The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1916. THE FIGHT FOR VERDUN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 52, 1 March 1916, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1916. THE FIGHT FOR VERDUN.

Far the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, Fvt the future in the distance. And the good that we ca» !•..

The present fierce struggle for Verdun marks the climax of operations that have been going on for some months past. After the Germans had captured the little village of St. Mihiel and the strongly fortified Camp dcs Romains, and had been foiled in their endeavour to push their success further in this region by the' unexpected resistance of Fort Troyon and the reinforcements 9ent forward from Toul, they turned their. attention, to the Argonne, and made numerous attempts to invest Verdun by pushing forward along the valley of the Aire, with the evident object of taking Clermont and Triaucourt, and so closing the thirty mile gap from Varennes to St. Mihiel. The isolation of Verdun by these means would have meant.even more from a military point of view than the actual capture of the city, as the French would either have had to withdraw their line in the south, or else the southern line would have had to expend its energies in attempting the relief of the besieged city. Since the beginning of last July the Crown Prince lias been making desperate drives in the Argonne, which resulted in some Blight local, successes, but which proved exceedingly costly in men and material. Roughly speaking, the Germans succeeded in penetrating the French lines for a depth of a mile on a two mile front. It is interesting to note the exceedingly clever way in which the French met these attempts to encircle Verdun, and so. compelled-the Germans to resort to. jthe.-.preeent costly, .effpjt, to take the fortress, by direct f*asault,.. The position at.v St.'i "Mihiel formodpia-- pronounced gslifcn.t ior,-angle, an 4 tee, Fjench, avoiding a frontal attack • on , the. Camp dcs Romains, devoted.all their energies to pressing in the two sides of the salient by delivering assaults against the spur of Lee Eparges on the west, and against the wooded heights of the Bois le Pretre and the forest of Apremont in the east. Their advance in these directions was such that the Germans had to conserve all their strength to : prevent the railway from Metz to Thiauconrt being cut, and their troops at' St. Mihiel being thereby deprived of communica-tion-with their base. No advance could therefore bo made from the south to junction with the forces of the Crown Prince advancing from the north. In the Argonne the Germans had to a conI siderable extent the advantage of ground, the land along the valley of the Aire being fairly open, and without much in the way of natural defences or fortified positions. Joffre met the position by delivering a series of attacks in Champagne on the German armies lying to the right of the Crown Prince's position, and'threatening" the railway lying behind these armies. !o Here ihe French had/ 'the' advantage 'of■ p'oe'ition, and d'espite ;, a" desperate Ttsistane'e offered by the enemy they made an advance of nearly three miles on an' eight mile front. This effectually checked the advance of the Crown Prince, as it directly threatened his communications, and reinforcements had to be diverted from the Argonne to the Champagne region. Attacks, indeed, in this region became so frequent and so pronounced that not only had the effort to break through in the Argonne to be abandoned, but it became necessary to divert, if possible, the armies of the French in the Champagne area to some other field, so that the Germans might have breathing space iv which to fortify new positions in place of those they had lost, and to complete the light railway they had begun to build in case the main line near SommcPy were cut. The Balkan lure had- failed to draw. Nothing, therefore, now remained .but a direct attack on the fortress of Verdun along' the heights of the Mouse. The town of Verdun itself lies in a most dangerous position, as it is at the foot of the heights "of the Meuse to the cast, and the hilly country of the Argonne to the west. In 1870 it was only regarded as a fourth-class fortress, owing to the dangerous nature of its position, and the fact that it was dominated by hills on. both sides. But when Metz and Strassburg had gone Verdun became of prime importance as barring the road to PaTis from the east, and the surronnding hills were strongly fortified. The French lino from Brabant-sur-Metree to Ornes, when the German attack commenced, formed a dangerous salient, and the capture of Malancourt deprived the army in this region of its chief lateral line of communication. Though Brabant was important on account of its bridge, yet the holding of it would have placed the army in considerable peril, and the withdrawal to the next bridge at Champneuville seemed imperatively called for. Here the German advance along the valley of the Meuse is checked by the strongly fortified heights which stretch from Montzeville to Charmy facing any opposing troops, as well as by batteries established on the high ground from Forges to Chattancourt, and menacing the right flank of an army advancing from Brabant. On the plateau "itself the Germans have an equality of ground, I>ut dense forests cover the space in front of the forte be-

hind Douaumont, and TEe in this ,- region") .-of,-- -^exceptional. strength , . -* 'Facing .the *-'plains •' of Woevre, to the east of Verdun, there- is.a ring of forts stretching right down to St. Mihiel. The capture of the heights of the Meuse would mean the capture of the city, as it would be practically impossible to offer any adequate resistance in the valley itself to modern artillery.. But the cost of attack on field fortifications, flanked by forest and with plenty of cover for artillery and machine guns, is bound to be enormously costly, and even victory may well be bought under such conditions at too dear a price)