INCESSANT AND FRIGHTFUL BOMBARDMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 53, 2 March 1916, Page 5

INCESSANT AND FRIGHTFUL BOMBARDMENT.

ANOTHER SHORT RETIREMENT BY FRENCH ANTICIPATED. JOFFRE RTTBBING HIS HANDS WITH DELIGHT. BELIEVES THAT THE FORTIFICATIONS ABE IMPREGNABLE. LONDON, March 1. The correspondent of the London "Daily Chronicle" states: —'"Fighting continues on the lines held since Friday, across the Poivre Crest through Douaumont to Vaux. An incessant and frightful bombardment has been kept up by both sides. A further retirement of one mile and a-half to Froid Terre is expected. Douaumont is still the heart of the furnace. After being repeatedly stopped and decimated in frontal attacks,- the enemy arc endeavouring to penetrate by the eastern ridge of the hills near Vaux, with supporting assaults from the Woevre Plain. Columns of infantry are also being launched repeatedly against the ruins of Douaumont Village." A French communique states:—"The bombardment north of Verdun is less intense. No infantry action is reported. Tbe Germans arc entrenching on the northern slopes of Poivre Ridge, the first crest of which our advanced troops occupy. We violently bombarded Samogneux, where an enemy battalion was assembled. Our artillery on the Woevre front prevented enemy attacks which were being prepared." MASKING THE DECISIVE BLOW. According to soldiers' statements, the old Verdun forts -form part of the defensive line, similar to the trenches. Therefore the capture of a fort is equivalent to the capture of part of a trench without threatening the entire line. : - '■'■ An authoritative account of the.operations at Verdun describes the great offensive as one of the most carefully planned and most powerfully equipped movements of the whole war. Partial attacks along the whole front since the beginning of January seem to have been intended to mask tbe decisive blow being prepared against Verdun. Seven army corps carried out the German attacks, demonstrating the enemy!s desire for victory, even at the price of the most appalling sacrifices. The slopes leading to Douaumont, where desperate fighting is still proceeding, are strewn with dead.' The situation of the French is improving daily with the advent of fresh troops. Two new German divisions at Metz have left for Verdun, where they will be kept in reserve until the great assault on the forts of Verdun begins. A refugee who witnessed the battle states:—"The slaughter was indescribable. La Vanche is no longer a wood, but a waste of snow-land, torn up like a lunar crater. The thunder of unseen guns was continuous, and the ground shook. WHEN THE SMOKE VEIL LUTED. "When the smoke veil lifted we saw the snow slope dotted with German dead. The veil rcfell, and the thunder recommenced. We filled our ears with scraps of paper and cloth, but could not keep out the stupefying noise. After nightfall rockets from both sides, and fuses dropped by aeroplanes, cast frightful gleams on the awful field of slaughter." Swiss dispatches state that the attack on Verdun is really a diversion, and that the main German forces are concentrated in the Champagne for an attack -via Noyon and St. Qucntin upon Paris. The tone of Press comments shows that everywhere, including Germany, intense relief is felt over the return of open warfare and the prospects of rapid results. The Duke of Richmond, speaking at Edinburgh, said a friend of his had seen General Joffre, who was literally rubbing his hands with delight at the German attack. . General JofTre had been steadily massing men in the threatened sectors, and regarded the fortifications as impregnable.