FRENCH NEVER SURER OF VICTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 56, 6 March 1916, Page 5

FRENCH NEVER SURER OF VICTORY.

COST OF ATTACK WILL TELL AGAINST GERMANY'S HOPES. ENEMY'S STRENGTH STRAINED TO SNAPPING POINT. LONDON, March 5. The London "Daily Telegraph," in a leader, says:—"Nothing could be more hopeful than the present position at Vejdun, firstly because the French, with indomitable gallantry and persistence, which have been the admiration of the whole world, have repulsed the attack, secondly because the costliness of the attack will tell tremendously against German hopes in the future. The German losses have been three times those of the French. The series of determined attacks is likely to be continued on the north and east, and perhaps on the west of the fortress. One may anticipate a period of intense activity, which we shall watch with anxiety, but with strong hope." . The "Saturday Keview" says:—"Some square miles of new territory are in German hands, but our Allies have broken this attack and gained in morale and confidence after too many months of the trenches. They have never becu eurer' of victory." Writing from Christiania, Jr. Dillon says:—"The tremendous' onslaught on Verdun is rightly construed throughout Scandinavia as Germany's final desperate effort to score a victory before the dejection now rapidly.spreading among the peoples of the Central Powers paralyses their waning strength, which is strained to snapping point. A decisive German success would have a far-reaching political effect on certain neutrals, and the repercussion iv Sweden would be enormous, but Germany's failure will be followed by renewed peace proposals which, though unacceptable, wii! be more moderate than any yet enunciated." Writing in his Paris newspaper "I/Homme Enchaine" M. Clcnienceau'siys: "If the Germans fail at Verdun tbo i&suc of the war will then be decided." A correspondent of the German newspaper "Lokal Anzeiger" writing from the Lorraine Heights, says:—"Even from ibis distant point one could recognise the fierceness of the battle. On the crest of a ridge on the left of flouaiimont the French artillcrj- extended for several miles. Our heaviest artillery was directed upon them on Sunday. Columns of dust and smoke as high as a house rose from the bursting shells. It was almost incomprehensible that men were able to live, there. We could also follow the fight on the Woevre Plain. wounded passed; all looked confident and pleased that trench warfare was finally at an end, and the grand days ot August and September, 1914, apparently returned, when our masses were crushing everything before them and flooding France."