IN THE WEST.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 February 1916, Page 5

IN THE WEST.

THE ATTACK ON VERDUN. PITIFUL SLAUGHTER OF. GERMANS. Paris, Feb. 27. 'A neutral who has just arrived from Germany declares that he learnod from the best source that the Germans ire ready to sacrifice 200,000 men in the capture of Verdun. A'wounded soldier says: "The slaughter near Molancourt was pitiful. The Cerman infantry advanced in unbelievable fashion, averaging a man every eighteen inches. They rushed forward quicker than the guns could be fired. We saw them falling over their own dead. The sheila tore through walls of flesh, but still they came as if fascinated. But there was no shouting or singing, as earlier in the war; they just charge* into our «»wing machines.''

AT ANY COST.

GERMANY'S MAD THRUST. ' London, Feb. 27. The ooßseasus of opinion in the Sunday newspapers is that the colossal onslaught northward of Verdun indicates that Germany seeks a solution at any cost, because she is unable to await the higher strength, surer combination, and more various- initiative of the Allies. It is with Germany a case of "Now or never," both on sea and on land. The Observer says the present is an attempt to anticipate, disorganise and shatter by alternate strokes the Allies' plans for a combined offensive at their own time, and secondly by indirect means to clear the Allies from the Balkans with a view of isolating and subduing Roumania. It demands on their part absolute coolness and self-control. Finding the weather still unsuitable for complete operations on the Eastern front, Germany has brought thence every man who can be spared for the next six weeks. Moreover, Germany has massed in the West two-thirds of her armie3 with a vast proportion of her accumulated shells. Could she force France and Britain into a premature offensive she would be able to employ ber maximum degree of strength against them, and, if they were beaten to a standstill she would transfer her troops to the east to tackle Russia in her turn. The Observer praises the French military methods during the past week of making the utmost slaughter of the enemy while straightening her line and economising men lor the purposes of the great French offensive, which is already being planned. The Observer adds: "Verdun, however important, is not vital. Its fall would not be a thrust in the Allies' vitals, ft I would only dent their armor,"

A SEA OF FIRE. GERMANS ADMIT HEAVY LOSSES. Feb. 27. The German newspapers admit the appalling losses northward of Verdun. The Frankfurter Zeitung describes the German regiments as fighting in a sea of fir* AT DOUAUMQNT. THE GROUND REGAINED / Paris, Feb. 2". A communique says: "Northward of Verdun the bombardment continue!) without relaxation. Eastward and westward of the Mouse the enemy's attacks at different points on the front have been met by vigorous counter-attacks. AH the enemy's attempts in the region of Champ Neuville and against Poivre Hill, where we are solidly established, have been repulsed. A desperate struggle rages round the Douaumont front, an advanced clement of the old defensive organisation of Verdun. The position was captured this morning by the enemy, after several fruitless assaults costing him very heavy losses. It was again reached and passed by our troops, and all attempts to force ua back have failed. In the region of Verdun, Adjutant Navarre, on a monoplane, brought down with a machine-gun two German aeroplanes within our lines. Two of the aviators were killed and the two others taken prisoner. Nine of our bombarding aeroplanes dropped 144 bombs on the Metz-Sablons station. Another squadron bombarded an enemy establishment at Chambley, north-east of PonJ-a-Mous-soa, ' ( . : , THF FRENCH PRISONERS. LESS THAN 5000. London, Feb. 27. A French official message emphasises the false claims made in the German communiques, and affirms that the total French captured by the Germans is less than live thousand, although the tiermans alleged that they were ten thouaand - . *^> AIRMEN DESTROY A STATION. "•*"*■**!!?• Amsterdam, Feb. 27. Allied airmen destroyed Eleyberg station, on the Belgian-German frontier,

EMPTY. SHELLS,

A DISMANTLED FORT. , London, Fell. 27. Though the German claim to » great victory came *s a shock on Saturday evening, the French announcement this morning brought equally great relief. But a French official wireless message now puts the matter in its truer proportions. Commencing with the Herman statement that "The armored fortress of Douaumont," etc., it says: "The Germans attribute over great importance to the fort, which was out of date. It was dismantled during the first month of the war aHd no lenyer contained guns or soldiers." The wireless quotes Le Matin as saying: "If the Germans, after their frightful losses, succeeded in capturing Verdun itself, they would find it an empty shell, as all supplies were removed months a l°-. IJ

WHY THE FRENCH RETIRED

OPTIMISM IN PARIS, TREMENDOUS OPERATIONS. Paris, Feb. 2". Le Temps says that ihe French took prisoner an entire battalion of pioneers. It 13 reported that the Imperial Guards are supplied with two kinds of flamethrowers, the smallest hurling the flame 12 yards and the biggest 53 yards. The Parisians have never been more optimistie than to-day. The Bourse has shown a gradual rise since the beginning of the battle. Military circles are quietly confident and grimly glad that the long-threatened attack has come. They describe the German advance !n different places as purely strategic, in fact advantageous to the French, since both sides are playing for a stronger position. According, to a prominent French military critic the French evacuated, on their left wing, a height extending from south of Champ Neuville to Beaumont, on which it would have been dangerous to prolong their stay, because the Mouse would have hampered the falling back of the soldiers. The latter would have been uneasy, knowing that the river was a short distance in their rear, and accordingly all the first line retired to the heights between Poivre hillside and Vauche Wood. The .Germans are now assailing this position. The whole operation is not a siege, but a battle against one of the French j armies. It must be remembered that the garrison of Verdun and its forts only figure in these combats as an element of resistance. The enemy's big guns might demolish the fort of Douaumont without destroying anything but an inert block of concrete. Operation*o: such magnitude as described must be carried on to the end despite the snow. The Germans cannot remain long inactive awaiting better weather, while a thaw would make their situation worse. I

