THE POILU AT VERDUN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1552, 18 May 1916, Page 4

THE POILU AT VERDUN.

CONFIDENCE AND ENTHUSIASM.

(From Mr H. Warner Allen, Special Correspondent of the British Press with the French Armies.) Paris, March 24.

In previous despatches I have quoted at some length letters found upon the persons of German prisoners in order to throw light on the point of view from which the enemy regards the present war. In mV present telegram I am able to give a series of quotations from French soldiers’ letters, all of which have a direct bearing on the Battle of Verdun. It will bo obvious to the reader how vast is the difference of mentality between the German soldiers who resisted the French offensive in Champagne and that of the French troops who barred the road to the German rush on Verdun. I can personally guarantee the authenticity of these quotations. (1) I thought I really had seen something of modern war last June, hut it was mere child’s play. This time it was really serious. Unless you are on the spot you have no idea of what it really is. I can assure you that the Bodies have put up a good show, but we have not done badly either. The Kaiser’s promises are far from being realised. We are all convinced that he will get nowhere near what he hopes. We have got them in a hole —those abominable Bodies. A German prisoner just, gone by said, “Verdun not taken. War not linished. 1 don’t care a damn.”

(2) So far we have had a fair number of casualties in our batteries, but they are nothing compared with the awful massacre that we have worked in (he German ranks. Our splendid 75’s simply mowed down their men, and their losses could only be counted in thousands and thousands. 1 have seen in front of our batteries corpses held upright by the corpses round them, they were so thickly packed. In spite of this slaughter, the Bodies returned to the charge again and again until they fell, never to rise again. Last winter was Paradise compared to this year, but the consoling thing is that it is perhaps the last of these terrible , winters that we are going to pass in the open,for lam convinced that the enemy is'playing his last card, (3) It is true that the Bodies have advanced three or four miles, but what a price they have paid for it. There were no trenches, no shelters or defences left. Nothing has been able to resist the bombardment of their big guns, and all the time they were firing on our first lines with 12 and loin shells. After the bombardment we fought in the open, and as soon as our 75’s came into play what thousands of corpses ! The Bodies were mowed down like a field of corn. They advanced over their own dead only to raise the pile of corpses still higher. If this goes on there will be neither mountains nor valleys left in this hilly country, for the valleys will all be full of Geramn dead. It is true that we have had heavy losses, but tlmy are nothing compared with theirs. It is only in the Twentieth Century fluff such things have been seen, and 1 am beginning to wonder if God is powerless to stop this war, which is a veritable massacre ... lam convinced that the Bodies will never lake Verdun, for their big effort has been broken. ... 1 should be miserable if I had to leave the front lines, for I have defended Verdun for nineteen months. (4) I do not know what the result will be, but I believe it wall be the beginning of the end, and you know that at the front they are full of confidence. For though the Devil himself may light for them, (he Bodies will never get through. (5) Ko words can express the awful sacrifices that these accursed Bodies accepted only to be able to capture a few positions. It’s past belief. Happily we Avere strong enough to repulse them, and now 1 am certain that they will never get to Verdun. They will lose their Avhole army first.