The town manufactures linen and flannel and in the neighbourhood are extensive tobacco plantations. It was first fortified in 1578, and in 1685 was made one of the strongest places on the French frontier, but the fortifications were razed in 1748 by the Treaty of Aix-]a-Chapelle. During the Great War the Ypres-Menin Road was the scene of much heavy fighting and Menin itself was severely damaged.

Hazebrouck, the capture of which is claimed by the Germans, is a town in Northern France on the canalised River Bourre,-29 miles from Lille, on the northern railway between Lille and St. Onier. It was a centre of movement for the .Allies in 1914-18. Viscount Allenby occupied the town in October. 1914,' and it remained in •British hands throughout, being protected against the-German advance by the Forest of Nieppe. Hazebrouck is the market for a fertile agricultural district. Cloth weaving is its chief industry. It is an important railway junction and has a population of about 15.000, NEAR DUNKIRK: Gravelines, where the Germans claim to hold the heights, is a seaport town in Northern France, near the mouth of tho Aa, 15 miles south-west of Dunkirk on the railway to Calais. The river is canalised and opens out beneath the fortifications into a floating basin. Trade has suffered because of the near: ness of Calais and Dunkirk and the silting up of the channel to the sea. The town, which has a small population, lias among its main industries paper manufacturing, sugar works and an important timber yard. Bethune. the capture of which is claimed by the Nazis,' is:24 miles north-west of Arras, on the railway between Arras and St. Omer? Its population is about 20.000. It lies in the midst of the richest coal mines in France, and its industries include the distillation of oil, salt refining, and the manufacture of earthenware. The town dates from the Eleventh Century. The main front astride the - La Bassee Canal was situated about five miles from Bethune during the last war and the town thus became an important base. During the German advance in 1914-18 many of the houses and public buildings were destroyed by’’ bombardment. The Germany have claimed the capture of Lens, a town in Northern France 13 miles from Arras by rail on the Deule and the Lens Canal. The population is more than 33.000. Lettoccupies .a central position in the coalfields of Pas-de-Calais and was in 1914 one of the chief coalmining centres in France, but the destruction of the machinery and the flooding of the mines during the German occupation caused post-war production to be iar below the pre-war output. Lens was captured by the Germans in October. 1914, and held till 1918. In this district, the front line remained stable, with the result that Lens was reduced to a heap of ruins. Reconstruction took place after the war, hut even up to the present tho town had not been fully restored or had all traces of tho war been removed. Metz, on the Moselle River, has a population of 70,000 and. as a fortress has been of the highest importance. Under Napoleon TII the fortress was strengthened by a circle of detached forts which, after, 1870, were modified and completed by the Germans. Metz was used as tho pivot of operations against France. ,

ON THE COAST. Dunkirk,, wliere the British have put up a grim defence, is a seaport in Northern France, on the straits of Dover, 53 miles north-west of Lille. Its population is more than 30,000. It is the third port of Franco, being in regular communication with New York, London, and the chief ports of the United Kingdom and the Far East. The harbour is approached by a fine natural roadstead and is accessible to the largest vessels. Canals bring it into communication with the industrial towns of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais, and the rich agricultural regions of" Flanders and Artois. The town, situated in the low but fertile district of the Wateringues, was heavily bombed and much damaged in the war of 1914-18. being not far behind the Allied, front line. Ostend'is a town in the province of West Flanders, Belgium, with a population of about 50.000. It was formerly the most fashionable ... seaside resort and the third port of the kingdom. In the last 30 years a new town has been created. The modern docks accommodate ships of a la.rge tonnage. Ostcnd has’a very considerable passenger

and provision traffic with England, and is tile headquarters of the Belgian fishing fleet. There was a daily service from Osiend to Tilbury, carrying food to England. The town is also in direct railway communication with Brussels, Cologne, and Berlin. Ostend was occupied by the Germans, for four years during the last war, and was at first, until it was made untenable by aerial bombardments, a base for destroyers and submarines. In May, 1918, the entrance channel of the harbour and the canal to Ghent and Bruges were blocked to all craft, except the smallest submarines, by the sinking of the old warship Vindictive. This famous exploit followed the Zeebrugsre raid. Zeebrugge, m l.ho Great Mar, was one of the Germans’' main submarine, bases in Belgium. Early in 1918 the Allies decided to take still more drastic measures to try to counter the submarine menace, and an elaborate operation was planned with the object of blocking the canal entrances at Zeebrugge and Ostend. .The' attack on Zeebrugge was duly launched on the night or April 22-23. Zeebrugge was partly closed lor a time and the operations of the Flanders submarines were appreciably hampered thereby. Ypres, in the last war, was the scene of three battles, the first consisting of heavy but indecisive fighting at the close of race to the sea (October 19 to November 22, 1914). The second battle„of Ypres comprised the period of severe fighting which took place in front of Aprils, beginning on April 22 with the first gas attacks and continuing to May 25, 1913. It resulted in considerable loss of ground round the town. The third battle, in 1917, consisted of two phases, the brilliantly successful combat, lasting a few hours, which came to'7 be known as the Battles of Messines, and then, after a- lull, a series of attacks north of the scene of the Messines victory, at short intervals, which lasted four months. >So fruitless in its results, so depressing in its direction was this 1917 offensive that “Passchendaele” has come to be, like Walcheren a century before, a name of ill-omen and a synonym for military barrenness. Lille which also figures largely in the news, is a city in northern France with a population of nearly 200,000. It is 154 miles north-east of Paris and lies in a rich agricultural and industrial plain on the right bank of the /Deule. The chief industries are the spinning of flax and the weaving of cloth. Plant for sugar-works, military stores, steam-engines, locomotives a.nd bridges of all kinds is produced, lho city is one of the most important i junctions of the northern railway, and ; the Deule canal affords communication with neighbouring ports and with Belgium. Trade is chiefly in the raw material and machinery for its industries, in the pioducts thereof, and in the wheat and other agricultural products of the surrounding district. In the last war the city was first reached by advance German patrols in August,' 1914. It was afterwards reoccupied by the French, hut they retired again ■in October. After several da.\s of bombardment the Germans entered in October. 1914, and remained till October, 1918. RAIDED TOWNS. / The Royal Air Force, it is reported, has bombed Duisburg and Dortmund. Duisburg is a town in Dussel-, dorf, Germany, situated on the junction of the Rhine and the. Ruhr 15 miles north of the- town of Dusseldorf. The town has a population of more than a quarter of a million persons! The-great development of .industry on the Rhino, lias made Duisburg" into • a large industrial town whose population has increased largely in recent years, its chief industries are connected with metallurgical manufactures. The port is of the largest inland ones in Eurojie. It is also an important railway centre. The town was occupied by the Belgians from 1921 to 1925 as a sanction under the Treaty of Versailles. The Rhine-Herne Canal connects Duisburg with Dortmund and bv way of the liortmund-Ems Canal with German North Sea ports. Dortmund, in Westphalia, is 50 miles from Duesel-i dorf by rail and has a population of half a million. It owesits development [ to its situation in the centre of tho’l Westphalian coal basin. In the immediate vicinity are also extensive beds of iron ore, and the town competes with Essen. Oberhausen, Duisburg and Hagen in the products of the iron industry. These in Dortmund include steel rails, mining plant and machinery. The town also does a. considerable trade in corn and wood. It is a railway centre. , . . , Geldern is a town of <OOO in Rhenish Prussia. It is important in that’ it stands at the junction of the railways to Wesscl and Cologne.