| Show tHREE I VERDUN VERDO fORTS CRUMBLE UNDER GERMAN FIRE I AUSTRIAN DESTROY DEFENSES KE KEY Y STRONGHOLD j Range Guns uns Seven even c Miles Away Are re Dropping Drop Drop- roP ping Ping Shells Shell Into City ity T Are re i r Making Desperate Attempts to Capture Fort T Tavannes TRAINLOADS OF SO SOLDIERS DIERS LEAVE BATTLEFIELD FO R B BEBLIN ERLI N Special to The Telegram s NEW fW XO YORK K March 6 6 The The Eve Evening Mails Mail's ailS ail'S early earl y morning war war extra says I Three big ig forts d defending fending Verdun h have ve fallen under the terrific ire fire of the he t e Austrian Shells are falling mg in In all parts of the city LONDON March 6 The The Central News correspondent atThe atThe at af The Hague says dispatches dispatch s received re received rt- rt there from the front nt show that the he Germans rare are are making vigorous eff efforts to capture Fort Tavannes four miles no northeast of Verdun Verdun Ver Ver- dun but that t the are are resisting them resolutely Inflicting heavy losses foSses 1 tiu n fife Hie U attackers rs r's St Stubborn fighting continues near nearY Verdun Verdun- Y the correspondent says The village of Vaux no longer exists More than Germans carried out an assault upon the French positions at t Vaux but the correspondent says were er repulsed with he heavy vy losses several several several sev sev- eral German lines being swept away by the famous French It is also said th that t twenty seven trainloads of German wounded have left the Verdun battlefields for Ger Ger- m many 1 Y PARIS March G. G Yesterday 6 was a good day for the French at Verdun according to information received this morning and public confidence is is' is greatly strengthened by the news of the continued repulses of the German German German Ger Ger- man attacks In military and p political circles lively satisfaction is expressed regarding the situation and the opinion opinion ion now begins to prevail that the great efforts of the Germans will be bemore bemore bemore more easily disposed of than was at first expected Dead Cover Field Having failed to m make ke any impression impression impression sion on the position and andon andon andon on Vaux to its right the German general general general gen gen- eral staff stat determined to smash the French left on the Vacherauville woods-Cote woods de positions Without Without With With- out regard to cost the b best st troops were hurled forward but with not more success than elsewhere Pomeranians Pomeranians Pomeranians Pome Pome- and what was left of the Bran Bran- den burgers dashed themselves vainly against the French who stood as immovable Immovable immovable Im movable as a rock wall vall As at Vaux the Germans finally fell I back leaving heaps of ol dead on the ground The French Infantry supported sup ported by their formidable artillery which will wil never henceforth lack ammunition ammunition ammunition am am- showed themselves able to to II resist every onslaught On the left bank of the Meuse Mouse artillery on both sides thundered all da day long ong The French infantry in that that section had little to do but it remains there ready I Ifor for any eventuality altho although gh the thc military mill mili tary experts believe it is extremely doubtful that the Germans will wUI attempt attempt attempt at at- I tempt to storm the Mort Hom Homme a key position for to do so they must deploy over a plain a mile wide under crossfire crossfire cross cross- fire from the heights around French Losses Slight It is chiefly the French art artillery I ry which is involved ved in the fightIng fighting fight fight- ing The French hold the outskirts of the village of Manheulles l firmly and have stopped all attempts of the Germans to debouch in in that direct Uon tion An Idea of the relatively small percentage per per- of French casualties in the Verdun battle is considered as deducible deducible deduct deduct- ble from a statement made by a lieutenant lieutenant lieu lieu- tenant who has ha's arrived arrive here wounded Our losses he lie said are comparatively comparatively comparatively slight My 1 regiment for instance instance in- in stance had bad only seven forty-seven killed and thirty five wounded This is small for fora a unit which has lIas been acting as a support and which was engaged in n the most violent of ol the fighting VERDUN Via Paris March 6 Nine-inch Nine shells are falling around the Gath bridges and railroad stations Of t Verdun today They come from long range guns seven miles mUes away and drop methodically Ily The gendarmes on duty near near one gate told the Associated Press correspondent correspondent correspondent corre corre- he had kept a tally of those that fell feH last night and that there of ot them The he co correspondent shel br by a massive earth and stone stonework work at one of bf the gates counted pro pro- exploding about ut three m minutes apart part In the neighborhood Ye Verdun dun duns Is s s Vacant The German gunners are trying to break the communication through Ver Ver- dun Strangely enough not a a. bridge abridge nor an entrance to a abandoned for for- tiri tro s' s sh h has hos s 's te t k d directly Splinters from shells snells have chipped some of the structures but none oo of ot them has been destroyed The city is vacant It is more more like the ghost of a city than a modern well welt built town There are no civilians and no ho soldiers here Firemen have re remained remained roamed however and amI are busy stopping stopping stop stop- I ping the work of the many bom bombs s. s A detachment of gendarmes gendarmeS' is on duty I as a precaution against any stray I plundering i two Twenty-two thousand persons locked their doors and with a small allowance allowance allowance allow allow- ance of personal baggage left the town by order One can walk through miles of ot streets with shattered windows windows win win- windows dows without seeing a person City Little Damaged The city Is little damaged The Associated As Press correspondent did not see a building that had been hit in inthe inthe inthe the Rue Mazel the tIle principal business street of ot Verdun But off the Rue Mazel in various J I quarters houses had been struck by shells One shell sheH had hit the annex to the hotel The Sturdy Cock well known to tourists It was one of I the first of the thirteen-inch thirteen shells sheIls j i iI I that reached the city The storied four corner building had collapsed Numerous otter other shells had fallen on b. b the eminence where the cathedral of ot Notre Dame and the church buildings build ings stand One gable of the cathedral cathedral cathe dral had been knocked off olf and the handsome