VERDUN.

Evening Star, Issue 16051, 1 March 1916, Page 6

VERDUN.

A FIGHT TO A FINISH. NO IMPORTANT CHANCE. DESPERATE FIGHTING RAGING. The High Commissioner reports, London, 29th February (4.20 p.m.): North of Verdun a more intense bombardment has continued in the sector east of the Meuse. In the course of the night violent local attacks were renewed several times in the region of the village of Douaumont, were brought almost to hand-to-hand combats, and wore repulsed by the French. , In the Woevre plain the Germans succeeded, after an intense- artillery preparation, in capturing the village of Manheulles. . An immediate counter-attack brought the French to the western border of the village, which they now hold under fire. In Lorraine the enemy penetrated certain small portions of an advanced trench, whence they were chased almost immediately. Nothing noteworthy occurred on the rest or the front. THE DOUAUMONT CARNAGE. FRENCH EYE-WITNESS'S ACCOUNT. BRAXDENBURGERS WIPED OUT UNDER KAISERS EYES. PARIS, February 29. (Received March 1, at 8.35 a.m.) An eye-witness stationed at one of the observation posts at Douaumont continues his narrative .thus: " A second wave presses on, and the whole valley is converted into a volcano. Its exit is stopped by a barrier of slain. After a series of attacks of this nature Ridge 345, in front of Douaumont, was carried, and the bloody tide of battle lapped the base of Douaumont. Attack after attack melted under the pitiless French fire. Ulthnately the seventh wave carried the Twenty-fourth Brandenburtjers up to the crest, and from this out, when the heat of battle reached a point like a furnace, all notion of losses seems to have been engulfed in an orgy of butchery. "Then a famous French corps, which has always been at the point of danger, launched a succesfjl counter-attack. The Infantry Zouaves bounded forward from. Beaumont Fort and Vaux Fort, and converged on the plateau held by the Germans. Brigade after brigade rushed up, but instead of making straight for the ruined fort they separated into two columns, and enveloped the position, cutting off and ultimately taking prisoners the few Brandenburgers left. "From the heights on the other side of the Orne the Kaiser watched wave after wave of German infantry breaking helplessly against an impassable wall. Their losses were terrible, but fast as they fell fresh reserves were brought up. Their final attack was against the extreme edge of the, French positions at Handaumont, where, after fearful carnage, the Germans withdrew, leaving thousands of their dead heaped high on the hillside. The Kaiser ; witnessed his broken and dispirited brigades retiring under a diabolical fire. 'The German losses up to February 27 are estimated at 130,000." THE GERMAN STRENGTH THREE-QUARTER MILLION TROOPS ON NARROW RIDGE. COST OF WINNING IT. PARIS, February 29. (Received March 1, at 9.35 a.m.) Various accounts state that there are upwards of 750,000 Germans northward of I Verdun, the majority being on a bottlenecked ridge of the Meuse heights. No fewer than 1,100 German guns are,, being concentrated on this ledge. The Brandenburger losses in storming Douaumont exceed those they sustained when the Germans threw themselves against the Liege forts. A French soldier who fought at Omes said: "The order came on Thursday to prepare to retire, as our position was becoming untenable. The retirement began on Sunday, and after some skirmishing .we reached Haucourt. Then our artillery began to roar. It makes one shudder to look back on what happened. The German battalions advanced in close order, 25 a'breast, and our 75's and heavier guns rained shrapnel and high explosives on them. It was as if., a reaper went through them with a scythe. The high explosives flung their limbs high in the air. We were so near them at some points that human fragments almost fell on us. In front "of two small sections the enemy fell in huaidreds. Our quick-firers were posted every syds, and blood,ran from the ears of some' of us."

A DEATH-TRAP. 75s' BLOODY EXECUTION. PARIS, February 29. (Received March 1, at 9.35 a.m.) A refugee who witnessed the battle says : "I shall never forget the frightful spectacle, the most horrible I have ever seen. The French 75's heaped the enemy's ranks in tangled masses. Human fragments were hurled everywhere. Searchlights illuminated the field like daylight. " The Germans got into a sort of basin splendidly placed for wholesale massacre, and thousands of them lie there who will never see Germany again." IN GAURES WOOD. SUCCESSFUL FRENCH DECOY. MASSACRE BY MINES. PARIS, February 29. (Received March 1, at 9.35 a.m.) ■ The Paris 'Journal' narrates an episode in Caures Wood, to the possession of which the Germans greatly aspired. French engineers mined the entire wood, and when a German division swarmed up the French ran, feigning to retreat. The Germans poured into the wood yelling in savage triumph, but when the French were clear the mines were exploded. There was a terrible boom, then a great silence ensued in the wood. The German division was wiped out, but our men were hysterical with delight.