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Show Geography Makes Modern History in Huge Mediterranean Theater of War (Specially prepared for Western Newspaper I'nion by the National Geographic Society.) OF THE many regions that stretch behind the world's shift-ing shift-ing battle lines, none is more fantastic than those of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East (the "Middle East" in British geography). In size alone this theater of Icrn Newspaper t'nion by the F" - W 1 .Jim v.-i".vw -r 'apbie Society.) "" . W A 1', " : V - , j I -'. s, J- t v, i .v 7 I i - V v No man may wear his street shoes into a Mosque, the Mohammedan house of worship. Since Moslems (or Mohammedans) dominate the theater the-ater of war in North Africa, scenes like this are customary. the Chaldees, birthplace of Abraham. Abra-ham. For Bible students these are the Holy Lands: Land of Goshen, where the Israelites toiled; Mount Sinai of the Ten Commandments; Jerusalem, Jericho, and the River Jordan. The world's three major religions, Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism, Moham-medanism, were born in this corner of the globe. In Jerusalem are found three shrines, sacred to the adherents of these faiths the Wailing Wail-ing Wall, where reverent Jews come to pray and lament, the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and And Now war, is spectacular. It covers a broad band of land and sea that extends from somewhere in the vicinity of bomb-shaken Malta to the shores of the Black and Caspian seas. Within this general area, four significant campaigns already al-ready have been fought with varying degrees of intensity and bloodshed: The battles for Greece, Libya, Syria and Iraq plus a fifth struggle near by for East Africa, which resulted in the return of the Ethiopian King of Kings to his ancient throne. Today, the east Mediterranean and the adjacent land-bridge of nations, na-tions, which links the continents of Europe, Africa, and Asia, form a gigantic chessboard, made up of independent in-dependent and occupied countries, of opposing colonies and island bases. It includes Axis-occupied Greece and Libya; British-held Egypt; technically at peace while bombs fall on her cities and battles rage in her deserts; and uneasy, neutral Turkey. It holds the all-important all-important approaches to the Egyptian Egyp-tian and Russian fronts by way of the Red sea and the Persian gulf, through Iran and Iraq, across the Levant States (Syria), Trans-Jordan and Palestine. The mere list of place names on the routes of men and materials bound for the battle lines indicates the international complications and physical difficulties. To these far-flung far-flung regions, the war has brought innumerable problems for technicians techni-cians and diplomats and ceaseless activity. New motor roads appear and airports spring up in desert wastes. New harbor facilities are built in old ports, toward which convoys con-voys of troopships, oil tankers, freighters and vessels of all kinds, race under the constant threat of the enemy in the air. Key Points Manned. At key points throughout the eastern east-ern Mediterranean and beyond, the armies of fighting men and machines ma-chines have gathered. Axis forces may operate from Italian Taranto, Greek Piraeus, Libyan Tobruch; from the German-captured island of Crete; and Italy's Pantelleria and Dodecanese islands. On their side, the United Nations stand at such vital spots as Suez and the Nile delta, in the Egyptian deserts and on the island of Cyprus; at Syrian and Palestine ports and inland oil fields of Iran and Iraq. On a map you can see at a glance how geography dictates the war's movements. You understand why the British base of Malta, athwart the Axis life line to Libya and the Egyptian front and less than 60 miles from Italian Sicily is the most bombed spot on earth: How the oil pipe lines from the Caspian fuel the Russian fleet on the Black sea: How variations in the earth's surface, from the sunburnt Qattara Depression of Egypt to the eternally snow-capped mountains of the So viet Caucasus, determine the methods' meth-ods' and tools of warfare. The Mediterranean and Near East areas, however, are extraordinary for more reasons than contrasting battlegrounds and governments. There, where East meets West, today's to-day's machine-age conflict is being played out against a background as old as the recorded history of man. Where New Meets Old. Multi-motored bombers fly over the traditional Garden of Eden, now largely desert, and over the City of Babylon, seat of empires that rose and waned thousands of years before be-fore Christ. Flying boats land on the Sea of Galilee, and tanks rumble rum-ble along routes that once were caravan car-avan trails such as the Three Wise Men followed to Bethlehem. British Brit-ish and American engineers set up anti-aircraft positions, and plan underground un-derground storage tanks for gasoline gaso-line and water for their winged forces near ancient routes followed by the Children of Israel and the foot-weary armies of Alexander and the Crusaders. They install modern mod-ern machinery for unloading mass war shipments in Persian Gulf ports of Arabian Nights romance, such as Sindbad the Sailor knew. The Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx rise within sight of busy, crowded Cairo on the Nile, British base and capital of Egypt. In the bazaars of Damascus (probably the earth's oldest inhabited city), American soldiers from Boston or St. Louis, Giegon or Florida, may bargain for candied fruits, or sit around smoking braziers where Oriental Or-iental chefs fan spitted mutton with a chicken wing, or serve such clabbered clab-bered milk of sheep or goat as has been a mainstay in the Levantine diet for thousands of years. Cradle of Civilization. This part of the world has often been called the "Cradle of Western Civilization." From the regions of the eastern Mediterranean spread the alphabet, knowledge of mathematics, mathe-matics, medicine, politics, and philosophy; phi-losophy; lessons in sculpture, architecture ar-chitecture and drama. There primitive primi-tive wheels turned on their bulky axles, and men learned to use sails and save their arms from the heavy pull of galley oars. Near the Euphrates in what was Mesopotamia (now Iraq) is Ur of And now, what? Fast action and stirring deeds on the African front have replaced the earlier talk about that continent's possible strategia importance. But the prophets, aware that anything can happen (and often does), are maintaining a Sphinx-like silence. Here an Indian In-dian soldier is shown chatting with an Egyptian. the Moslem Mosque of Omar. Legendary Leg-endary site where Jesus was buried, bur-ied, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Sepul-chre, is shared by most of the world's Christian religions, including includ-ing the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian, Jacobite, and Coptic. Moslem World in Allied Sphere. The eastern-Mediterranean and Near-East areas within the wartime sphere of the United Nations are, however, predominantly Moslem countries. There is found the world's heaviest concentration of the followers follow-ers of Mohammed, whose ways may . seem strange to many a British Tommy and Anzac, many an American Amer-ican Doughboy, engineer, or technician tech-nician meeting them for the first time. The Moslem disciple Uvea according accord-ing to dogmatic religious rules, including in-cluding prayer, fasting, and the holy pilgrimage, especially to Mecca. Pork and wine are strictly forbidden. forbid-den. During Ramadam, the sacred ninth month of toe Moslem calendar, calen-dar, good Mohammedans observe a rigid fast between dawn and dark, when they neither eat nor drink, or engage in any activity that might come under toe head of pleasure or comfort, from smoking to smelling perfume or flowers. From Egypt to Iran, this is Arab country, where the flapping bur-noose, bur-noose, the mosque, and toe "ship of the desert" the camel are still typical features of the scenery. Yet, more and more, long before toe outbreak of the war, toe "Changeless "Change-less East," was changing fast under toe. impact of Westernized industry and Western habits. - Radios, electricity, movies and air-cooled cafes were becoming familiar fa-miliar in the cities of the Near East, along with modernistic apartment houses, smart shops and night clubs. On the streets, girls in modern dress, with bobbed hair and high heels and the vote were replacing the oldtime shrouded, veiled woman. wom-an. Across the desert, fleets of motor mo-tor buses streaked; regular peacetime peace-time airplane service was maintained; main-tained; and on new railway lines, trains drawn by oil-burning locomotives locomo-tives were equipped with Pullman sleeDers- |