GERMANS SUFFER UNPARALLELED LOSSES

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 50, 28 February 1916, Page 5

GERMANS SUFFER UNPARALLELED LOSSES

DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO BREAK THE FORTRESS LINE. BIG GUNS BROUGHT UP FROM SERBIAN FRONT. . (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) . LONDON, February 27. The correspondent at Copenhagen of the London "Daily Jfews" states on well-informed sources of information that the Germans suffered unparalleled losses during the recent attacks on the West front. Belgian towns cleared for the severely wounded are now overcrowded, and hospital trains are passing uninterruptedly to Germany. German ofliccrs informed neutral correspondents that the new offensive is a desperate effort to break the French fortress lina, opening a road to Paris. The general staff directed that there should be no stinting of life. The Paris newspaper "Le Matin" states that the Germans brought to Verdun all the available 42 and 30-centimetre heavy artillery used against the Serbians. newspaper "Action" declares that even if the Germans wish to impress neutrals by launching an attack after sounding all parts of the French line for three weeks, they will not persevere long by continuing the offensive against the lines of the entrenched camp at "Verdun. The enemy's losses are equal to those sustained in the attempt to break the Yser front. In another comment the paper says the German army.is like a bull dashing forward with lowered head in a battle of brute force. The French did the Crown Prince too much honour in failing to consider the possibility of His Imperial Highness utilising such a primitive instinct.