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Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 77, 7 March 1916, Page 5

i AT VERDUN AND WOEVRE. ■ Tho -V.g I '' Commissioner reports:— London, -larch G (4.00 p.m.) }, .At Verdun, there was a vhhnl "'artillery straggle on the left of the Jleuse and intermittent attacks west oj Douaumonc. At Woovre, the French a-ctiv'ely bombarded the enemy's communication points during llu night. There was a calm on the rest of the front. the enemy in check. " well held by the french. Violent attacks repulsed, regiments sent to death. (Received 11 a.m.) Paris March 6. he Petit Parisicn says: The Germans are held up on a formidable line consisting of three lines of works covering Verdun and the whole cf our position, and which form practically a rectangle about seven kilometres (across. The Germans at the beginning of the week attempted to drive in our centre at Eois d'Haudremont and Boudamont. On Friday they believed we had stripped our wings to leinfcice ■the centre, and they attempted a violent attack on Vaudedautuamloup. Their troops caught a raking f.re from our guns of all calibre*; 'and' left piles of dead. Our curtain of fire .prevented reinforcements coining ap', hut'the: German high command' ordered them forward rail the same, and regiment after regiment was sent to its death: some lost forty and others sixty per cent, of their effectives before lvaching our entanglements, where the remnants were mowed down by machine and rifle fire. The i Germans! 'did not succeed in gaining a foot of ground. The French right wing' held'firm- and the enemy resumed his attacks on the centre. "WE HOLD HIM IN CHECK." M. Hutin, writing to L'Echo de Paris says: "The enemy's effort at Verdun is weakening, but probably an attempt to further advance . will be made after the reorganisation of the positions between Talon Hill and Douauniont Fort. One thing is clear, we hold him hi check."

STORY FROM LORD NORTHff.,: % CLIFFE. :■{ ,; v > London, Majsk.*Js. Times publishes an inl&tfing despatch from Lord Nortlicli^- ; dated: "Before Verdun, says that evidence from German deserters shows that the attack was.intended for a month or two later, when the around was ( dyi«jfr spriffi hastened the plans. The Germariw Have made many, faults (the saint! as ours at Gallipoli) by closing the Swiss frontier, of which the French were, fully warned. The French losses are insignificant, whereas prisoners estimate the losses of the German companies at one-third of their total effectives. All available indications suggest that the Germans in thirteen days lost one hundred thousand killed, wounded and prisoners. . ■ , , AN ASTOUNDING INCIDENT. Lord Nortbcliffe tells of an astounding incident as the result* of a sudden thaw at Verdun. The French and German trenches were so close within hearing of each other that when the thaw set in the hard-frozen parapets melted and subsided, and two long lines of ■ me'lr stood face to face. There were two possibilities, either wholesale murder or a temporary unofficial truce while a fresh parapet was being erected. The situation was unique in trench warfare, and the French and German Officers* 'being unwilling to negotiate, turned their backs in order that they might not witness the unwarlike scene while the men rebuilt the parapats without smgh>-«hot. FRENCH TRANSPORT SERVICE.

Lord Xortheliffe says that he notic- ,.<! British ilecl Cross stations and ambulance assisting the French, and he says that the Freisi' have reduced motor transport to. a science. Ine French are utilising thousands of miles of poplar and lime-lined roads tor mechanical transport, at a speed ot fifteen miles an hour. On one road he counted twenty motor convoys, each of a hundred waggons. A DISCOVERY OF THE WAR. Lord XorthcliiTe continues: "1 am certain that one of the discoveries of the war is still in his fifties, and most of his staff are much younger. He resembled Lord Roberts, though larger in build. We .discussed the Australasians, Canadians, and the new Briljsh anny An inspection of German prisoners revealed them to be ot rcmarkhbly poor physique, and all <tedared that enthusiasm for the wai had long, since evaporated -It is unlikely that Verdun will be taken" says Lord Northcliftc. So far the French have suffered comparatively small losses of ground, and have l i ,-ff -ittif-ks of armies outmmiwarued on atuv-ns ui berinK them originally threefold. GERMAN PUBLIC- OPINION. London,' Marcli 3. M Mai-col Hutin, in L'Bcho <' c Paris * sa'vs that public opinion in Germany has been at white heat «noo l)omnunon t was reached The Croun Prince is unable to afford to dxsappomt tMe-puUic hy ordering a halt, and therefore-new, merciless and hopeless attacks nr'c : proceeding.

FK BNCH LIX E IMPREG NA BLE. M. Clemenceau, in L'Homme Enchaine, points out thai .he German artillery is massed in such strength, and of aii sizes and shapes, that it is unlikely to give out for many days. Although the French have inflicted incalculable losses the German forces are able to proceed on prolonged eneounteis, but the general tone of the Paris pm s :s confident that the French new line :s ibsolutely impregnable, A SIMSTEII BRVTOL PUPPET. Both armies have been strongly reinforced. General von Haseler hus arrived, and has assumed command under the Kaiser. Le Gaulois describes General von Haseler as a sinister puppet, who is popularly called "the devil of Met*." He is brutal and eccentric, ami only at for laughter. He taught the Kaiser and the Crown Prince swordsmanship.