SCOTSMAN'S GRAPHIC STORY

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11685, 29 April 1916, Page 3

SCOTSMAN'S GRAPHIC STORY

, THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE. j A virid personal impression of ilio 'fighting around Verdun (says the '"Yorkshire Post") is furnished by Mr •Tames Keith, a Scottish solicitor's clerk now serving with tho Foreign legion. He says:— The fighting was hot. enough to last for a lifetime, and it developed with as- : tonishing rapidity. My first glimpse of 1 the fighting as the euemy advanced v~.aiust our line wax to be l-omembeml nsr all time. Our guns rained shell pitilessly, and against this shower of metal the trail wall of >sv{y«jity shivered to atoms again and 'tgiun. The attack on the village of ! had developed considerably when th© Legion was called on to lend a ', hand in the fray. At nrst ive could see nothing, ana* the only inkling we had of anything unusual was tha furious bombardment of our position by the enemy. _ Endless tons of shells seemed to be rained upon us. ; Gradually we came to discern little rlark specks on the horizon and these quickly developed into masses of GerSian troops. Our artillery had tho range nicely. It was not until tho enemy had reached' a point little more than fire hundred yards from which we were posted that the order for rifle and machine-gun lire- was given. Before the first deadly volley the enemy recoilI ed and their lines broke aud straggled away into the darkness. Frantic efforts "were made by the officers, to induce the men to return to tho attack. Time, after time they succeeded, but each time it was more than flesh and ])lood could stand, and the attack crumpled up. After a time there was a lull, and the artillery reopened with deadly intensity as the prelude to another attack on a larger scale. Thi* time the enemy got nearer, and for one brief moment it seemed as though they were gointr to carry the position by assault. Our front ranks were pressed steadily back, and seeing them wavering, the enemy swept forward oniltingly. At less than one hundred yards the attack was brought to a dead stor> by our Tna # chme-gun 'and rifle fire, and 1 before the euemy could recover we dashed forward with the bayonet and comoleted the rout. Meanwhile a fleet of fast motors had been hard at work bringing up reinforcements' for the Germans, and- with ■fresh men the attack was renewed. This time the attacking force was too strong to he wirhstood. and inch by inch we were forced back. The slaughter was indeseribahlc. each inch of ".round being hotlv disputed, and naid for with the" life-blood of men. Whole Indies of the enemy were wiped out -;•■> tlv» briefest possible space of time, r.ud it scorn"d as though nothing hurian could live against this deluge of lire from our lines.