VERDUN.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 August 1916, Page 9

VERDUN.

NOTES ON THE WAR. The reference in a recent French communique to the fighting on the Froide Torre sector of the Verdun front appears to raise the presumption that the enemy is virtually in possession of Hill 321. Froide Terre, or Hill 345, is the hill south of Hill 321, and it forms the western extension of a ridge that rises behind Fleury. On the immediate right of the Cote de Froide Terrc is Hill 361. Probably the position is that the capture of the Thiaumont work and the flanking trenches by the enemy compelled the defenders to organise'.a more powerful series of works immediately behind 321, the northern slopes of Froido Terre, across which runs the Bras-Fleury road, affording a suitable field of fire. Of course these supporting works ,were constructed long ago, but the enemy's success on Hill 321 would necessarily give the supporting works a special importance. According to the communiques, the greater portion of the trendies flanking Hill 321 was re-captured, but it is evident that the capture of Thiaumont Farm seriously weakened the advanced French position, and that is no doubt the reason why the reference is now to the I'VoioV Terre sector.

Tlic result of the fierman offensive at the cud of last week appears to have been an advance of perhaps half a mile by the enmy at certain points, but of course it is difficult to state the change accurately in the absence of detailed information. The fierman communique claims that all the ell'orts of the defenders to regain the lost .ground failed, and although one need not accept the enemy's claim—the French communique shows that, as usual, it was exaggerated —the fact is clear that the. enemy is nearer Verdun than he was frwjgek ago. On this Bras-Fleury-Laufee £Bnt the Germans an< quite a mile amT> a half away from the old inner ring of the Verdun fortifications. On the right wing of the attack there is an intensely strong series of works covering the railway approach, and it appears to be out of the question that the Germans should carry these works by direct attack from the east. But the real danger to Verdun lies in the fact that the enemy lias a footing on the Hights ofthe Meuse, north of the railway, and may thus be able to turn the main eastern line of defence. At present he is able to make no progress on the sector of the Damloup batteries, south of Fort Vaux, or in the Laufee wood, but the thrust at Fleury rather obviously threatens the safety' of that sector.

Reference has been made to the inner ring of the old Verdun fortifications. These forts have'long been dismantled, but of necessity all the old works have been converted into field fortifications, and they figure in the present battle as points d'appui in the successive lines of defences. The old fort of Belleville, which is nearest to the Meuse on the right bank, is a couple of miles south of Bras and about a mile north of Verdun. The firing line north of Froide Terre is roughly two miles away. A mile and a half east of Belleville Fort is St. Michel, ancj a similar distance to the north-east ojf St. Michel is the SouviHe Fort, which is said to be the enemy's present objective. Souville is approximately three-quarters of a mile from the Germans' new line, immediately north of Fleury. Flanking the Souville Fort are the Hopital and Tunnel batteries, the latter taking their name from the tunnel of three-quarters of a mile, by 'which the railway to Metz passes through the Cotes de la Meuse. Half a mile east of the Tunnel batteries is the Lfliifcc Wood already mentioned. Souville Fort is the redoubt shown as East battery on some of the small maps.

On the Belleville heights are the last scries of fortifications defending Verdun. It was on these hills that the Germans posted their guns in 1870, and when the fortification of the town was seriously undertaken the lesson was not forgotten. Of course, the ring was subsequently extended to take in the important crests to the north and east, and a particularly strong series of works was constructed, with the fort of Tavannes as the centre, to close the valley along which the railway runs. Serving the lines north of the Belleulle ridge there is a line of railway which has been of the utmost value to the French during the present struggle, for although scores of light lines have been constructed before and during the big German offensive on the right bunk of the Meuse, it has been the main artery of supply for the northeastern sectors. Tt runs past the Souville Fort and through Fleury, down the Vaux ravine.

The town of Verdun lies mainly on the left bank of the Meuse, but the Hotel de Villc is in the quarter on the right bank, which is by no means small. The town still has its old bastioncd enceinte, and at least one of the gates, the Porte Chauasee, used before the war as a niiMtary prison, dates from the fifteenth century. Several arms of the Meuse flow through the eastern portion of the city, one of them, the Canal St. Airy, just inside the ancient wall. Outside the wall a narrow stream was converted into a regular fosse. The citadel, built on the rise to' the west of the town and dominating the Meuse Valley, occupies the site of the tenth century abbey of St. Vanne. In the Middle Ages, Verdun was occasionally under German rule, and for a period it was an ecclesiastical territory. It passed definitely to France by the Treaty of Westphalia in the sixteenth century. It opened its gates to the Prussians in 1702, after only a few hours' bombardment. In 1870 it offered a stouter resistance, and surrendered only when the German gups had pounded it at comparatively close range.