Norwich bulletin., 1916-04-11
Stories of the War
Fertilization at Pinsk.

The thirty odd kilometers of the arc around Pinsk have been fortified since the German army took it's position there last September as probably no other section on any front, east, weet, or southeast. The Pripet SwaDcp,
 which. on account of the mild winter,
 has formed a natural barrier between
 the German and Russian lines, has
 checked both the German advance and
 the Russian counterattaCks. But the Germans have realized that a single cold snap might make the swamps
 passable, and to forestall such a thing
 they have resorted to every known ex- pedient to make every foot of their
 positions impregnable.
 Pinsk, in and about which the Ger
 man forces are lying, is an overgrown Russian village of 45,0O0 inhabitants, isolated on a tongue of land project ing eastward into the swamps. An Associated Press correspondent, the l hrst newspaper man to visit Pinsk since the Germans occupied it, has | just returned from a tour of the Pinsk | front, and although he has previously 1 visited several positions in both the l eastern and western theatres of war, 1 the fortress-like appearance of the | peninsula of Pinsk" impressed him 1 remarkably. The city is fanked on | the south by the swift running river
 Pima Beyond the river lies half a | mile of swamp. Then comes the river | Strumen which, to the westward turns l gradually and joins the Pima. Still | further beyond lies more swamp lands 1 which extend for several miles to the mainland an dthe Russian position To the northward runs the river Jas | solda, flanked on both sides by miles | of swamp lands. on either edge ot
 which lie the German and Russian forces.
 l Fortunately for the troops which hold the northern section, the only
 place where an offensive can req son. ably be expected. the swamp land ter.
 inmates in dunes which are easily
 adapted for defensive purposes. AlOns
 this northern section regiments o
 cavalry have laboriOusly dug them.
 selves into the ground and have per. fected every means to make it impossi. ble for the Russians to break through The defense scheme is a series O | ''StuetZpunkte' or supporting points , At one place the supporting point is l villa, completely surrounded b, 1 trenches. shelters and entanglements At another it is a sort of fort bull into the earth, with subterranean pass ages, protected by sand bangs, eartl . and wood. and ringed about with hun [ dreds of thousands of running feet O } barbed wire. Each supporting point i ] not over 500 yards distants from som , other, and they are connected bv wir l entanslements from 100 to 12O feet il
 width.
 | The cavalry regiments that ar l. guarding the northern section ar 5 among the finest in the German army 2 Their officers include some of tn ' greatest nobles in the empire who's T names are known all over the wOrIC e For almost six months now they hay lain in their position. living alternatel s in underground shelters and in tn I great villa that stands on an e1evatio o plainly in view of the Russian post a tions.
 s How is 1t" asked the corresponder ! of Count s cousin of famOu l. German naval commander and chic e of the brigade, that the Russians q ;: not shoot your villa to pieces? Tn
 i nearest Russian artillery position isn e more than six kilometers away" = The Count laughed. There seems
 be an unwritten and unspoEen agree q ment that we won't touch the Rus
 sian headquarters if they leave ou1
 alone. They have had ample evident
 of the accuracy of our guns and kno d that we could demolish their villa Il We wanted to-"
 IT Thanks to the fact that there is g d almost unlimited quantity of wood ( = hand, for Pinsk in peace times is or e of the timber centers of Russia Il
 Germans have been able to build o1 Ie across the swamps and in this way V establish far-flung Outposts on evel L hummock of ground that is lar. 1f enough to bear a blockhouse e, Parelleling the Strumen half mi ii to the south is a narrow. muddy dil of or dam that was built some time a. To by the Russians. partly to check u ,e swamp waters, and partly as a pro le pective railroad bed. This dam e: is tends to within a few kilOmeters s- the Russian outDost positions
 Ljubanskawo and Gornoye.