stained glass windows sheltered shot shel by concussions Otherwise the t cathedral had not been injured A t 1 girls' girls seminary adjoining It however was wa's was a mass of ruins In one house housea a alife life yire size statue of Joan of Arc hold hold- holding c ing the flag of France stood upright among a wilderness of stone an and l woodwork Many Guns in Action The A Associated Press correspondent with the officers of the general staff start went to one of the forts defending I Verdun It was on the heights of the Meuse On a clear day the whole field of ot the fighting which began thirteen days ago would have been easily visible vis ible able but in the somber weather and occasional flurries of snow Donau mont moot which has been taken and retaken retaken re reo re- re taken several times was barely die dis a 8 A tremendous cannonade was waR g ing on Many hundreds of guns on both J I sides were In action mostly of th the tho heavier calibers The detonations were not counted They were great and small and near and remote Two Tw or three houses were burning in the valle val val- 1 le ley Occasionally a flash of fire was perceived on the edge of the horizon An artillery ottic officer r in the party in describing the boina boin bombardment a ment of th the t i first da flay day of ot the action sa said d t i tI I Eighty thousand shells fell in one sector only a thousand and yards Ion long and live or six hundred yards deep These I shells fell in seven hours and were so disposed that the crater of on one ne f feut cut into the craters of others otherl pulverizing p n ing log any resisting substance Use Shells I. I There was talk among the officers t to the number e present as tn of shells which had been used The civilian re remarked remarked remarked re- re e marked that he had heard that the 1 Germans had thrown but this was regarded by the technical observers observer's observers observers observe e ers er's ers in the party as a low estimate The r number was as thought to be somewhere between and I The difference between the f fa l French rench a attack tack In In Champagne Cham last September and the German Gennan attack here explained a general f staff officer is that our ad adversaries ad- ad m made mado de no reply virtually to 3 Continued on page page- 3 J. I j VERDUN FORTS Continued from p page ge 1 1 our three days' days preparatory bombardment bombardment bombardment bombard bombard- ment while we have replied continuously continuously continuously with ever increasing power so that now our artillery dominates The Germans appear to have planned their atta attack k on the same general lines as that of ot the French in Champagne except that within an hour after the bombardment opened at 7 a. a m m. February February ary 21 an infantry attack in n fore force was us cas made on Haumont which was taken on I the 2nd 1 The he next day the French re retired retired retired re- re tired from Brabant They r recaptured it the same evening J put ut ut gave up Sam Sa- Sa m Beaumont and d Orn dries Ornes s and evacuated the marsh of vie Pol-vie Little Change Since then there has been little I change in the situation Bits of th thUne the line Une like th the village of or ora ora ora a group of cottages have been taken and retaken the French artillery ry inthe inthe in inthe the meantime having come up In great force The ground taken by the Germans Germans Ger Ger- mans Is almost the same as that won by the French between n January and April of ot last year The commander at Verdun thought as he put it that the place did not have enough lungs and that it was difficult to breathe and decided that he would enlarge the line and did so BO in a series of local actions lasting three months taking a piece here and a piece there The Germans have now won back this terrain and the lines on both sides res rest where they did at the end of ot 1914 Water Cooled Guns Some ome mention w was vas s made of ot the CaUles es wood and the artillery officer told of ot how a battery was In continuous ous action there for tor forty eight hours and how the men cooled the guns by slowly dropping their drinking water on them enduring Intense thirst rather than drink the water They retired slowly saving their pieces Confidence at headquarters Is lute The small progress made during the first three days' days attack enabled every disposition to be made to meet it and if occasion arises to counter counterattack attack Nothing of course may be said concerning what these preparations preparations and dispositions are except that they are on an enormous scale and as the commanders seem certain more than adequate The Associated Press saw many German prisoners They appeared to be In good physical condition con con- and occasionally were talkative They told of an order or proclamation by the crown prince Issued to the troops and read to them by their officers cers Just before the attack began saying saying say say- ing in substance We are about to pulverize the enemy's enemy's ene ene- mys my's trenches with our artillery They will be so BO torn up and disorganized that when you rush forward to occupy th them m you will wilt find that you vou can do so 80 at the parade march You will find little or no resistance Germans Dead Eighty thousand d German dead i is iK what the living find said the general officer LONDON JONDON March 6 The 6 Th authorized representative of ot the British press preAS with the French armies annies writing from Verdun Verdun Ver Ver- dun on Saturday last says As we came Into the town the first civilians to reach Verdun since Its evacuation The Associated press pres representative the representative of the Russian press and myself theair theair the theair air was trembling with the battle raging raging rag rag- ing around Even five fide miles away the he noise of ot the German artillery was deafening The storm of tiles rained upon the French lines here exceeds anything ever before known in warfare Practically no small caliber guns were used by the tho Germans and the main artillery preparation was waR made with inch eight-inch and twelve-Inch twelve guns They used their heavy guns exactly exactly ex exactly ex- ex as the French use UBe their which fire twenty shots a minute In one ono place on a a. front of ot 1000 yards with a depth of ot BOO yards 80 big shells fell in six hours The trenches were literally swept out ut oi ot existence Throughout the assault here cre the Germans followed the plan of ot concentrating con concentrating con con- their guns ms first on tIe the French left and then gradually moving movIng moving ing the direction of ot their fire fira toward owald th the tha French right night |
