Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

GERMANS GOING NAP ON VERDUN ATTACK.

FORMER BOMBARDMENTS MERE FIREWORKS BY COMPARISON. SHELLS TRANSFORMING THE WHOLE REGION. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, February 28". The correspondent at Paris of the London '"Times" writes: —"The thoughts of the whole of France arc concentrated on Verdun. There is ac much anxiety regarding the struggle as there was when the battle of th 6 Marnu was taking place, but less apprehension, all feeling that to the Germans so much depends on capturing Verdun that they are going nap on the present offensive, neglecting nothing likely to secure success. Accounts unanimously agree that even the tremendous bombardment in the Champagne offensive were mere fireworks compared with the pitiless bombardment thundering on the Mouse. The famous 12in and 17in guns have been brought back from the Russian anil Serbian fronts to swvll the chorus,'adding force to the tremendous artillery which has transformed the whole region, twisting and distorting local geography, and tearing, rending and obliterating trenches and field fortifications. Never was battle so minutely prepared or an army so abundantly provided with material. 'The Allies' tremendous industrial mobilisation ami Britain's new armies have forced the German headquarters to realise the possibility of an allied oTenstve on all fronts, and they therefore determined to forestall the Allies, and deliver a knock-out before they were beaten by sheer exhaustion. In five days' fighting the Germans have succeeded at tremendous cost in battering back the French lines 2,oooyds, but they have riot pierced the line anywhere. Droadly speaking, the French centre gave way under tremendous pressure, while the staple points at each end held firm, but were withdrawn in order to constitute a straight front on hills I,oooft high, supported at the rear by 21 miles of solid field works and the Douamont fort. The Germans must fight hard if ever they arc to reach the main defences. A German military critic, boasting of the German sacrifices, scoffs at the French policy of prosecuting the war to exhaustion with the highest possible saving of human material.

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19160229.2.28.6

Bibliographic details

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

Word Count
339

GERMANS GOING NAP ON VERDUN ATTACK. Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 51, 29 February 1916, Page 5

GERMANS GOING NAP ON VERDUN ATTACK. Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 51, 29 February 1916, Page 5