STUBBORN FIGHTING ON THE MEUSE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2767, 10 May 1916, Page 5

STUBBORN FIGHTING ON THE MEUSE

ENEMY'S SUCCESSES SHORT-LIVED GROUND RECOVERED AND PRISONERS TAKEN The High: Commissioner reports: • ■■",;."" , , London, May 8, 3.5 p.m. On the left bank of Hie Meuse stub horn fighting continued m tho course of the night in the region of Hill 301. Fur ions attempts by tho enemy were' broken before our stubborn resistance, with extremely severe German losses. A lively counter-attack permitted tho French to drive out the enemy from the dug-out cast of Hill 301, where he had secured a footing yesterday. About 50 prisoners were taken. ■ . ■ "On the right bank of the Meuse, in the region of Haudromont Wood, a series of combats during the night drove the enemy.out of a greater part of the trenches in the French first line which were pene tinted yesterday, about thirty being made prisoner. "It is confirmed that yesterday's Ger man offensive on a front of ifcwo kilometres between Haudromont and tho Dou aumont forts cost important sacrifices. "The artillery was very active in tho region of Beinieres and the Jury woods, west of Pont-a-Mousson. "Two German aeroplanes were brought down in aerial fighting in the region of Verdun, ono in the neighbourhood of Ornes, tho other l>eing; seriously- dameged south of Azannes." '

GRAPHIC §TORY OF THE VERDUN FIGHTING FEARFUL CARNAGE ON THE FIRE-SWEPT HILLS. '• (Bee. May 9, 10 p.m.) Paris, Slay 9. "The bombardment of Avocourt wood and tho wholo of the region of Hill 301 has been continued with undiminished violence. Qur curtain of firo'stopped an attack on Hill 257, west of Hill 301." (Kec. May 9, 11.45 p.m.) ' Paris, May 9.' Since Wednesday the German batter ies have concentrated a deluge of metal on Hill 301 and Dead Man's HiU, and the slopes of the little valley between the French frontline of trenches was.torn and battered out of shape. The communication saps were filled up, and neither food nor munitions qould be sent to the men who were holding the advanced post. The late bombardment exceeds in ferocity anything, yet seen. After fortyeight hours the French advanced trenches no longer existed. ■ All that was left were an isolated shell crater, in which the remnants of the front line, troops sheltered, carrying with them machine-guns and ammunition, and dug themselves in. Finally the hail of missiles ceased, and the Germans, believing that nothing living then existed there, advanced. They had no sooner emerged.into the open than from a dozen directions the French machine-guns opened fire, and the assault soon spent itself. All that the Ge rniana could claim was a footing gained in a couple of shell-swept salients. < Tho Crown Prince on Sunday delivered two sledge-hammer blows, one on the west, and the other on the east bank of the Meuse. Forty thousand men - were sent against the eastern declivities of Hill 301, which is separated from Mort •Homme (Dead Man's .Hill) by scrub-covered ravines. The French subjected the slopes of Hill 301 to such a fierce fire that the Germans deemed it prudent not to attempt the attack on the east bank. Three violent German assaults resulted in the capture of five hundred'yards of tho French front'lino between Haudromont and Douaumont. . .

There was most desperate fighting throughout Sunday night, when fresh German regiments wete brought up and launched one after the other, but they were powerless to beat down the stubborn defence, and at daylight the French, with a fierce counter-attack, cleared th e Germans from the ravines between Hill 30i and Mort Homme, and also from the Haudromorit area. ' ~~ / FIGHTING ON THE BRITISH FRONT SUCCESSFUL RAIDS ON ENEMY'S TRENCHES. - (Roc. May 9, 10 p.m.) London, May 9. Sir Douglas Uaig (tlio British Coinmander-m-Chief) reports: "East of'Thiepval wood' (a few miles north of Albert), the enemy, after a heavy bombardment, entered our trenches and caused some casualties before being 'driven out. North of Tkiepval we raided the, encmy'a trenches, driving the occupants from their dugouts, which we effectively bombed. . . "Near Fromelles (south-westjif Lille), we entered the enemy's trenches and inflicted considerable casualties." GERMAN OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE. (Eec. Mny 9, 10 p.m.) Amsterdam, May 9. A German communique states: "We.have captured a whole network of French •trenches on the northern slopes of Hill 301, and the German lines -bavo teen pushed up to the hill itself.' REPORTED DISRATING OF THE CROWN PRINCE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright ' Vancouver, May 8. A Swedish dispatch states the- Gorman General Staff has decided, with the consent of the Kaiser, to remove the Crown Prince from the command of'the Verdun front. ',