VERDUN.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 May 1916, Page 5

VERDUN.

A CHARNEL HOUSE, GREATEST STRUGGLE IN HISTORY. A BATTLE OF MADMEN. i GRAPHIC -DESCRIPTION. Received May 28, 5.5 p.ni. New York, May 2". A mesage from Paris states tlmt since Saturday the Verdun deadlock lias developed "into the most terrific pitched battle o£ 'history. Half a million men are engaged in the struggle. Without a moment's respite whole regiments melt and disappear in a few minutes, and these are replaced by others, only to perish in the same i

wav. CHOKED WITH DEAD. "It is' a 'battle of madmen, amidst volcanic eruption," declared a staff captain. "Between Saturday morning and noon on Tuesday we reckon that the Germans used np one hundred thousand men west of the Men?e alone, this being the price paid for the recapture of ■ oui gains and the seizure of outlying positions. The valley of Dead Man s 'Hill and Hill 278 are choked with dead bodies. A full brigade was mown down in a quarter of an hour. Dead Man's Hill itself passed from our possession, but the crescent occupied 'by the French to the south prevents the enemy utilis-

ing tlieir gain. '■The scene at this point is appalling. Certainly one at least ilies in the open air, but* at Douaumont there are all the horrors of darkness. There the inen fight 111 tunnels, screaming in the lust of- butchery, deafened by bursting shells and grenades, and stilled by smoke. DEMENTED WOUNDED. "Even the wounded refuse to abandon the struggle, and, as though possessed of devils, they fight until senseless through loss of blood. A DOCTOR'S STORY. "A surgeon who was engaged in the front line told me that in the redoubt on the south part of the fort he found 200 French dead, fully half of them with more than two wounds. Those Frenchmen lie was able to treat seemed utterly insane; they kept shouting war cries, their eyes blazed in the strangest manner, and they were indifferent to

pain. "At one peroid the supply of anaesthetics ran out, and there was no uossibilty of obtaining fresh supplies owing to the bombardment. Men had their arms and legs amputated without a groan. Tliey appeared not to feel the shock, but asked for cigarettes, iand inquired how the battle was going on. A HELL STORM. '■' Our losses in retaking the fort were below expectations, but the action exacted terrible toll. All cover was blown to pieces. Every German rusli was preceded bv two or three hours' hell storm, and then an increasing wave of attack. Repeatedly the defenders' ranks were renewed, and practically the whole sector was sprayed with artillery fire. In comparison with this cannonade Waterloo could merely have been an exhibition of fireworks. Some shell holes were thirty feet across, single shells killing fifty men. DEAD LIE IN HEAPSt ! "Before our lines the German dead were heaped in long rows, and one observer calculated that there were seven thousand dead Germans on a front of seven hundred yards. The enemy does not succour his wounded, whereas at least one in three of ours is immediately removed to safety to the rear. We know that the Germans cannot long maintain their sacrifices, and since Saturday the enemy has lost two, if not three, for each one of our losses. Every bombardment has been withstood and every rush checked, bringing nearer each moment the inevitable exhaustion. Then will come our recompense for the days of horror.'' A MASSACRE. GERMAN* LOSSES THREE TO ONE. <■ —'■> Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received May 27, f1.5 p.m. Paris, May 20. The Verdun fighting continues to be of the greatest magnitude, and it has become a general battle since the French recaptured Fort Douaumont. The Germans' recapture of the fort was merely an episode in a gigantic struggle, which is a veritable massacre at places. The German commandeers are more than ever prodigal of men. Fifty-seven train loads of wounded have been sent to Germany, and train loads of wounded have been sent to Germany, and the enemy losses are three to one compared with those of the French. GERMANY' GAMBLING.

TRYING TO WEAR OUT THE ERENCH. » " ' Received May 27, 5.5 p.m. London, May 2<3. The Daily Telegraph's Rotterdam correspondent says that the Germans have reconsidered their general war plana, and are now stating everything on Verdun. As gamblers who throw the dico the General Staff possesses the belief that Germany, having greater reserves immediately available, will be able to endure the present tremendous pressure!

longer than France. Many troops are still coming to France, and Germany's whole available strength is concentrated on the French front. The Daily Telegraph's Paris correspondent says that the Herman object is less the capture, of Verdun than to wear out. France's best attacking forces and take the French position on the heights of the Meuse. Colonel Fsyler, the Swiss expert, says that prior to the present attask on Verdun, the Germans lost three hundred thousand, compared with the French one hundred and twenty thousand, of whom twenty thousand were African troops. When th« present attack began the Germans showed a visible repugnance to leave their trenches and numbers were imprisoned, refusing tc ,vrch to Verdun.