A PAPER BATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 March 1916, Page 5

A PAPER BATTLE.

GERMAN DISTORTION OF FACTS. Times and Sydsey Sun Services. ;' Received March M, 5.5 p.m. London, March 12. The Times correspondent at Paris says that the Germans, being unable to carry the positions on the field of battle, have decided upon a. paper battle, by announcing a success at Vaux when the attack was not begun until two hours afterwards. A staff officer visited the fort and found everything normal, the men playing cards throughout the day. Bloody enemy repulses were eonverted into brilliant successes. Despite the fact that enemy reserves wore flung wildly into the furnace, the enemy had no gains' any where, but were repulsed with extraordinarily heavy loss, FEARFUL SLAUGHTER. The Daily Mail's Paris correspondent says that Friday's German losses were the bloodiest in the war. Whole brigades were wiped out at Vaux and Douaumont, where the Zouaves, Turcos and Senegalese .figured prominently, fighting like demons, and driving in their bayonets with a fearful overarm plunging stroke. The Frencli artillery slaughtered thousands, and the dead and dying are lying in huge heaps. The Germans attacking the Fort Vaux vidge never reached the trenches, but were ajl mpwn'doivn. THR TIGHT FOR DOUAUMONT. A French lieutenant, describing the Germans' original capture of Douaumont, says: One hundred and twenty thousand men attacked us, and they lost forty thousand before they gained the ruins of the fort. Included in the heavy losses were the famous Brandenburgers. The French say there were magnificent but terrible sights. One man, with the lower part of his face shot off, knelt on a pile of dead Germans picking off the attackers, ' '*• '\ 1 . . ■ . i . THE VALUE OF MEN. - REASON FOR FRENCH RETIREMENTS, Received March 13, 11.15 p.m. Paris, March 13. Military experts emphasise that General Petain is net prepared to sacrifice thousands of men as uselessly as the Germans are deing. Every French retirement since the outset of the attack was not due to inability to hold the position, but because it was not worth holding at such cost. Further retreats are foreshadowed, if necessary, for the same reason, inasmuch as General Joffre knows how men count, and will count increasingly in the final phase of the war.

■ - ' £tk A NEW STAGE OPENING.

ALLIES TO TAKE OFFENSIVE, ' Received March 13, 5.S p.m. Paris, March 12. Reviewing the twenty-one days' fighting at Verdun, the hopelessness of a German victory means that a new stage of the war is opening, the Allies taking over the offensive when they rench their top strength. ""."." BOMBARDMENT CONTINUES, - K Reeeived March 13, 8.15 p.m Paris, March 12. We carried out a destructive fire on the enemy's works at Maurcourt, southward of the Somme, and in the Nouvron region. There have been no infantry actions northward of Verdun, but the bombardment is rather violent on both sides on the two banks of the Meuse. Our heavy artillery shelled the enemy who were asembling in a ravine north of Poivre Hill and the batteries west of Louvemont. We wrecked the trenches in Senonei region. i * ." THE GREAT OFFENSIVE. i •: MUST END SHORTLY. '■ Times and Sydney Sun Services. London, March 12. Swiss papers state that the Germans have assembled the guns, munitions and troops necessary for a maximum tenday offensive, believing that this will destroy all resistance and expecting to break the French lines and attack Paris before March 15. M. Marcel Hutin says that the Germans will be unable to maintain their big attack much longer, despite the numerous railways which have been constructed to convey material, munitions and reinforcements to the front. The French artillery on the whole Verdun front is fully equal to that of the Germans. GERMANS BLUFFED US. SAYS COLONEL REPINGTON. Received March 13, 11.15 p.m. London, March 13. Colonel Repington saws that the Germans bluffed us well. The Egyptian campaign has fizzled out, and there are only three or four weak German divisions south of the Danube, while not fifty divisions are fronting the Russians. All the rest, with all available guns, have flowed back to France. The Germans also had their illusions spoilt by the relatively easy Russian successes. They thought that the Meuse was another Dnnajee, and Verdun another Kovna. Generals Maekensen and Reseler's rush tactics had broken down before Verdun. General Falkenhayn, believing that the Allies would simultaneously attack in the spring and summer, forestalled us. One hundred and eighteen German divisions confront us, but General Falkenhayn can only use twentyfive at Verdun, and as it is contrary to German theories to leave the remainder idle, a second attack may open elsewhere. il i ■ AN UNFORTUNATE EXPLOSION. Reeeived March 13, 8.15' p.m. Paris, March 12. As British soldiers were loading a munition train! at Roven they dropped a case, which exploded and killed those bandliiw lb ■ ' ~'~ "'■.