In the West.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 78, 8 March 1916, Page 5

In the West.

ATTACK MAY LAST SOME DAYS. Unitexj Puces Assooi atjo. Paris, March G. Newspapers predict that tlie Gorina •> offensive may last for some days yet. The enemy has accumulated turce hundred thousand men on a narrow sector, and as the waves of men roll up and are annihilated, more roll up, reinforcing the depleted ranks. It is estimated that two-fifths '-of the battalions massed against already been put out of action." rr" A communique says: No in^aji^y action during the night is jeported from Verdun. There was a violent artillery struggle on the left hank of the Meuse, and also an intermittent bombardment on the sector west of .Douaumont, while in the Woevro we actively bombarded the enemy’s crossing points. ENEMY SUCCESSES. Paris, March 7.

A communique says: The Germans, using liquid fire, penetrated a small advanced work at Maisons in the Champagne. The enemy, west of the i Meuse, after a violent bombardment, strongly attacked with forces on our advanced line and carried a village after a most violent encounter. Several attempts to debouch on Goose Hill were stopped by counter-attacks-There is intermittent artillery fighting east of the Meuse. GENERAL SARRAIL’S CONFIDENCE. Athens, March 6. General Sarrail is confident that the German offensive will oe entirely crushed. They are flinging themselves at a brick wall behind which is nothing. A GERMAN REPORT. Amsterdam, March 6. A German communique says: Minor English attacks were repulsed, and things generally arc calmer on the eastern bank of the Meuse. ,In minor encounters in the last two days we captured 1.4 officers and 934 men. ;. •’ • . FRENCH ENDURANCE. i .London, March 7...■ . Paris telegrams insist on the doggt'ch endurance .of the. I* ranch soldier, tb face the German efforts to. test every, part of their saljcnt. STORIES OF THE BATTLEFIELD. POMERANIANS PANIC. RIFLEMAN’S HEROIC DEED. w • ■ - -5• t”’ • v •w (Received 8.35 a.ra.) It London, March -7. An officer who was wounded on feun-j day at Vatcherauvillo, states that’-! the Pomeranian regiment figbjwgthere was composed mostly of very young men, who were dressed hi new uniforms and were not used to battle. There was a veritable panic when our batteries opened fire, and it lasted until the Brandenburg regiment and Landwehr Brigade reinforced them. The Heaps of German dead at several points reached to the height of the French barbed wire.

A crack rifleman was awarded the Crois de Guerre for killing sixty Bodies. When the enemy was advancing he stepped outside the trenches, and kept on firing while his comrades handed*up loaded rifles, Though amid a storm of shot and shell the 'rifleman was not hurt. CHANCE IN THE SITUATION. ENEMY CROSS THE MEUSE. CAIN OF 160 YARDS. NO DEFINITE INFLUENCE ON VERDUN - . (Received 9.35 a.in.) Paris March 7. Semi-official,—The situation at Verdun has considerably changed, the struggle extending to the left ol 4>*ic Mcnse at Forges, which constituted a salient of our lind. The enemy gain represents at the utmost 150 metres. Wo remain solidly in a dominating position at Goose Hill. The incident at Forges is without definite influence on Verdun. VERDUN-BELFORT. LINE. big german preparations, early attack expected. (Received 10.5 a.m.) London, March 7.

Big German preparations are n polled, which indicate an early attack on the Verdun-Bolfort line.

| LABOR at LOCCERH EADS. ! SWISC MUNITION-WORKERS. (employment discouraged in ENGLAND. Zurich, March 7. Trade union leaders hare recaved a telegram slating ■ >itst I ’r.tish trade unionists arc discouraging the onploy men t of Swiss mimtir.n workers in England. The report has caused a sensation in labor circles, inasmuch as Krnpps are endeavoring to attract Swiss mechanics to Essen. BULGARIAN' DESERTERS’ REQUEST. (R oceived 10.5 a.m.) Paris, March 7. A mimher of Bulgarian deserters who landed at Marseilles, asked to he enrolled in a foreign legion. FURTHER GERMAN PROGRESS. INTENSE BOMBARDMENT. FRENCH RETIRE WEST OF FORCES. (Received 10.5 a.m.) Baris, March 7. Semi-official. —The Germans, hy means of an intense bombardment, progressed westward of the Mouse .along the railway in Tim, neighbourhood of Regneville. Simultaneously, a German division, noth withstanding heavy-losses, cap-, tured Hill 2G5.

The French hold the village of Bethincourt a mile or so west of Forges, and the clumps of trees eastward of Corbcaux., .and, Ciumerps Wood, also the upper part of Goose Hill. GERMAN DETERMINATION. PUSHING WESTWARD. FIERCE FIGHTING. The High Commissioner reports : London, March 7 (5 p.m.) In the Argonno some enemy attempts to occupy a mine crater at Haute Cheavauches were repulsed, the French artillery continuing the bombardment of the lines of communication of the? eiieluy (vest ot the Meuse Favored by an intense bombardment, the Gormans! progressed by creeping along the railway line in the neighbourhood of Raignville. A very violent attack of one division was launched simultaneously on Hill 265, which the Germans were able to capture in spite of heavy 10-ser> inflicted by the French artillery and machine gunsvV'-TTi.ty French hold B thincourt a village'll the neighbouring spinneys past..of ; <3orbeaux and Cusiercs woods and the top of Goose Hill. An artillery com!rat continued very active in the course of the night east of the Meuse, in the region of Bras and Haudreraont, and also in the Woevro sector, at Freins and. in the villages at the foot of the hills.