Norwich bulletin., 1916-07-11
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Le Creusot, the center of France war munitions works, where The out put of an iron torrent with which to deluge the central empires of Europe is said by a French cabinet officer to be surpassing all expectations, is the subject of tOday's war geography bull letin from the Washington headquar- ters of the National Geographic SOcie- ty, which says:
 Like the famous Krupp works of Germany, Le CreuSOts vast ordnance factories owe their origin to the or ganizing and inventive genius of one fanlily-the SClneiders. At the out break of the war the Schneider Iron Works employed more than 15,000 WOrkmen and their great shops cOv- ering hundreds of acres Of ground, were connected by a network of nearly 40 miles of railroad tracks. Since the war this plant has bee nenormously increased.
 "Le Creusot owes its importance in the manufacturing and foundry in dustry to the fact that it is in the center of one of the richest coal and iron mining districts of France. The coal beds of this region were discOv- cred in the 18th century but it was not until five hundred years later, in l774, that the first iron works were established. Sixty years later the SChnejders, AdOIphe and Eugene, eS- tabIished their first workshops here, and the little hamlet formerly known as Charbonniere, began to STOW. Tn 1S41 it was a town of 4000 people; just before the war there were 35, 900 in habitants, nearly half of whom were employed in the armOrplate factories, the gun shops, the locomotive works, and the ordnance plants It was one of the Schneiders, incidentally, who revOlutionized warship armament in 1876. Up to that time the most pro- grasstve nations used wrought iron for protective aEnOr on their ships. Schneider proved the superiority of steel in resisting the penetration power Of prOjectilcs.
 'Le Creusot is admirably situated with respect to the French frontier, for while it is not so far from the fir ing line as to occasion undue delay in the transportation of munitions, it is sufficiently removed to be well beyond the danger zone. It is 135 miles. south west of BelfOrt, a fortress of first class on the Alsace front, and is 175 miles south of Verdun. If an invading army should succeed in passing either Of these bulWarl1s there would still be DijOn, with it's eight detached forts. guarding the approach 50 miles to the northeast. Paris lies to the north west, 236 miles distant by rail.
 "Supplementing it's railway connec- t1onS, Le- Creusot enjoys the transpOr- tatiOn facilities of the Canal du Centre, five miles to the east. This waterway joins the SaOne and the Loire. The former, rising to the north in the Fauctlles mountains a, few miles below Epinal, flows south and nlingles it's waters with the RhOne at Lyon The Loire, the longest river in France rises to the south and flows northwest into the Atlantic.
 ''Th5s is not the first war in which the Schneider works of I.e CreTsOf have played an important part in fur nishing France with arms. During the conflict of the Crimea and the Franco German war of 1870 the fac tories produced enormous quantities of munitions.
 ''WhiIe Le Creusot has practically no historical associations of it's own, 1t is only few miles southeast of Autun. the famous Augustodunun of the Romans, celebrated for it's ancient schools. The E2 towers and most of the old walls have disappeared, and the town occupies only about half the area of its most prosperous days. It was here that the Christian martyr, St. Symphorien, was put to death in 179. This, too, was the scene of St. Leger's sacrifice, he who as the bishop of Autun led the nObles in revolt against the tyrant EbrOin, F'ranl1ish mayor of the palace.' When the city was be- sieged in 673 and it's fall was seen to- be inevitable Leger, then called Leodeger, surrendered himself to his iTapEacabIe enemy in order that the wrath of theT cOnquerOrt might be wis ited sole1yG upon him rather than upon the whole, community. Untouched by the valor of such a sacrifice, EJbroin orderedEl1is followers to put out. the bishop eyes subject him to prolonged torture% and allyg beheady him z ss