THE WOEVRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 March 1916, Page 7

THE WOEVRE.

description op the country. I How THF, GERMANS WON ST. &HHIEL SALIENT. i La Woevre, which i 3 frequently men[tloned in the cables describing the Vardun lighting |s a stretch of wooded coun try east of Verdun. The Germans hold most of the Woevre' country, their line swinging east of Verdun to form the St. Mihiel salient, to whicli the Woevre ferns a sort of base. There was some heavy lighting here in the early weeks of.the war. The road by which the German army from Metz poured into La Woevre was by way of Mars-la-Tour. Hannonville, Cliambley, Vignoulles, and Chailion, which is just north of St. Mihiel. On September 18, 1914. the German garrison force, began a fierce attack on the French forts on the Meusc. Their object was to cross the river at all costs. Violent assaults were made on the forts of Troyon, Lea Parodies, to the north of St. Mihiel, and the Roman Camp to its south, ore after the other, but without result. Trvan was bombarded twice. At tie end of the second attack only four cannon were left. The rest had been put out of action.Orders were accordingly given to the garrison to retreat, but they refused to leave their post of honor, and retired instead into an aid cistern of the fort. There were only 45& of them left, with 22 more who were cut off from them in the magazine. Just at that moment the roof of the passage was shattered by a shell, and they were buried under a mass of fallen stones and earth. A little later the German assault slackened and the garrison were able to retire at their ease. During the two attacks 10,000 Germans foil in front of that one fort. GERMAN SPIES LEARN OF THE FRENCH MOVEMENT. On September 21 the flank of the Bavarian forces, to the north and west of La Woevre, was threatened by tht French advance in the south, and there, was -a risk that .their retreat—in itself a difficult operation, on account of their heavy artillery—might be cut off by the guns of Verdun. This was the explanation of the desperate efforts made by the army of Metz. Their object was to joi.iy up with the Bavarian division in the Argonne. On the 23rd there was some reason for thinking that the army of Metz, discouraged by the enormous losses which they had suffered, had given up the idea of crossing the Meuse. A certain number of battalions were accordingly moved across to reinforce the troops engaged on the Moselle, where an attack was threatened. The enemy were quick'v informed by their spies of what had f nr r- jon ed, and, while the French troops w( . re sleeping the woods of Cliampenonx on the French right, and on the left were pushing back the main body of the 14th German Army Corps in the direction of the quick-flow-ing Rupt de M»d, which falls into the Moselle just above Metz, the extreme right of the army of Metz executed a bold flanking movement, and, marching up the loft bank of the Mad as far as Thiancourt, took possession of St. Mihiel, which at the moment wis empty of ?rench troops. GERMANS ENTRENCH THEMSELVES AT ST. MIHIEL. The Germans entrenched themselves in St. Mihiel, and with their 42-e.m, guns made short work of the French forts at Troyon and the Roman Camp, which were only armed with guns of 12-c.m., with an' effective range of between eight and nine kilometers at most (about five miles), whereas the Austrian guns carry from 12 to 13 kilometers (about 7A miles). The garrison of the fort in the Roman Camp were made prisoners after a desperate resistance. The fort was completely destroyed, so that the enemy were not able to make use of it. But they established themselves strongly in a position close by. The Germans have maintained this St. Mihiel salient ever since.