FRENCH OFFICIAL REPORT. HERMAN ATTACKS ALL REPELLED. Paris, Feb, 27. A communique states: Our troops during' the night continued to strengthen the positions north of Verdun. There has been no change east of the Meuse, where there has been a heavy snowfall. No fresh attempts have been made at Talon Hill nor Poivre Hill. Strong enemy attacks on Saturday evening at Haudromont farm, east of Poivre Hill, were b:oken up by our artillery, machineguns, and counter-attacks. Another attempt, equally violent, in Hardaumont Wood, east of Douaumont. was equally futile. Our advanced posts in the Woevre carried out their withdrawal unhindered. There has been no infantry action west of the Meuse. A strong enemy attack on a two miles front near Celles, after artillery preparation, was a complete failure, ENCIRCLING THE ENEMY. A FRENCH REPORT. Received Feb. 28, 8.30 p.m Paris, Feb. 28. A communique states: There is a certain slackness in the enemy's forts northward of Verdun, except between the Douaumont height and the plateau northward of Vaux where a powerful attack on our positions was repulsed. The slopes eastward of Douaumont are covered with German corpses. Our troops are closely encircling the enemy factions which obtained foothold there, and the enemy is holding the ground with difficulty. The opposing artilleries rendered Talon Hill untenable to us or the enemy. The Germans at Woevre established contact with our outposts towards Blanzee and Moranville from whence his attempts to debouch towards Hill 255 failed. An enemy detachment in the Senones district was shelled and dispersed. ACTIVITY NEAR YPRES, Received Feb. 28, 8.30 p.m. London, Feh. 27. General Sir Douglas Haig reports: Yesterday we repulsed a small attack north of Ypres and the Comines Canal. Artillery is active on both sides to-day *'. @H}h\cbt Armeatiereß, ftfid Ygre^

STREAMS OF BLOOD.

FEARFUL CARNAGE. CROWN PRINCE BROUGHT TO A STANDSTILL, Received Feb. 29, 1 a.m. London, Feb. 28. The Daily Mail's Paris correspondent says that the Crown- Prince is at a standstill on the second line of the positions from Champ Neuville to Bezon and Vaux, on the edge of the Wocvre plain. The hilly ridge of the Meuse heights where the Germans are endeavoring to advance are seamed with ravines and watercoures and French trenches. The batteries enfilade them and the carnage is terrible. German corpses in many places form dams across the ravines, impeding the watercourses. Occasionally the dams yield to a reddened stream that swirls on carrying hundreds of corpses. The French are sending up troops, munition trains, and battery after battery, realising that victory is to their army. They are making the best use of their artillery, but the consumption of shells is exceeding all estimates.

A GREAT BATTLE. CHAMPAGNE OFFENSIVE "MERE FIREWORKS.' Received Feb. 28, o.a p.m. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, Feb. 27. The Times correspondent at 'Paris points out that the thoughts of the whole of France are concentrated on Verdun. There is equal anxiety to that shown regarding the struggle on the Marne, but there is less apprehension. All iire feeling that so much depends on the Germans capturing Verdun, as the enemy are ''going nap" on the present offensive, neglecting nothing that is likely to secure success. Accounts unanimously agree that even the tremendous artillery fire in the Champagne offensive was mere fireworks compared with the pitiless bombardment and thundering on the Meuse. DISTORTING GEOGRAPHY. The famous 12in. and I7in. guns that hove been brought hack from the Russian and Serbian fronts swell the chorus, I adding force to rthe tremendous artillery which has transformed the whole region, twisting and distorting local geography, and tearing, rending, and obliterating the trenches and field fortifications. Never was a battle so minutely prepared for, ho* uatrmr GERMAN ANXIETY. The Allies' tremendous industrial mobilisation and Britain's new armies forced German headquarters to realise the possibility of an Allied general offensive on all fronts. Therefore the Gerswns decided to forestall us and get in a "knoek-eut" before being beaten by sheer exkaustion. After five days' fighting they succeeded, at tremendous cost, in battering back the French lines for two thousand yards, but they did not pierce them anywhere. t SOLID FRENCH PHALANX. Broadly speaking, the French centre gave way under the tremendous pressure, while at staple points each end held firm but was withdrawn in order to constitute a straight front on the hills, a thousand feet high, and supported in the rear by 2Va miles of solid field-works at Douaumont. The Germans must fight hard if they are ever to reach the main defences. General Morant, boasting of the German sacrifices, scofl's at the French policy to prosecute the war to exhaustion, with the highest possible saving of French human material.