Norwich bulletin., 1916-01-19
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Brenner-.During the past months a
 steady stream of marching soldiers apd endless trains of munitions used
 Tn mountain warfare have poured to-
 ward the Alpine battlef1elds through mighty Brenner, one of Europe's pass
 es richest in military history, the Thermoplyae of Tyrol, and the trough through which northern invasion has ! most regularly descended upon the sunny fields Of Italy" begins primer on war geography issued today by the National Geographic Society. From times immemorial, the northern tribss nave sought the refinements and cul- ture Of the south over this wonderful Alpine saddle; first in fame among all l the gaps in the rugged Alpine defenses against the North; and a way which
 has echoed to the dying cries of war rlors, and the elashing accoutrements of myriad Roman legions, and, to the noisy disorder of the passage of many 1 armies as great as those going this way today, through more than 2.OOO years of restless history.
 Innsbruck, the Tyrolean capital, is at the northern terminus of this way. while Botzen, is the largely Latinized metropolis of the South. Innsbruck is exclusively of the northland, surround ed by plums, apples, and fir trees, and Botzen, like Italy beyond the noun tains, is in the midst of a region of vines, figs. and olives. Botzen lies $500 feet lower than the summit of the pass.
 Historic points crowd lone another along the Brenner. Many a barbarian tribe has come this way in search of the ease and plenty of the mild eli- mates beyond, and many Roman leg1ons have sought the wild tribes in their homes over the saddle of the 5renner. Guidestones of the time of Caracalla and Septimius Serveus have been foundl buried here. Some of the worlds greatest generals have travel ed this path, north and south; and, here. the Tyrolese peasant, Andreas Hofer, the simple, untaught Austrian hero, proved himself a greater than one of the best officers of Napoleon.
 Memories of 1000 years of stirring happenings fill the pass with rornan- tic interest for the tourist who goes this way by carriage or on foot. A splendid roadway crosses the pass. as also, one of the most important rail- way lines in Europe, a wonderful mas terpiece of engineering skill over which in peace times, careless tourists from Berlin sped through the pass at 30 miles an hour. to Verona, Venice, and Palermo"
 Boulosne-t'From D over, Folkstone, Brighton and Portsmouth, all war. lanes across the English Channel lead to .Boulogne, the great port for the western Entente battle line, safe be- hind the long rows of trenches in the north and made the principal point for import from England of vast stores of munitions and steady stream of troops" begins a, primer just prepared by the National Geographic Society, which describes the harbor to which the war has brought its most brisk import business. f'Boulogne is a vit- ally important point in the line oppos ing the Germans in the West; 1t Is the funnel through which the British Em pfre is pouring it's contribution to the energies expended on the first of the war theatres
 The French port always very Eng fish and now almost as cosmopoIitan as Paris, lies upon the narrowest stretch of the Channel, 22 miles south west of Calais and only 2S miles by sea, southeast of the busy English haroor of Folkstone. Paris. with