A PRONOUNCED TEUTON SAVAGE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 60, 10 March 1916, Page 5

A PRONOUNCED TEUTON SAVAGE.

BOASTS OP BAYONETTING WOMEN AND GIRLS. LONDON, March 9. The “Times” publishes the facsimile of a letter by a German soldier 'boasting of bayoneting seven French women and four young girls during !the fighting at Badonviller. / | THE FRENCH DEFENCES NOT ALTERED. GERMANS PAY HIGH PRICE FOR GAINS. 1 PARIS, March 9. Semi-official: Though the Germans have gained on -'both wings, the general French defences are not affected. Forges is becoming untenable owing to floods, and the defenders will be able to inflict heavy losses in the withdrawal, This is exactly what the French commanders desired. The German gains on the slopes of Goose Hill were not worth the sacrifices made. GERMANS FAIL TO PROGRESS AT FORGES. ATTACKS ON BETTENCOURT ALL REPULSED. , A DOUAUMONT EFFORT UTTERLY FAILED. ' FRENCH AEROPLANES BOMB METZ. TRAINS OF GERMAN PROJECTILES HIT. • ’ T*'* r f ' * PARIS, March 9. A communique says: The enemy attempted fresh progress west of the Meuse under cover of intense bombardment. A strong attack at Bethincourt was repulsed. We, counter-attacking, drove th e enemy out of the greater part of Bordeaux wood. He only occupies the eastern extremity. There was a violent German bombardment of Douaumont, enemy attacks on the east of which failed. I The enemy re-occupied Hardaumont Redoubt. Sixteen 'of our aeroplane's) dropped 124 bombs on Metz-Ablons station, where wer© several trains of projectiles. The bombs found their 1 mark. Fifteen machines returned. FIVE GERMAN GENERALS KILLED AT VERDUN. GERMANS THROWN-BACK TWENTY TIMES. ' FIGHTING MORE OBSTINATE THAN DOUAUMONT. i The fighting for Hill 265 was even more obstinate than that. at. Douaumont. The Germans were repulsed twenty times with heavy losses before the slopes were won by reinforcements just arrived from Serbia. The “Times” correspondent at Paris says that as the result of violent attacks the Germans were practically driven out of the French railway salient opposite Samogneux. They brought their line more in relation with the position on the east bank of the Meuse, It remains to be seen whether action w 7 ill be - confined to the reduction of the troublesome salient beginning with a big concerted action on the wings. A feature of the battle -was the enormous quantities of German heavy artillery and huge mobile guns, while the field artillery were merely accessory. The French losses on Hill 265, notwithstanding the inferno of shot and shell, were very light, while the German division which stormed and captured it was decimated. Five German generals were killed in the Verdun district, including Loiterer (commander of a division of artillery) and Von Graf (Bavarian) The Germans are now massing on every sector of the attack and bringing up reserves. A high Paris military authority predicts an extension of the Verdun battlefield culminating on Thursday <a* Friday, General Petain is entirely calm and confident. M. Reinach, in the “Figaro,” says the Germans massed twenty men per yard in the Verdun attack. The Press anxiously points out that essential Verdun railways are threatened by the West Meuse attach. " .. L