Norwich bulletin., 1916-05-11
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Trench Lines in Northern. France The National Geographic Society has issued from it's headquarters in Wash ington an interesting bulletin on the area, population and noteworthy feau- lures of the territory which lies be- tween the present battle line on the Western front and the line marking the crest of the Teutonie invasion which swept down through Northern France toward Paris The bulletin says:
 survey of the trench lines in Northern France, while the opposing armies spend their strength in a ti- tanic struggle around the fortress of Verdun, affords an opportunity to compare their location with the line which the onsweeping Germans gained in their farthest west marches tow ard Paris and Calais. during the early months of the war.
 ''The present line of contact com pared with the old shows it's first vari- ation in a small loop at Arras. In the first rush the Germans overran this thriving capital of the province of Artcis. but subsequently, they were pushed back just beyond the city.
 Moving due south in the survey, the next divergence of old and new lines embraces large triangle of which tho ancient city of Anniens is the west ern apex. A few miles west of the verge and coincide until Soissons is passed, then there is a long defection to the West showing that the Ger mans at one time reached Creil, a prosperous town of 10000 inhabitants on the banks of the Disc. to the south of Compiegne. This is the section where the Germans have lost the ct 1Ta% NP foh they held in France during the early stages of the war. for 1t was in this drive down the Marne valley that the point nearest Paris was reached. Among the registered cities in this region the most important, of course, is Rheims.
 "The old line and the new coincide again some fifty miles due east of Rheims and a few miles west of Yer dun. The final bulge of the old line over the present trenches occurs at a point almost directly east of Bar Ie Due an dtakss in a thin slice of the Meurth Moselle valley, including the important town of Lunevil1e, the birth place of Francis of Lorraine who be- came Emperor Francis I of Austria and the founder of the present reign ing family of the dual monarchy by marrying the Archduchess Maria Theresa early in the eighteenth cen tury.
 Roughly measured, the territory re- gained from the Germans in France exceeds 2.500 square miles. or con- siderably more than the area of the state of Delaware. Its population be- fore the war was in the neighborhood of half a million
 within the redeemed area are some of the most interesting places in France. notably Rheims. the place o1 coronation for most of the kings of France since the beginning of the Capetian dynasty. The most famous ceremony of this character to talk. place here was, of course, the anoint- l ing of Charles VII. after Joan of Arc l had driven the English from before the city walls. It was here. too, that Clovis was baptised on Christmas day | in 496. Before the devastation wrought | by the present war, the great Rheims cathedral was considered by many critics of architecture the most beautI. l full structure produced during the mid. | dle ages.
 "Amiens. with population of 90.O0t before the war. is next in importance among the salvaged cities. Its ca. thedra1, one of the most imposing pile: of 18th century architecture in Europe l was scarcely less famous than tho | one at Rheims. It was in this city l that Peter the Hermit, the grea 1 preacher of the First Crusade, wa. I l Woolen, silk, cashmere and velve | manufactures have suffered greatly l "Arras also reclaimed, was noted | for its woolen manufactures befor,
 the war. In medieval days it's tapestr! 1 hangings were so famous that th'
 name of the city was adopted as
 common noun for draperies in Eng land. Maximilien Robespierre, tn
 revalutionist, was born in Arras. a1s
 Joseph Lebon, who conducted tn
 Terror with great cruelty in his na { tive city.
 I Other retaken towns are: Vil1ers 1 Cotterets, noted as the bfrthpIac
 of Alexandre Dumas; Chateau ThierrS
 famous for the manufacture of mathe
 matical and musical instruments, an
 as the birthplace of the great writer 0
 fables, La Fontaine: La Ferte-sous
 Jouarre. whose quarries supply man
 of the millstones of France; La Fert
 Milon, the birthplace of the great dra
 matist Racine, and Commercy, wher
 many American tourists have stoppe
 to buy a box of the delicious oak ! known as Madeleines.'