In the West.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 84, 15 March 1916, Page 5

In the West.

THE FIGHT AT VAUX.

* AVALANCHES OF DEAD

(, United Pbkss Association. I London, March 13

Officers agree that last Friday’s carnage on the slopes of Vaux was unsurpassed in description. Avalanches of dead and wounded rolled down and He in gigantic greyish heaps at the bottom. The attackers became nauseated in climbing over the bodies of their comrades. MOUNTAINS OF CORPSES. ENEMY REINFORCEMENTS AT VERDUN. Paris, March It. The assaulting forces at Vaux grew tired climbing over the • bodies ol their fallen comrades, and the assualt spent itself before the horror of these mountains of corpses. Thousands of dead cumber the sinister slopes of Vaux. The ferocious struggles have so terribly broken the Germans that whole brigades have ceased to exist. The Seventh and Twenty-Seventh Divisions bore the brunt of Bethincourt and Goose Hill and were severely handled. Possibly, like the Eleventh Reserve, the Divisions must be replaced. The Third German Array Corps suffered so severely at Vaux and Douaumont that the few emerging from the fight were sent to the rear. The Eighteenth Corps and Bavarian Division lost whole battalions. Telegrams from neutral sources report that an enormous number of wounded are arriving at Aix-la-Cha-pelle night and day. The lull in the fighting is due to the enemy awaiting supplies from Metz. Troops from the home depots are flocking to 'Verdun, and the struggle will be renewed in a few days.

French airmen have performed splendid feats in watching the enemy supply trains and reserve formations, espying the gun positions, and raiding at night time the lines of communication and blowing up the munition, depots. . ■ ■ .'a tipi

{ INTENSE BOMBARDMENT. - 'i':-——'a; ! - AERIAL FlClHtmC; Q { : -r ; ;';.iri:^^MarchJiu A communique, stdtqs ; ■!he ■, bombardment westward; of the, Meuse 18 increasingly intense in the Mofthomnio and Bois Bourrus regions. ! The fire of our batteries caught gatherings of the enemy between Forges, and Crows’ Wood. The activity , the opposing artilleries is moderate on the right bank of the Meuse. After lively artillery preparation the Germans eastward of Seppp.is attacked the trenches we had recently retaken. They were stopped, by a bpr.tain; of five,, and retired with appreciable' losses. •■ ‘ ' ■ ;i ’ v ' Six of our aeroplanes dropped l«w bombs on a strategical station at Breulles, northward, of Verdun, and there IrMe been muAerous aerial combats elsewhere in the district, with the advantage indisputably on oui side. Three German machines were brought down in our lines.

GENERAL HAJC’S report.

London, March 14. General Sir Douglas Haig reports that we carried out successful bom-* bailments near Oametz, Armentieres, and the railway at Hooge. Thirty-two hostile aeroplanes were engaged yesterday; one was hiou B 4 down near Lille, and a second was brought down in our line to-day. GERMAN SUCCESSES CLAIMED. Amsterdam, March 14. A German wireless says; Our airmen successfully attacked a French railway station and positions at the Clearmont-Verdun line, and destroyed three enemy aeroplanes m u Champagne and one at the Meuse. OFFICIAL NEWS. The High Commissioner reports: London, March 14 (3.50 p.m-) West of the Meuse the cannonade was somewhat violent during u course of the night on the right bank. IA strong German reconnaisance ai Alois d’Haudromont was stopped •a curtain of fire. The bombardment has continued in the region of \ am., and Dauslop, and in the Woevre district the action of the artillery on both sides is lively. In the region of Fix at Bois le Breter, a German detachment, in attempting a cmip-do • main against , our trenches at Crmx |des Games, received a furious iu *. lade and dispersed, leaving their dead I behind.