CAMPAIGN TO BEGIN TO-NIGHT

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 51, 29 February 1916, Page 5

CAMPAIGN TO BEGIN TO-NIGHT

Fort Doaaumont, on the outer edge of the defences of Verdun, has, according to the Premier of France, fallen back ■' into the hands of our allies. The Germans were attacking with vigour, and they believed when they entered the fortress that they were on the high road to victory. Suddenly an unexpected reserve of a whole army corps appeared on the scene, and its guns caught the enemy in a curtain of fire, inflicting frightful losses. The enemy was compelled to retire from the fortress, but he is still surrounding it, "and a heavy cannonade is being maintained to the northward of the fortress. The Allies are greately cheered at the result of the fighting, and believe that General Joffre has the situation well in hand, especially as he has not been compelled to force an attack elsewhere in order to relieve the pressure in the Verdun sector. In the Woevre, to the north of Verdun, the enemy increased his activities, and the railway station at Eix was taken and retaken several times. It now remains in the hands of the French- Further to the -westward the Germans, by a coup de main, seized some of the French advanced and supporting trenches. -» The sink-at-sight policy is to be begun by the German submarine commanders at midnight to-night, in spite of America's remonstrances. The Huns seek to justify-the policy by America's own decision that the Italian merchantmen trading to America, which were armed after the sinking* of the Ancona, must disarm or be treated as belligerents.