VERDUN.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 May 1916, Page 5

VERDUN.

FIERCEST BATTLE OF THE WAR. FRENCH HARD PRESSED. GERMANS' DESPERATE FIGHTING. TERRIFIC LOSS OF LIFE. PERFECT INFERNO. Received May 26, 11.40 p.ra. Paris, May 20. The conflict at Verdun has not slackened. Seven hundred ami fifty thousand Germans were engaged for two days, the enemy hesitating at no sacrifice to recover the ground lost on Monday.

The battle was the fiercest fought on the Western front.

The German offensive on Tuesday i.iglit was partially successful, despite the heroic French resistance. The enemy entered Cumeries, which consists of forty ruined houses. It is not an important point, as it is wholly dominated by the bills on either side, and the French are firmly dug in the hills.

North of Chattancourt there is little but smoke covered hills. Mort Homme has been flattened <jut like Hill 70 at Ypres.

Sheets of fire swept over it day and right. Shelter trenches do not exist. Directly new trenches are dug tons of shells from 240 guns wipe them out. The enemy rushed through the woods flinging their forces at the base of Hill 304. They occupied the northern, north-western, and eastern slopes, but the French continue to hold the crest of the western slope. The Crown Prince then flung at least two Army Corps at Hill 287, which. .s three hundred yards behind Mort Homme. Wave after wave melted ui'der the curtain fire of the French.

French officers' opinion is that cither the German general staff have taken leave of their senses or hoped for great things. Amazing massed rushes were made and soon they covered the French front with corpses. A French staff officer described the spot as a slaughterhouse. Douaumont fort was the, storm centre on Wednesday. There twelve distinct night assaults were made in fortyeight hours. The French extensively u'.ed flare bombs and star shells to detect the movement of the asnulting columns. Huge electric searchlights swept the slopes before the fort. Prior to the recapture of the fort all the French trenches had parapets of German dead. Officers ordered their men to remove the mounds of groy-clad corpses which were piled so high as to obstruct the field of Are.

DOUAUMONT RETAKEN BY BAVARIANS. DESPERATE FIGHTING Received May 25, 9 p.m. Paris, May 25. Official: After desperate fighting two divisions of Bavarians re-captured Douaumont fort. A communique states that infantry actions continued east of Mort Homme. Our artillery stopped the enemy from debouching on Cumieres. A sharp counter-attack in the afternoon enabled us to recapture the trenches on the southern edge of the village.

Two newly-arrived Bavarian divisions made desperate attacks on Fort Pouaumont throughout tile day. After several fruitless attempts and enormous losses the enemy re-occupied the ruins of the fort. We hold the immediate approaches.

The German attempt to storm Cailletto wood completely failed. Times and Sydney ,®iin Services. Received May 25, 5.20 p.m. London, May 24.

The Times correspondent at Paris says the Douaumont action was admirably timed. The French waited until the. Germans had shifted their centre of gravity for their attacks westward, and until all the German reserves were committed to the desperate Mort Homme operations, before delivering the blow. General Niveil's plans were carried ont with the rarest secrecy.

A swarm of air hornets was sent up to attack observation balloons, downing six. Tlien, assured of privacy, General Nivelle advanced in the centre and terrifically bombarded Douaumont. He launched some of the finest lighters of France, and they .arried the positions against the most stubborn resistance. Paris, May 24.

It is semi-officially' stated that the battle of Verdun is becoming bitter, but its latest phases are favorable to us. Furious counter-attacks on ttie whole of our positions at Hill 304 failed, despite the infamous use of liquid Arc. The assaults at Mort Hojnme subsequently were equally unsuccessful. The enemy's obstinate and desperate counter offerffcive in the TTaudromont and Douaumont sector led to further French gains and enormous enemy losses.

The statement concludes by pointing out that German communiques persist in representing that the Germans are in occupation of Hill 304, whereas the French have never lost the summit, and the repeated efforts to take the French trenches from positions on the en-st side of the hill to those on Mort Homme 'have failed. The truth is that the German offensive has been stopped, and it is considered important to show the German public, by no matter what means, tliat the armies still progressing.