In the West.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 46, 29 May 1916, Page 5

In the West.

THE BATTLE OF VZRDUH. GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION. MOST TERRIFIC PITCHED BATTLE OF HISTORY. United Purus Assooiatio* Now York, May 27. A message from Paris states that since Saturday the Verdun deadlock has developed into the most tenific pitched buttle of history. Half a million men are engaged in the struggle. Without a moment’s respite whole re giments molt and disappear in a few minutes, and these arc replaced ht others, only to perish in the same wav.

“It is a battle of madmen, amidst, volcanic eruption,” declared a staff captain. “Between Saturday morning and noon on Tuesday we reckon that the Germans used up one hundred thousand men west of the Mouse alone, this being the price paid foi the recapture of our gains and the seizure of outlying positions. The valley of Dead Man’s Hill and Hill 3(8 are choked with dead bodies. A full brigade was mown down in a quarter of an hour. Dead Man’s Hill itself passed from onr possession, but the crescent occupied by the French to the south prevents the enemy utilising their gains. The scene at this point is appalling. Certainly one at least dies in the open air, but at Douaumont there are all the horrors of darkness. There the men light in tunnels, screaming in the lust of butchery, deafened by bursting shells and grenades,- and stifled by smoke. Even the wounded refuse to abandon the struggle, and, as though possessed of devils, they fight until senseless through loss of blood. “A surgeon who was engaged in the front line told me that in the redoubt on the south part of the fort he found 200 French dead, fully half of them with more than two wounds. Those Frenchmen he was able to treat seemed utterly insane; they kept shouting war cries, their eyes blazed in the strangest manner, and they were indifferent to pain. At one period the supply of anaesthetics ran out, and there was no possibility of obtaining fresh supplies owing to the bombardment. Men had their arms and legs amputated without a groan. They appeared not to feel the shock, but asked for cigarettes, and inquired how the battle was going on.”

“Our losses in retaking the fort were below expectations, Imt the action exacted terrible toll. All cover was blown to pieces. Every German rush was preceded by two or three hours’ hell storm, and then came an increasing wave of attack. Repeatedly the defenders’ ranks were renewed, and practically the whole sector was sprayed with artillery fire. In comparison with this cannonade Waterloo could merely have been an exhibition of fireworks. Some shell boles were thirty feet across, single shells killing fifty men. Before our lines the German dead were heaped in long rows, and one observer calculated that there were seven thousand dead Germans on a front of seven hundred yards. The enemy does not succour his wounded, whereas at least one in three of ours is immediately removed to safety to the rear. We know that the Germans cannot long maintain their sacrifices, and since Saturday the enemy hag lost two, if not three, for each one of our losses. Every bombardment has been withstood and every rush checked, bringing' nearer each moment the inevitable exhaustion. Then will come our recompense for the days of horror.”

HIGH COMMISSIONER’S REPORT. Wellington, May 27. The High Commissioner reports;— London, May 26 (3.55 p.m.) In the Argonne region the French exploded a mine successfully at Fille Morte. On the right bank of the Meuse there was a violent artillery combat in tire sectors of Avocourt Wood and Mort Homme. In the latter region a Gorman attack, which was preparing to debouch, was immediately stopped by our curtain of fire. On the right bank a counter-attack made ns masters of a portion of the trencher, occupied yesterday by the enemy between Haudromont Wood and Thiaumont farm. North of the farm wo progiessed by grenades in the course of the night, making several piisoners.

THE COMMUNIQUES. Amsterdam May 26. A German communique says: Wo re pulsed a Zouave attack westward of Hill 304, and we extended our position westward of the quarry on the east bank. We crossed the Thiaumont ravine, pushing back the enemy southward of Fort i)ouaumont ) and captured six hundred prisoners and twelve machine-guns. French gas attacks ?n the Woevre district, north and westward of Rheims, were unsuccessful. Amsterdam, May 27. The German communique says: Mines destroyed a great width of enemy trenches in the Argonne. The French temporarily penetrated the southern part of Cunrieres, but were ejected. Paris, May 27. Semi-official: The essential lact of hie

battle at Verdun during the last lew days has been the employment of five German divVkn.s who wore taken uom the reserves at Somme and attacked Vimy, thus marking the departe.ro of the First Bavarian Coips to Verdun. Despite the disastrous assault in the Verdun region the battle is in no wise finished. The enemy is still going to hurl a million shells from position on both hanks. The Verdun lighting continues to ho of the greatest magnitude, ami it ha.-, become a general battle since the French recap.nred Fort Douanmont. The Germans’ capture of the fort was merely an episode in a gigantic struggle, which is a veritable massacre ai places. The German commanders are more than ever prodigal of men. Fifty-seven train loads of wounded have been sent to Germany, and the enemy losses are three to one compared with tnose of flic French.

A WAR OF GUNS. WARNING TO MUNITIONERS. CURTAILED OUTPUT MEANS MURDER OF TOMMIES. (Received 9 a.m.) London, May 29. Commander Griffiths, after fourteen months at the front, makes a striking appeal to munition-workers through the Weekly Dispatch. He says:— “The next six months will be the most critical time in the whole war. We are passing rapidly to our zenith, and the enemy’s efforts are ever increasingly violent. We will be in the gravest danger if caught short of ammunition or guns, with the enemy commanding, apparently, unlimited supplies of both. The Whitsun holidays, with the inevitable curtailment of the output, will be little short of murder for the Tommies in the trenches. “This is a war of guns. Verdun has proved that any shortage will he fatal. The men without guns and shells do not count. Shortage ar waste means the sacrifice of thousands of lives. e never, until recently, had guns or ammunition approaching anywhere near the total available against us. Commander Griffiths continued. “All these long months we have been struggling to equalise the condi* tions, and now we are on the right road and are overtaking the Germans. Do not believe we are going to let down because the munitioners are determined to take their holidays. Science in gun-reading enables the enemy to discover your weakness, whether it is in conserving ammunition or in awaiting the guns so as to let the munitioners treat themselves. The best holidays are enjoyed by the mind from the sense of duty done, giving the mind a rest from the terrible thought that any slackness on your part had compromised the soldiers’ safety. If we all play up, well, we put the soldiers well on goal; if there is slackness, I fear to contemplate the consequences. It is as serious as that.”

VARIOUS OPINIONS. London, May 26. The Daily Telegraph’s Rotterdam correspondent says that the Germans have reconsidered their general wai plans, and are now staking everything on Verdun. As gamblers who throw the dice the General Staff possesses the belief that Germany, having greater reserves immediately available, will bo able to endure the present tremendous pressure longer than France. Many troops are still coming to France, and Germany’s whole available strength is concentrated on the French front. The Daily Telegraph’s Paris correspondent says that the German object is less the capture of Verdun than to wear out France’s best attacking forces and lake the French position on the heights of the Meuse. Colonel Feyler, the Swiss expert, says that prior to the present attack on Verdun, the Germans lost three hundred thousand, compared with the French one hundred and twenty thousand, of whom twenty thousand were African tioops. When the present attack began the Germans showed a visible repugnance to leave their trenches and numbers were imprisoned, refusing to march to Verdun.

CROWN PRINCE SUFFERS FROT NERVE STRAIN. Romo, May 27. Owing to serious nerve strain the Crown Prince, though remaining -it headquarters no longer takes an active part in directing operations at Verdun. His condition does not occasion anxiety. GENERAL CALLIENI’S DEATH. STATE FUNERAL ARRANGED. (Received 9.10 a.in.) Paris, May 28. General Gallieni will lie accorded a State funeral, the interment taking place in the Hotel des luvalides.