A description of this section, in brief at least, is necessary to
an understanding of the three Austrian invasions made here, and
all three of which failed disastrously. North and west of Shabatz
lies the great plain of Matchva, bounded on its east and north
by the Save and by the Drina on the west. It is a rich, fertile
land, but much broken up by woodland. To the southeast a rolling
valley is divided by the River Dobrava, while due south the Tzer
Mountains rise like a camel's back out of the plain and stretch
right across from the Drina to the Dobrava. The southern slopes of
Tzer are less abrupt than those on the north and descend gradually
into the Leschnitza Valley, out of which rise the lesser heights
of the Iverak Mountains. Both these ranges are largely covered
by prune orchards, intersected with some sparse timber.
This is a region of natural fortifications. Descending southward
again, the foothills of Iverak are lost in a chain of summits,
which flank the right bank of the Jadar River, that tributary of
the Drina River from which the first big battle takes its name.
From the left bank of the Jadar, from its junction with the Drina
to Jarebitze, a great rolling level stretches south until the high
Guchevo Mountains, stretching in southeasterly direction, rise
abruptly and hide the Bosnian hills from view. From there, southward,
the country is extremely mountainous, even the highways being blasted
out of the sides of the precipitous mountains along the innumerable
ravines through which run watercourses which, though almost dry
in summer, burst into torrential streams after the snows begin
to melt in the higher altitudes.
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