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we
XeAe4 December 52.
—- page six ¬
but also interesting strategic implicatiors. Historically, the Pripet
Marshes, which cover about 40,000 square kilometers, have been a
natural protection of Russia's Western border. Extending approximatel
from Vilna in the North to Kovel in the %outh, from Brest-Litovsk
in the West to Gomel in the Kast, this vast region around the Pripet
river, is a land of swamps, innumerable little rivers and few
resources, except fishing and hunting.- At present, a large project
has already been started: the draining of the whole area with
Simultannous installation of hydroelectric plants. unce this vast
plan terminated, the swamps - that have held back in the past more
than one advancing army - will have disappeared, giving way to
four million hectares of the most fertile grain land.