TERRAIN DESCRIBED.

Evening Star, Issue 16051, 1 March 1916, Page 3

TERRAIN DESCRIBED.

FRENCH LINE WITHDRAWN ABOUT FOUR MILES. LONDON, February 28. •The 'Daily Chronicle's' Paris correspondent writes : " The arrest of hostilities on Thursday night proved only an interval in the fierce fighting. The French thought the enemy were wearying, but the Germans renewed the assault with great vigor. " The line embraced the Meuse, heights, east of Montfaucon, the Forges} woodsy and the towns of Malincourt ana Bahincourt, the French at Forges being divided. The abandonment ,of Samogneux and Champ Nfiuyille, which it was impossible to hold owing to the gunfire from the heights, gave the front the curious form of a double loop.' The Meuse Valley, which is nearly a mile wide' and somewhat flooded, is covered by German guns from Forges, aad by. French guns from Cumieres and Cote de Falcon. The position, was seen to be untenable in SBwagth by either side. From a threemile range on the cliffs above Cumieres the French can rake ' the ground which they were forced to abandon across the river, while they themselves are under fire from the north and east. "The French, after Saturday's readjustment *>f the line, are in a higher position, with Douaumont immediately south. Saturday's line lay strong and level from behind Champ Neuville eastward over the Poivre crest to the Douaumont Plateau. The line has been withdrawn rather less than four miles in six days' fighting of unexampled severity. The prize at which the Germans , are aiming—namely, breaking the line—still eludes them.""