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Shakhty

(Encyclopedia)Shakhty shäkhˈtē [key], city (1989 pop. 226,000), SW European Russia; a major anthracite-mining center of the Donets Basin. Industrial products include iron, clothing, brewed beverages, and footwea...

Roubaix

(Encyclopedia)Roubaix ro͞obāˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 98,179), Nord dept., N France, in French Flanders. Part of the Lille urban area, Roubaix, with adjacent Tourcoing, was one of the largest textile (chiefly woo...

Rjukan

(Encyclopedia)Rjukan rēo͞oˈkän [key], town, Telemark co., S Norway, on the Rjukanfoss, one of several high waterfalls of the Måne River. Its large power stations supply electricity to saltpeter and chemical fe...

Sudetes

(Encyclopedia)Sudetes so͞odēˈtēz [key], Czech Sudety, Ger. Sudeten, mountain range, along the border of the Czech Republic and Poland, extending c.185 mi (300 km) between the Elbe and Oder rivers. It is continu...

Somme, Battles of the

(Encyclopedia)Somme, Battles of the, two engagements fought during World War I near the Somme River, N France. The first battle (July–Nov., 1916) was an Allied offensive. The British, commanded by Field Marshal S...

Chemin des Dames

(Encyclopedia)Chemin des Dames shəmăNˈ dā däm [key] [Fr.,=ladies' road], road running along a crest between the Aisne and Ailette rivers, N France. Built during Roman times, the road was the site of the battle...

Machen, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Machen, Arthur măkˈən [key], 1863–1947, British author, b. Wales. He wrote a series of semiautobiographical fantasies, notably The Hill of Dreams (1907) and Far Off Things (1922), and tales of ho...

Lidice

(Encyclopedia)Lidice lĭˈdyĭtsĕ [key], village, NW Czech Republic, in Bohemia. In reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Germans “liquidated” (1942) Lidice by killing all the men, deporting...

flamethrower

(Encyclopedia)flamethrower, mechanism for shooting a burning stream of liquid or semiliquid fuel at enemy troops or positions. Primitive types of flamethrowers, consisting of hollow tubes filled with burning coals,...

Lorient

(Encyclopedia)Lorient lôryăNˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 61,630), Morbihan dept., NW France, a port and naval station on the Atlantic Ocean. A great shipbuilding center, Lorient also produces textiles, furniture, an...