IN THE WEST.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 March 1916, Page 5

IN THE WEST.

THE GERMAN ARTILLERY. FIVE GENERALS KILLED. ENEMY MASSING nEAVILY. j Received March 9, 5.5 p.m. Paris, March 8. A feature of the battle is the enormous quantities of German heavy artillery and huge mobile guns, while the field artillery is merely accessory.. The French losses at Hill 205, notwithstanding the inferno of shot and shell, were very light, while the German division storming and capturing it was decimated. Five German Generals were killed in the Verdun district, including General Lottcrer, commander of a division of 'artillery, and General von Graf (Bavarian). The Germans are now massing on every sector of attack, and bringing- up reserves. A GERMAN REPORT. OF FURTHER CAPTURES. Received March 9, 8.15 p.m. London, March 9. A German wireless says: We stormed the enemy positions on the left bank of the Mouse and on both sides of Forges brook, below Bethencourt, over a width of four miles and a depth of two miles. We occupied the villages of Forges and Regneville, and also the heights of Corbeaux and Camiers woods. A great part of the occupants of the captured positions periched. We captured JS officers and :3277 men. We have driven out the French from tho last houses in Fresnes. ANOTHER SIDE OF THE STORY. THE FRENCH REPORT. a nAILWAY STATION BOMBED. ■Received March 9, 10.35 p.m. Paris, March 9. A communique reports: The enemy attempted fresh progress west of the Meuse, under cover of an intense bombardment. A strong attack on Bethincourt was repulsed, we countcr-attack-,ing, and we drove out the enemy from the greater part of Corbeaux wood. He only occupies the eastern extremity. There was a violent German bombardment on Douaumont, but the enemy attacks east thereof failed. The enemy have reoecupied Hardaumont redoubt. Sixteen of our aeroplanes dropped 124 bombs on Metz Sablons station, where there were several trains. The projectiles found their mark. Fifteen of the machines have returned.

FRENCH DEFENCES STILL SOUND. 'WSE HILL NOT WORTH THE CANDLE. Received March 9, 11.30 p.m. Pai'is, March 9. Semi-official: Though the Germans made some gain on both wings the general French defences are not afl'ected. Forges was becoming untenable owing to floods, and the defenders were able to inflict heavy losses in the withdrawal, which was exactly what the French commanders desired. The German gain on the slopes oi Goose Hill was not worth the sacrifices made. EAST OF VERDUN. LITTLE CHANGE REPORTED. London, March 8. A French official report states that eastward of Maison-de-Champagne we 'won back the trenches lost on Monday. The enemy continued the bombardment and intermittent artillery struggle in the Woevre. We bombarded Blanzee and Grimaueourt, east oi Verdun. In the neighborhood of Fresnes our curtain of fire smashed the German attacks on the railroad and Manheulles road. A GERMAN CAIN. OF FRENCH RAILWAY SALIENT. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received March 9, 5.5 p.m. London, March 8. The Times correspondent at Paris says that as a result of violent attacks the Germans 3iave practically driven out the French from the railway salient opposite Samogneux, and have brought their line more into relation .with the position on the east bank of the Meuse. It remains to he seen whether the action will be confined to the reduction of this troublesome salient or the beginning of a big concerted action on the wings, A BRUTAL MURDERER. The Times publishes a facsimile of a letter from a German soldier, boasting of bayonetting seven French women and four young girls during the fighting at Badonviller. GENERAL PETATN CONFIDENT. High Paris military authorities predict an extension of the Verdun battlefield, culminating on Thursday or Friday. General Petain is entirely calm and confident. TWENTY MEN PER YARD. M. Reinach, in La Figaro, says that the Germans massed twenty men per yard in the Verdun attacks. RAILWAYS THREATENED. The Paris press anxiously points out that the essential Verdun railways are ibmtft»»d by th» W|*t Mtvue fttt|Bk,

HILL 265. STORMED TWENTY TIMES. Received March 9, 9 p.m. Paris, March 9. The fighting at H'il] 265 was even wore obstinate than at Douauaaont. The Germans were repulsed twenty times, with heavy losses, before the slopes were, won by reinforcements who had just arrived from Serbia. THE LOSS OF FORCES. UWEASIXESS I\" PARTS. Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, March 8. M. Gußtave Herve, writing in La Vietoirc, savs that soldiers at Verdun have been amazed by the pouring in of artillery of every calibre, both light and heavy. In artillery we are now superior, and, however long the battle lasts, our immense reserve is inexhaustible. Paris shows uneasiness concerning the sudden German lunge west of the Meuse, the first results of which were the capture of Forges. M. Mareel Hutin points out that Forges is a single-street village. The Germans lost heavily in their broken assaults against the important Goose Hill, a tnile south of Forges. The attacks may be the prelude to great assaults designed to clear the west of the Meuse of the batteries which are raking the German positions east of the Meuse.