IN THE WEST.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 March 1916, Page 5

IN THE WEST.

THE BATTLE A T VAUX. ;** FRENCH HOLE) POSITIONS. DITCHES RUN RED WITH BLOOD. •Paris, March 13. Tke German losses at Douaumont pale into insignificance compared with those of last week. The German artillery far nine hours searched the Yaux plateau with a deluge of steel, and trench mor(tars dropped huge land torches amid the itnuscs of the village; but the French, thaugh deafened by the uproar, aiui choked with srnske, gas and dust, held every position of value. Though the enemy outnumbered them 9ix t# one it took four distinct assaults before the first German column won the shelter of a small group of ruined houses. Five times the enemy endeavored to leave the shelter of the church, but each time the machine-guns cut thrsugh them like a scythe,' the men falling in swathes. The fight died down thraugh sheer inanition. Desperate as the fight in the village was, it was deadlier round the fort; owing to the precipitous slope. The Bavarians climbed up on one another's shoulders and hung in angles of the rack, but repeatedly the pyramids they had formed collapsed into" a shapeless mass under the French (ire. The ditches ran red, till finally the German general* stopped the butchery. FEARFUL GERMAN LOSSES.

FRENCH AIRMEN BOMB CONFLANS. Paris, March 13. The Daily Review estimates that the losses at Verdun are now 200,000. A communique savs: There wa3 110 infantry action north of Verdun. A Freneli air squadron bombarded Conflans station. Five fires were counted. All machines returned safely. CARNAGE AT VAUX. AVALANCHES OP DEAD. Received March 14, 3.5 p.m. London, March 13. Officers agree that last Friday's carnage on the slopes of Vaux were unsurpassed in description. Avalanches of dead and wounded rolled down and lie in gigantic greyish heaps at the bottom. The attackers became - nauseated in climbing over the bodies of their comrades.

THE HORROR OF IT. MOUNTAINS OF CORPSES. A CALM BEFORE THE STORM. Received March 14, 18.1# p.m. Paris, March 14. The assaulting forces at Vaux grew tired climbing over the bodies of their fallen comrades, and the assault spent itself before the herror of these mountains of corpses. Thousands of dead cumber the sinister slopes of Vaux. The ferocious struggles have so terribly broken the Germans that whole brigades have ceased to exist. The Seventh and Twenty-Seventh Divisions bore the brunt of Bethincourt and Goose Hill and were severely handled. Possibly, like the Eleventh Reserve, the Divisions must be replaced. The Third German Army Corps suffered so severely at Vaux and Douaumont that the few emerging from the fight were sent to the rear. The Eighteenth Corps and Bavarian Bivision lost vrhole battalions.

Telegrams from neutral sources report that an enormous number of wounded are arriving at Aix-la-Chapelle night and day. The lull in the fighting is due to the enemy awaiting supplies from Metz. Troops from the home depots are flocking to Verdun, and the struggle will be renewed in a few days.

French airmen have performed splendid feats in watching tlie enemy supply trains and reserve formations, espying the gun positions, and raiding at night time the lines of communication and blewing up the munition depots. ON THE BANKS OF THE MEUSE AERIAL FIGHTING. Received March 14, 9.13 p.m. Paris, March 14. A cammunique states: The bombardment westward of the Meuse is increasingly intense in the Morthomme and Bois Bourrus regions. The fire of our batteries caught gatherings of the enemy between Forges and Crows' Wood. The activity of the opposing artilleries is moderate on the right bank of the Meuse.

After lively artillery preparation the Germans eastward of Seppois attacked the trenches we had recently retaken. They were stopped by a curtain of fire and retired with appreciable losses. Six of our aeroplanes dropped 130 bombs •on a strategical station at ißreulleg, northward of Verdun, and there have been numerous aerial combats (elsewhere in the district, with the advantage indisputably on our side. Three German machines were brought down in our lines. GERMAN SUCCESSES CLAIMED. Received March 14, 9.15 p.m. Amsterdam, March 14. A German wireless says: Our airmen successfully attacked a French railway station and positions at the ClearmontVcrdun line, and destroyed three enemy aeroplanes in the Champagne and one at the Mease. GENERAL HAIG'S REPORT. Received March 14, 6.40 p.m. ™ London, March 14, General Sir Douglas Haig reports that we carried out successful bombardments near Oametz, Lille, Armentieres, and the railway at Hooge. Thirty-two hostile aeroplanes were engaged yesterday; one was brought down near Lille, and a second was brought down 'n our line to-day.

WOUNDED FROM VERDUN. THEIR LUMBERS CONCEALED. Times ana .Sydney Sun Services. London, March 13. The Exchange correspondent in Switzerland states that the trains carrying the Verdun wounded travel only at night time, stopping at unimportant stations, frera which the public are excluded. Most of the hospitals are established in remote country districts.