POLISH LANDSCAPE

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 September 1939, Page 3

POLISH LANDSCAPE

A COUNTRY OF PLAINS. Poland is for the most part an undulating plain with no natural boundaries on the east or west, and connecting the lowlands of Germany with the great plain of Russia. This plain! extends from the Carpathians, in the I south, to the Baltic Sea, touching the! Dvina in the north-east, and just reach-! ing the Oder in the south-west. Ini the south the Carpathians form a mountainous belt, their highest point' being at Tatra. To the north of thisi extends the Carpathian plain, which] stretches west and east along the Dniester. North of this expanse are! the southern uplands, including the] Silesian Hills, the Cracow Jura, the] [Galician plateau, the lysa Gora, the | Lublin Hills, and the Podolian plateau —a diversified region, reaching in] places to a height of 2,000 ft. above the. sea. Further north again, beyond |

these uplands, is the central Polish plain, Poznan, Mazovia, Potllasia. and. Polesie, intersected by great rivers and bounded on the north by another belt of uplands 600 to 700 ft. above the sea, covered with lakes, marshes, and swamps extending from Pomerania through the Mazovian Lakes to White Russia. The Baltic coast forms the northern limit of these uplands. While the great plain from Poznan to Warsaw has by reason of its network of lakes and rivers, which facilitates communication, and because of the fertility of its soil, been the cradle of Polish nationalism, the southern uplands. with their vast mineral wealth have become equally important. After the World War Poland’s greatest, industrial area was Upper Silesia, close to the German border. But Germany, not Russia, was regarded as the potential enemy, and after Marshal Pilsudski obtained the lu years’ non-ag-gression pact from Herr Hitler in January I!KH, by offered him peace or war. whichever he wanted, and at once, Poland set about transferring whole industries into the interior. In the geographical centre of Poland, in the Upper Vistula Valley, the new industrial region was established. This is not only Poland’s arsenal in war-time, but the peace-time centre of her industry, and the years of peace have been made use of to turn Poland from a typically agrarian country to a State almost self-sufficient in foodstuffs and manufactured goods. In the area enclosed by a Ine drawn from Warsaw

to Deblin and on to Radom, the home of the main military aerodrome of Po-j land and of the aeroplane building and chemical industry, to Lodz, to Modlin, with its powerful industrial equipment, and to Bialystok, the industrial heart of Poland is to be found; and it was developed with aid from the Germans themselves. Along the eastern frontier Poland is defended by marshes, where mechanised armies would founder. To the south-east she has the frontiers of friendly States, Rumania, and Hungary, and the role of Hungary is important to her because through the Cai patbo-Ukraine, which used to be the tip of Slovakia and is now Hungarian, lies (he easiest road to the Polish oil wells at Lwow, Boryslaw, and Droholyez. The southern frontier is defended by the mountainous territory of the Carpathians, Tatra, and the Beskids. Further west, where the frontier bulges out in a great curve about (Tm-ow, is the coal and iron region, it was on the frontier here that Poland obtained Teschen during the partition of Czecbo-Slovakia. Here is the important city of Katowice, one of the most vital industrial centres of the country, and nearby is the iron and steel town of Dabrowa Gordicia. Beyond the city of Katowice is a great farm owned by a. German Silesian nobleman, the Duke of Pszczyna. and it is possibly on this territory that the next big engagement is fought, if, as is reported, the Germans have really captured the city. Czestochowa, another industrial city, to the north, is reported to be in flames, but its production is duplicated in Beilsk, which is said to be able to cover the country's needs.

To the south-west, is the best railway region iii Poland, a land not provided with a large railway system by Western standards. Ln the Polish Corridor there is rich territory, but few factories. It is mainly a centre of trade. One of the danger points in the south is at Zakopane, through which the road lies to Cracow, on to Bochnia. with its sale mines, and then over to the east and into the oil region.