GERMAN SOLDIERS ON VERDUN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2836, 29 July 1916, Page 10

GERMAN SOLDIERS ON VERDUN

"A CHANGE FROM GALICIA." (Prom Mr. H. Warner Allen, special ■ ;representative of the British Press ' with the French Annies.) Paris,* May 30. The following extracts from letters written by German soldiers before Verdun and taken from tnsir pockets when the writers were captured by the French provide an account of the battle from the German point of view: From a letter written by Lieutenant Ellingen, of the 6th Ileserve Infantry Regiment, and intended for dispatch to another lieutenant belonging to the 202 nd Reserve Regiment: I "April 3.—You can form some idea of orir position from the fact that all our officers have been renewed.' 'I'he losses of the regiment are high, for its position on the plateau of Vaux is simply 'disgusting.' Our battalions reiieve one another, but onr positions when in reserve or resting receive, with few exceptions, as many shells as the first line." From a letter, dated April 11, written by a private soldier named Schroder, of the SOth Infantry Kegiment:

"Wt> nip absolutely in n hrll-liole here. The artillery firp .nljjht and day. I never Imagined it would be like this. Yesterday a shell fell quite near the church and killed three mii'i and wounded nine others. Tou should have seen us run. If only this wretched war would come to an end.' No reasonable man can justify such a butchery of men. . . . Wo are at jiresent to the north-east of Verdun in a position that is distinctly critical. . . . This morning they have been smohing us out with asphyxiating shell and other diabolical inveptions. It is all kuiftir. ... Though we have not been long in the nring-linfe we have all had enough of it, and are longing for peace. We should like tc send to tho front nil these gentlemen who caused the war and who profit from it. If we had done this we should have had peacc long ago." From a letter written by a soldier napied Schmele, of the 205 th Reserve lieilment, dated April 13:

"Ton can't imagine Tiow tired we are of life sometimes. We are made to toil there !n every possible way. There is no rest until one falls on his nose in the mud. How absurd what they write in the newspapers seems. Our beloved soldiers, if you knew wlmt they have to suffer, to' say nothing of having their iivcs worried out of them, they would not serve us up such lies. Yesterday the weather was still abominable, and wo were again wet to the bone. Then-we were asked why we were not singing; so in all our misery we had to silig." More Casualties, More Coffee. A postcard written by a soldier named Iveitsch, of the 3rd Grenadier Regiment of landsturin, to his son, Fritz, dated April 30: "Silica Good Friday I have been before -Verdun. It is terrible. We have' already had many casualties. AVe are in holes on the slope of a mountain, and we scarcely dare put our noses out. The bombardment is incessant; sometimes it is too awful for words. It" seems as if tho mountain was collapsing. Jf 1 escape alive I shall remember- this Easter. Our kitchens are two hours' walk in the rear. For Easter we had nothing to eat or drink except a quarter of a pint of coffee. There is not a drop of water but now we get a little more coffee, as our nuni.ber is rapidly diminishing. From time to time one of us runs to the kitchens our bottles." Following are extracts from letters found on prisoners which had been received from friends in Germany: "Ittliligen, March 2.—AVe suppose that you are with the rest at A r erduu. Over there it is dentil for everyone. There seems to be no way of getting through. The.French are not the Russians, and their artillery cannot be siienccd.- Nobody believes any longer what is written in the newspapers. . . . To begin with, a great fuss was made about magnificent successes, but suddenly everything became quiet. ... -•• . . A few noisy people believed that Verdun would fall in a few days. It would be all. right to- march on Paris if the French 'artillery did-not exist and if there were no Frenchmen between, us and the capital." "Dated May 2—l am convinced that the Germans will not get through, for the.v are mistaken as to the ♦tench. and particularly as to their artillery. Every soldier who comes back says the French artillery is very superior to ours. Things are not going so easily as in Galiiia."