Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-28
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

Vcihynia-The retreat of the Rus sian armies out of Cialicia and Buko-
 w1na opened up not only the gates to Podolia and Bessarabia, but also ex- posed the southern part of Nolhynia to invasion. The bureau of information of the National Geographic Society, with headquarters in this city, has prepared the following data on the the nse of the public in interpreting war moves in that region:
 Nolhynis, little smaller than the state of South Carolina, lies imme- diately east of Poland proper and Ga iicia. 4 broad, fiat spur of the Car pathians sweeps across the Galician boundary and forms a plateau in the southern part. which reaches maxi slopes gradually toward the marshes of Pinsk and the PriDet river. This part of the province is hilly and in tersected by deep. river valleys. the chief river being the western Bug.
 Forests cover con9derabIe part of the area. and we are exploited on q large scale. timber being extensively exported in normal times.
 The population of Nolhynia is ap- United States of America have only nine states which have a smaller area, we have only five that have a larger lation-New York. Pennsyivania. Illinois, Ohio and Texas More than Little Russians, the othef elements being White and Great Russians, Poles, Jews. and Germans The cen dltIons of peasant ownership of land are somewhat different from those obtaining in other parts of Russia. the peasants owning approxima tely one half. About 42 per cent. of the iand is in the hands of> private owners. Many Germans live on lands bought from the Russian government.
 "In the northern portion of the province there is little farming land, more than 50 per cent. of the terri tory being occupied by virgin forests, but in the southern part there is considerable agricultural industry It is said that the productive capacity of the southern region is approximately SO.0O0,O00 bushels of cereals alone. In the northern section timber and fire wood are exported in large quantities together with much pitch, tar, wooden wares, etc. Deposits of Ignite and coal with some graphite and kaoIin are to be found.
 "The manufacturing industries of Eolhynia include sugar works, dis textile mills. and candle, to- bacco, glass. cloth and agricultural inn plement factories.
 There are a number of railroads in Nolhynia. one crossing it from Warsaw ts Kiev, another from Lem berg to Petrograd. and a third from <oniSsburg toward Odessa.
 IHe nfSt glimpse that history re- veals of the province shows Slavs dwelling there. From the 9th cen tury, the towns of Volhynia -Nladi- mir, Ovrutch. Lutsk, and Duvno-were ruled by descendants of the great Scandinavian chief, Ruril1 the Red, and Nolhynia remained independent until the 14th century Then it fell into the hands of Lithuania, only to be annexed to Poland in 1569 and fl nally to pass to Russia upon the last l of the Polish empire.
 "Volhynia lies within what is known | Little Russia and South Russia. lying | to the south. and Great Russia which l lies some hundred miles to- the east | It would probably have to be entirely | before a line of conamuni- l "a tiors into Bessarabia and Podolia l ng broken by an even partially re- l nabilitated Russian army. The con- l 1uest Of Volhynia by Germany and a | drive on Odessa would | serve to shorten the east battlefront | oy several hundred miles. giving an | elmost straight line from the southern | shore of the Gulf-of Riga to the north ernmost waters of the Black Sea At | present. the line ziszags it's way from Riga to the lower Carpathians, and | hen follows these mountains down he border of Moldavia. thence east, " way of Focshani and GaIatz to he Danube and the Black Sea. The l Lir line distance of a battle front be- Ween Riga and Odessa would be 750 | niles. The eastern front as of Aug Ist 10th was approximately $50 miles l ong,
 "The effort of the Austro Germans 0 take advantage of Russian inaetion nd thus to shorten their battle line, 1 yhile at the same time trying to pos ess themselves of the rich agricu1- l