TOO SIMPLE AN EXCUSE.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 14154, 17 April 1916, Page 5

TOO SIMPLE AN EXCUSE.

Paris, April 14. A semi-official comment on the Gerrr.an explanation that bad visibility caused the slackening of the Verdun attack says:—"The excuse is far too simple. The truth is that the resumption of the offensive on the 9th, 10th, and 11th inst. caused the Germans consider- . able losses and they must reconstruct . their decimated units and fill the huge ; gaps in the ranks. The only results of the offensive were bloody hecatombs] the occupation of 500 metres of trenches at the foot of Mort Homine, contrasting with 5 kilometres on a 9 kilometre front gained from February 21st to the 24th, which was the only other offensive on the same scale. Obviously this is due to the French defensive power increasing and the German offensive decreasing. Also the French material is constantly improving. Common sense justifies the belief that the capture of Verdun is beyond the enemy's strength."