The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-06
NATURE HELPS IN MAKING WARSAW
 A STRONGHOLD

On every field where the German armies are now fighting in, the envi- rons of Warsaw. great battles have been the chief stronghold for the de- fense of Poland, the industrial, com mercial, and financial center, as we'll as the physical center and the center toward which all Poi1sh lines of com smunications take their way. The greatest of European econquerors have passed that way, and dealt with War saw as one of the half dozen most important towns on the continent. As a military problem. Warsaw is con- scientiously studied by the leading soldiers of Europe, and there are few fields for which the possi bilities have been better canvassed. The geogra- phy of the country immediately sur rounding this great city, the scene of a supreme test of strength. between Teutoni and Slav, is described in a bull graphic Soceity of Washington, which reads:
 "GirdIed by a formidable plan of fortifcations and by fortified towns, which build a circular line around the metropolis Warsaw is the best de- tended city in Eastern Europe. It's immediate line of forts are thrown before it at a radius of about 16 miles from the heart of the city. In the immediate line of fortified towns beyond the Warsaw forts, varying from 25 to 40 miles in distance from the city, are Garwolin in the south east, Grojec in the south, Slziernie- vice in the southwest, Blonie, in the west, Novo Georgievsk in tf1e north west, Pu1tusk and segrjeI in the north, and Praga across the Yistula to the east The most powerful of the fortresses is Novo Georgievsk.
 s"The country around Warsaw is a plain, low and flat, intensely cul- tivated and dotted with many indus trial Villages This plain stretches away to the Prussian frontier. To the south there are hill clusters, while in the north, throughoutst the region ad- Joining the confluence of the Narew and the Bug with the vistula, there are considerable stretches of tangled and ltreacherous marsh land. During the spring and autumn rains, this re- zion frequently suffers from disas- trous floods.
 The floods now and then prove to be terribly destructive. Noyo Georg- ievsk fortress lies upon the conhu- ence of the Bug and vistula, and the swampy stretches near it are part of it's scheme of defense.
 The Vistula cleaves through this district, through fortresses before Warsaw. through the heart of the metropolis and through fortresses toward the German frontier, in road eXpanSe or between a, quarter and third ofa mile in width. Parts of the rivers banks are high. and Warsaw stands over the Vistula on a steep terrace, lying between 100 and 40 feet above the river. Six great trunk lines traverse the plain to War saw, connecting the Polish city with Petrograd. Moscow, Kiey. Danzig, Berlin and Vienna Over these rail- ways and down the broad Vistula aI- most the whole. trade Of Russian Po- land has taken it's way thorugh the first city.
 .A11 the country before Warsaw Is an open way of farm and factory While the soils are not very fertile, being chiefly clay and sand deposits, large crops are raised upon them, crops that have been forced higher and higher to meet the needs of the gerat next-door market. Then, too, the Warsaw district is the most mod ern and progressive district in Po- land, progressive in it's agriculture as in it's manufacture and trade The industry of the metropolis spreads out over the city, through the neigh boring villages and towns. For 20 years. the Poles have turned their energies to industry with all the se- rioHsness which they formerly dis played in politics, and with better or. ganization. Warsaw, and the hai country in which it lies, are the heart and the inspiration of Polish in dustry. =