VILLIERS SATISFIED.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 71, 23 March 1916, Page 6

VILLIERS SATISFIED.

GERMANY'S HOPELESS EFFOET.

Mr. Frederick VilHers, the veteran war correspondent, who arrived at Fremantle by the Khiva recently, is 64 years of age, and he looks 40. Debonair, alert, and keen, he looks fit for a dozen more campaigns. He was told of the Germans' futile onslaughts on Verdun, and he said: "They can .have local successes, but, no matter, they will never take Verdun. I speak from personal knowledge. I am the only correspondent who has been in Verdun. The place itsel'f is ringed with old forts, ■which are not as useful as modern ones. Outside these forts a fringe of hills runs for a distance of 70 miles in crescent shape, enveloping Verdun. At first sight these hills are apparently bare, but as you gaze further you see rows and rows of barbed wire. It is amazing. At the top ■of every little slope are stationed machine-guns so that only the most terrific' bombardment could smash these defences, and then every yard would have to be raked to account for the machine-guns. In addition, there are the inner defences of Verdun, of which one cannot speak. Fearful disasters would happen to the Germans if they got through. I should say that Verdun is the best fortified series of salients in the war. Besides, I have been with the French army for some time, and it is now a magnificent thing in all its branches. Man to man, the Frenchman is superior to the German. The Frenchman is more intelligent. The German is a mere machine, but a well-finished machine. The French in the trenches are' showing a wonderful spirit, and this rather surprises me, for it is the Frenchman's national characteristic to dash, forward in the trenches." Mr. Villiers was asked to express an opinion as to the duration of the war, but he would not commit himself Hi said that in his opinion the war would not be decided by the alarums and excursions which happen on the western front. The Germans, he thinks, will be brought to their, knees by the attrition policy of the fleet. •' "There is no fear of the ultimate result," he. concluded, "but it is still a big business.'*