In the West.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 83, 14 March 1916, Page 5

In the West.

APPALLING GERMAN LOSSES. THE FIGHT FOR VAUX. VERITABLE BUTCHERY. " i . ■ |U)srwm> Puxfei AmooiaWosJ ".'.] , '..(Reecived 8,30 a.m.)" : J ' ;I " ■ ; ' Paris March 13',' ( The German losses" at Douautnont pale,into insignificance compared to those di'last week."* The German artillery for nine'Hours the Vaux plateau, apd' there'was a deluge of steel from the trench mortars. ' They dropped huge" land torches amid the houses in the village f but the French defended it amid the uproar, choked with smoke, gas, and dust. They held every position of value, though the enemy outnumbered them by six to one, and it took four distinct assaults before the first German column won shelter in a small' group of ruined houses. Five times the enemy -endeavored to leave the shelter of the ruins of a church, but each time the machine guns; cut through them like ■ a scythe; " the men falling in'swathes.: The fight died down from sheer inani<tioh. Desperate as the fight for 'the village was, it was deadlier round the fort owing to the precipitous slope. The Bavarians climbed on one another's shoulders and hung on to the angles of the rock. Repeatedly the high pyramids they formed collapsed into a shapeless mass under the French fire. The ditches ran red with blood, and finally the German generals stopped the butchery. •

LOSSES AT VERDUN, 200,000. (Received 10.30 a.m.) • Paris, March 13. The Daily Review estimates that the losses at Verdun are now two hundred thousand. THE OFFICIAL REPORT. The High Commissioner reports: Loudon, March 13 (6.35 p.m.) There.-has been no infantry action to the north of Verdun, but the bombardment is continuing at Bethincourt and in the regions of Douaumont and at Woevre. In the sectors of Moulainville and ilongarx, the French artillery is very active. At Bois le Pretre, near Crois des Cannes, the French penetrated a hostile trench. along a front of two hundred metres and cleared the saps, returning with prisoners after causing some loss to the enemy. In course of the night, a flight of the French bombarding squadron launched thirty heavy calibre bombs on the railway station at Conflans where five outbreaks of fire were observed. In spite of the violent cannonade, all machines returned safely.