NINTH DAY OF THE BATTLE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 52, 1 March 1916, Page 5

NINTH DAY OF THE BATTLE.

! FURY OF THE ENEMY SPENDING ITSELF. NO PROGRESS ROUND DOUAUMONT FOR THREE DAYS. B.BANDENBTIRGEBS STILL IN POiSESSION OF FORT. THREE VILLAGES EAST OF VERDTJN CAPTURED. (Received 12.10 p.ffi.) PARIS, February 29. On the ninth day of the battle of Verdun official and non-official reports indicate that the fury of the enemy is spending itself. The attack nortE-east of Verdun has been stationary for three days. Telegrams from Amsterdam state that 45,000 Germans have already been killed. Endless trains of wounded are arriving at Metz, Coblenz, Treves, and Cologne, and the early enthusiasm of the populace has been damped by the appalling sights. One regiment has been reformed from the remnants of ten crack regiments. At one time 8,000 lay dead on a two-mile front at Houmont. A DIVERSION IN THE WOEVRE. An official communique reports that violent night attacks in the region of Douaumont were everywhere repulsed after hand-to-hand encounters. The Germans appear to be attempting a diversion in the Woevre, and after an intense bombardment they seized the village of Jlanheulles, south-east p£ Verdun. Our counter-attacks recaptured the outskirts of the village. Non-official messages state that great excitement prevailed when the general commanding tne reinforcing armies massed on the French rear announced that Douaumont was to be retaken. Tbe cry burst from every throat, "Vive la France/ and all thundered ihe "Marseillaise." SURROUNDED GERMANS REFUSE TO SURRENDER. Ji. Marcel Hutin explains that a force of BranSenburgers is shut in Fort Douaumont, closely surrounded on three sides. They refuse to surrender hoping that a fresh German attack will drive back the French, enabling them to hold the fort or escape. A Berlin wireless states that the Kaiser telegraphed to the Diet of Brandenburg: "I much rejoice in the new great strength and loyalty to the death which the sons of Brandenburg displayed in the irresistible storm attack on the enemy's strongest fort. God bless Brandenburg and the entire Fatherland." GERMANS CLAIM 17,000 PRISONERS. Berlin messages state that under cover of a snowstorm the German artillery is ceaselessly shelling the ridges from Douaumont to Cote de Frouard. The French artillery occupied itself with the front line of fire, and appeared powerless against the Germans' artillery behind the front. A Berlin communique says:—"To last night we counted 228 officers and 16,575 men, unwounded prisoners, 78 cannon, of which seven were of the heavy and most modern type, and 86 machine-guns. "Our troops in the Woevre have passed Abaucourt, Dieppe and Blanzee, 12 miles to the eastward of the Verdun fortifications."