LAND OF PLAINS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20911, 16 September 1939, Page 10

LAND OF PLAINS

POLAND’S GEOGRAPHY INDUSTRIAL HEART OF NATION TRANSITION IN MODERN TIMES Poland is for the most part an undulating plain with no natural boundaries on the east or west, and connecting the lowlands of Germany with the great plains of Russia. This plain extends from the Carpathian*, in the south, to the Baltio Sea, touching the Dvina in the north-east, and just reaching the Oder in the south-west. In the south the Carpathians form a mountainous belt, their highest point being at Tatra. To the north of* tliis extends the Carpathian plain. | which stretches west and east along the Dniester. I North of this expanse are the southern uplands, including The Silesian Hills, the Cracow Jura, the Galician plateau, the Lysa Gora, the Lub- ! iiii Hills, and the Podolian plateau—j a diversified region, reaching in place* Ito a height of 2000 feet above the j sea. Further north again, beyond these uplands, is the central Polish plain, Poznan, Mazovia, Podl&sia, and l'oiesie, intersected by great river* and bounded on the north by another belt of uplands 600 to 700 feet above the sea, covered with lakes, marshes and swamps extending from Pomerania through the Mazovian Lakes to | White Russia. The Baltic coast forms the northern limits of these uplands. Cradle of Nation While the great plain from Poznan to Warsaw has by reason of ite net- ! work of lakes and rivers, which facill- ! tates communication, and because of the fertility of its soil, been the cradle of Polish nationalism, the ; southern uplands with their vast mineral wealth have become equally important, says a southern writer. After the World War Poland’s greatest industrial area was Upper Silesia, close to the German border. But Ger- | many, not Russia, was regarded as the j potential enemy, and after Marshal | Pilsudski obtained the ten years' nonaggression pact from Herr Hitler in January, 1934, by offering him peace or war, whichever he wanted, and at luce, Poland set about transferring whole industries into the interior. In the geographical centre Of Poland, In the Upper Vistula Valley, the new Industrial region was established. This is not only Poland’s arsenal in wartime, but the peace-time centre of her industry, and the years of p >ace have been made use of to turn Poland from a typically agrarian country to a State . almost self-sufficient in fo.»u»tuff* and I manufactured goods. In the area enclosed by a line drawn from Warsaw to Deblin and on to Radom, the home I of the main military aerodrome of . Poland and of the aeroplane-building j end chemical industry, to I odz, to • Modlin, with its powerful industrial equipment, and to Bialystok, the industrial heart of Poland is to be found, and it was developed with aid from the Germans themselves. Eastern Frontier Along the eastern frontier Poland la defende J by marshes, where mechanised armies would founder. To the south-east she has the frontiers of friendly States, Rumania and Hungary, J and the role of Hungary is important to her because through the CarpathoLkraine, which used to be the tip of Slovakia and is now Hungarian, lie 6 the easiest road to the Polish oil wells at Lwow, Boryslaw, and Droholycz. The southern frontier is defended by the mountainous territory of the Carpathians, Tatra, and the Besldds. Further west, where the frontier bulges out in a great curve about Cracow, is the coal and iron region. It was on the frontier here that Poland obtained Teschen during the partition of Czechoslovakia. Here is the important city of Katowice, one of the most vital industrial centres of the country, and nearby is the iroon and steel town of Dabrowa Gordicia. Beyond the city of Katowice Is a great farm owned by & German Silesian nobleman, the Duke of Pszczyna, j and it is possibly on this territory that | the next big engagement is fought if, jas Is reported, the Germans have | really captured the city. Czestochowa, | another industrial city, to the north, j is reported to be in names, but its i production is duplicated in Bielsk, which is said to be able io oover the country’s needs. To the south-west is the best railway region in Poland, a land not provided with a large railway system by Western standards. In the Polish Corridor there is rich territory, but few factories. It is mainly a centre of trade. One of the danger points in the south is at Zakopane, through which the road lies to Cracow, on to Bochnia, with its salt mines, and then over to the east and into the oil region.