LATEST DESPERATE FIGHTING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3244, 17 May 1916, Page 19

LATEST DESPERATE FIGHTING.

PARIS, May 9. Since Wednesday the German bat= teries have concentrated a deluge of metal on Hill 304. Deadman's Slopes, a little valley between the French front line and the trenches, has been torn and battered out of shape, The communication saps were filled up, and neither food nor muni= tions could be sent to the men hold= ing the advanced post. The late bombardment exceeds in ferocity any* thing yet seen. After 48 hours' bom= bardment the French advanced trenches no longer exist. All that is left is an isolated shell crater, in which the remnants of the front line troops sheltered, carrying with them machine guns and ammunition, and themselves. Finally the hail of mis= siles ceased. The Germans, believing that nothing living existed, advanced. No sooner had they emerged into the open than from a dozen directions French machine guns opened fire. The assault soon spent itself, and all the Germans could claim was a footing gained on a couple of shelbswept salients. The Crown Prince, on Sunday, deli« vered two sledge hammer blows —one on the west and the other on the east bank of the Meuse. Forty thousand men were sent against the eastern declivities of * Hill 304, which is separated from Mort Homme by scrub= covered ravines. The French sub= jected the slopes of Hill 3C4 to such a fierce fire that the Germans deemed it prudent not to attempt an attack on the east bank. Three violent German assaults resulted in the capture of 500 yards of the French front line be= tween Haudrement and Douaumont. There was most desperate fighting throughout Sunday night. Fresh - German regiments were brought up and launched one after the other, but they were powerless to beat down the stubborn defence. At daylight the French, by a fierce counterattack, cleared the Germans from the ravines between Hill 304 and Mort Homme, and also from the Haudremont area. A communique states: The bombardment of Avocourt Wood and the whole region of Hill 304 continue with undiminished violence. Our curtain fire stopped an attack on Hill 287, west of Hill 304. A communique states: Two German aeroplanes were brought down during an air fight in the Verdun district. GERMAN OFFICIAL REPORT. AMSTERDAM, May 9. A German communique claims the capture of a whole network of French trenches on the northern slopes of hill 304, and that the German lines have been pushed up to the hill itself. THE CROWN PRINCE. LONDON, May 8. A Swedish despatch states that the German General Staff has decided, with the consent of the Kaiser, to remove the Crown Prince from his command on the Verdun front. THE BRITISH LINES. LONDON, May 9. Sir Douglas Haig reports: —East of Thiepval Wood the enemy, after a heavy bombardment, entered our trenches and 1 caused some casualties before they were driven out. North of Thiepval we raided the enemy's trenches, driving the occupants into their dugouts, which we effectively bombed. Near Fromelles we entered enemy trenches, and inflicted considerable casualties.