Show V Verdun Outdo Outdone e 1 By N New Drive t. t By Associated Press WITH TH THE BRITISH ARMY I IN FRANCE May 4 Veterans Veterans of the d defense de de- tense of Verdun p predominated among the French soldiers wh who so gallantly defended Kemmel hill against the th- GerI Ger Ger- I mans They declare delare that Verdun was childs child's play compared to the conflict In Flanders recently i 5 The bombardment at Verdun had set seta a high water mark for tor con concentration of ot guns of all calibers but say those who went through it it was nothing compared corn com com compared pared to what the French troops experienced experienced ex ex- during the German drive against Kemmel Tie The I French rench troops took up positions about Kemmel on April 22 22 relieving the battle batUe weary British Throughout April 23 and 24 I before the attack the Germans mans maintained maintained main main- a tremendous bombardment and threw hundreds of or thousands of ot gas shells mixed with ordinary ex explosive ex- ex plosive shells hells On the morning of the attack on Kemmel the German Gennan g gunners placed d ten tell big shells per second on the crest of the hill hlll and during the day the French put on their gas masks fifty different times for as a's fast tast as th the wind cleared the gas away another deluge of ot the poisonous vapor poured over the hill Part of ot the time the had to sleep Ii in their gas masks Despite Despite De De- spite the great quantities of ot gas thrown the French had only twelve casualties from It st according to the latest reports MACHINE GUNS BUSY A large part lart of ot the fighting fightIng- was with machine guns of which the Germ Germans Germans Ger Ger- m mans ns always had gre great t numbers and at at times the German enfilading enfilading- fire tIre was terrific The French artillery and machine guns however in their turn reaped a great the enemy At times the French seventy fives got into heavy concentrations of in inI infantry infantry in- in tan fantry try and literally tore them to pieces The German losses in many instances I are placed as as high as 40 per cent French runners with messages re refused refused re- re fused to rest and nd kept at their task The rationing of ot one famous regiment regiment regi regi- ment which fought at Verdun was was' a a. great feat It was impossible to u uthe use the transport so rations were brought forward on machine gun carriages Under un under under un- un der a heavy fire The regiment got its beefsteak and wine wIn every day and furnished furnished fur- fur neighboring regiments as well Nearly all the stretcher bearers were killed One worked six days and nights without rest German airplanes were out in force torce I They flew fiew low and used machine guns continuously against t the e Infantry I |