GERMAN FORCES ENGAGED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16668, 13 April 1916, Page 5

GERMAN FORCES ENGAGED.

ESTIMATED AT HALF A MILLION. ' (Times anJ Sydney Sun Services.) LONDON, April 11. •It is authoritatively stated that the losses of the German units around Verdun from February 29 to April 1 averaged 50 per cent, of their strength. For example, the Third and Eighteenth Army- Corps were withdrawn from the lines after losing respectively 22,000 and 17,000 men. At Vaux over half the Seventh and Sixtieth Regiments were mown down by French machine guns. During the attack on Vaux village on March 9 the Nineteenth Regiment lost 60 per cent. One company was annihilated in the house-to-house fighting. During the attacks on Malancourt and Avocourt Woods on March 20-22, three regiments of the Eleventh Bavarian Division and four regiments of the Second Tsndwehr Division lost half their effectives. Reierring to i&e strength of the Ger mans, the same source says that between February 21 and April 1 239 infantry and 23 engineer battalions were engaged around Verdun, totalling 1145 companies, averaging 260 men each.. Thus 298,000 infantry alone were in action, and they were reinforced by 80 battalions, the total infantry faced by the French thus being 450,000.