l-mining district of
Belgium. Main roads from Brussels, Binche, Charleroi, Valenciennes and
Maubeuge have their meeting place here, while the railway from Paris
to Brussels passes through it. It is also the junction point of the
canal from Conde and the Canal Du Centre, which connects the former
with the Charleroi Canal and the Sambre.

The town of _Binche_ (12,000 inhabitants), lying 15 miles
east-south-east of Mons, is a centre of roads from Charleroi,
Brussels, Mons, Bavai, and Beaumont. Through it passes a double line
of railway coming from Maubeuge on its way to Brussels.

_Conde_, a small and old fortified town, owes its military value to
its position at the confluence of the Scheldt and the Haine, and to
its canal communications with Mons. A single railway line connects it
on the north with Tournai and on the south with Valenciennes. The
main road from Audenarde to Valenciennes and Cambrai passes here.

The strategetical importance of _Valenciennes_, a town of 32,000
inhabitants, is due to its being the meeting places of main roads from
Cambrai, Lille, Tournai, Conde and Mons. It is also the junction point
of the main lines from Paris _via_ Cambrai, Hirson, and the north. Its
position on the canalised Scheldt has been already referred to.

_Cambrai_ (28,000 inhabitants), lying on the right bank of the
Scheldt, which first becomes navigable here, is the centre of main
roads from Peronne, Bapaume, Arras, Douai, Valenciennes, Bavai and Le
Cateau. It is also important as being the junction point of railways
from Paris to Valenciennes and from Douai to St. Quentin.

_Le Cateau_, where, as I have already said, I established my first
General Headquarters in France, is situated on the Selle. Before the
War its population numbered 10,700 and it possessed important woollen
mills. It is the junction point of main roads connecting Valenciennes
with St. Quentin and Cambrai with Le Nouvion. It also stands on the
main line from Paris to Maubeuge, while single-line railways connect
it with Cambrai, Valenciennes, and Le Quesnoy.

Lastly, with regard to communications throughout the area, they were
good and ample. The principal roads from north to south are those from
Conde, through Valenciennes, to Cambrai, Le Cateau, and Landrecies,
and from Mons to Binche, to Le Cateau _via_ Bavai and to Landrecies
through Maubeuge. Numerous second-class roads afford good lateral
communications between the above-mentioned roads.

Such,