MORE DISILUSIONMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 172, 29 December 1914, Page 7

MORE DISILUSIONMENT.

VERUUN NOT REACHED. A correspondent of the London Times writes: "the failure to reach Verdun has been one of the Germans' great disappointments. They hare been foiled, not by the forts, but by the forces they trusted —the destructive powers of tlio giant Krupp guns. They talked about them with bated breath, as a sort of invincible fetish. They almost pitied the poor people whom they were about to crush, but they did not reckon up the resisting powers of the French armies in the field. 'lt was proved at Liege and 1 Namur that a surprise, secretly prepared, was the most useful weapon when it could be brought int» action. But in the regions of Bel fort, the Vosges, Lorraine, the Woevre Heights, and the Mouse, the siege gun has not lmd a.chance. The French have always been able to keep it at arm's length. Men and morale have triumphed over matter and machines. "The French cupolas which the Germans hoped to pound to pieces are still intact. Verdun is stronger than ever. The army fighting at the front has been hardened and' heartened by fourmonths of actual warfare. Its guns are of the first order, and are capable, yf holding their own with the German heavy artillery if it ever gets within shooting distance."