FRENCH WITHDRAW FRONT FOUR MILES.

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

FRENCH WITHDRAW FRONT FOUR MILES.

IN SIX DAYS OF UNEXAMPLED FIGHTING. ——— 8 LOST GROUND STILL TTNDER GUNFIRE FROM THE HEIGHTS. FRENCH ESTIMATE THAT 800,000 WERE ENGAGED IN ATTACK LONDON, February 29. The Paris correspondent of the London "Daily Chronicle" writes: —'"The arrest of hostilities on Thursday night proved only an interval in fierce fighting. The French thought the enemy were wearying, but the Germans renewed the assault with great vigour. Their line embraced the Mcuse heights, east of the Montfaucon-Forges woods, and the towns of Malancourt and Bethincourt. The abandonment of Samogncux and Champ Ncuvillc, which it "was impossible to hold owing to gunfire from the heights, gave the front a curious form. The double loop of the Mouse valley, nearly a mile wide and somewhat flooded, is covered by the German guns from Forges and by the French from Cumicres and Core de Falon. The position waa therefore seen to be untenable in strength by.either side. From a three-mile range on the cliffs above Cumieres the French can Take the ground which they were forced to abandon and cross the river while themselves under fire, from the north and east. 'The French, after Saturday's readjustment of their line, are in a higher position, with Douaumont immediately south. Saturday's line lay strong and level from behind Champ Neuville, eastward over Poivre crest to Douaumont plateau. The line has been withdrawn rather less than four miles in six days' fighting unexampled in severity. The prize at which the Germans are aiming, namely, the breaking of the line, is still eluding them." Writing in the newspaper-"Echo de Paris," M. Marcel Hutin says:—"The battle is being fought with various fluctuations. If the wall of troops is ready for any sacrifice, and stems for two days more the most colossal weight ever driven against defensive positions, the tide will turn definitely, and the enemy's attack will be broken. The latest calculation is that 800,000 Germans, were engaged in the offensive."