Show KOVEL A STRATEGIC CENTER junction point for be several voral railway and capital of rich agri cultural district novel kovel a town of t at the beginning of tho the war its immense strategic importance to the fact that it Is the junction point for railroads which radiate like the spokes from the hub of a wheel in live directions ions to the northwest 77 miles distant Is the strongly fortified city of brest litovsky Litov sk over whose possession abere wax was a terrific struggle when the germans were folding the Riis russians back through poland at after the first slav drive early in the war says a national geographic society bulletin to the southeast 84 miles away Is roand a fortress with a population of at the outbreak of the bavand war and at that time the headquarters of the eleventh russian array army corps lublin with inhabitants Is miles the de west on the railroad running to warsaw miles away theato then to the south Is vladimar 36 85 miles distant and to the east runs the line which passes through on an its if wo way to kiev in Iw addition to these railway connections kovel Is situated on the banks of the one of the tributaries tributa rieB ries of the pripet river whose extensive marshes lie he to the north where forests I 1 cover the land in the neighborhood of kovel however agriculture is well developed and at the beginning of the tb war fully one fourth of the land contiguous to the city was devoted to the production of cereal crops the peasant farmers in the district of which kovel Is the capital like those orvol of vol hynia generally are more fortunate than the peasants in most of the russian provinces tor for here they own owa nearly 50 per cent of the land west of kovel Is the famous battlefield of Du dublenko blenka on the bante of the bug and ten miles south of a town on the LU lublin alln kovel hovel railroad it was here that kosciusko Kosc lusko at the headon head of men with ten cannons can nona offered a heroic resistance to russians Bus Russ slana ihns guns BVM after ho holding lkling the su superior perlor force an in check for five days the thero hero of Du bienka retired unmolested to warsaw this brilliant achievement took place just nine years year after a grateful american eon congre on grees gre had offered its ita public thanks to ahm polish artillery omber conferred upon him the dankof rank of a brigadier general extended him the privileges of american citizenship and ston glyn him landed estates tate fl in appreciation ot of his gulshen services to this country as aa adjutant Jut antto to general washington dwig the revolutionary war |