Show FRENCH SAY VERDUN FORTS WERE NOT IMPORT IMPORTANT ANT By WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS United Press Staff Correspondent PARIS March 26 By Mail WhY Why is a fort The French claimed durIng during during dur dur- ing the German assaults against Verdun Verdun Verdun Ver Ver- dun that they did not attach any great Importance to the place that it was not any more valuable than any other sector along the battle line Were Vere the French sincere Or were they merely seeking to prepare public opinion for the possible loss of the po position position position po- po Since the beginning of ot the war I have several times been permitted to visit Verdun Each time I have nave been allowed Inside one or the other of the outlying forts surrounding the citadel The first time I visited one of 01 these forts was November 1914 1014 in other words shortly after the this beginning of ot the war These inspections proved one thing quite clearly and that was that the French were not stupid that that- with the lesson of Liege Namur Maubeuge taught by the young war wit to-wit That steel and concrete forts are are mere death traps and no match for modern howitzers and that tha artillery Inside one of these forts Is artillery the range of which the enemy has long since worked out to the tle fraction traction of an inch They proved a also so that as e early as November 1914 at the latest France had so far as the object for which they were constructed was concerned she had scrapped her forts I If she had not done these things I I. I I should not have been permitted to visit the forts with the absolute freedom freedom freedom free free- dom which was accorded me The citadel itself inside the walls of was figuratively speaking turned inside out and the most secret works put on exhibition The miles ot underground tunnels the stores of food and munitions s the entire military plant was made an open book Later when I had been shown all that I was taken to the east of Verdun Verdun Verdun Ver Ver- dun to the northwest and sou south h and shown the already prepared trenches and wire entanglements as much as ast asto t to td say These are the works we de depend depend depend de- de pend upon when the big fight tight commences commences com corn and not upon the forts you have just left And then as If tr to complete the picture picture picture pic pic- pic- pic ture I witnessed s d a review of soldiers engaged In holding the line Une around Dead Mans Man's hill 1 Fort ort hill They were machine guns and young and stocky and well fed As they stood at at attention at- at the thunder of ot big bis guns In their ears they looked as proud as fighting righting cocks and as eager to be away as young greyhounds in leash awaiting the start of a hare race These were the rem remaining factors Inthe in inthe inthe the fight tight Men fully fed France therefore hardly was blUt ing when she said the forts of Verdun were not her mainstay Verdun from the first had become merely one point front among many along a mile On the eighteenth day of the battle of Verdun the five hundred and eighty- eighty sixth day lay of the war Leon B de declared declared de- de dared in Even admitting the hypothesis that the Germans can one day take Verdun Verdun Verlun Ver Ver- dun lun today farther than ever from realization the effect of ot such euch a a. success sue suc cess already will wm have gone up in foam Theirs would be but a winded victory for even now flow the French resistance has been of such a. a nature that there can be no further doubt in Europe or orin orin in the world as to the e final issue We Ve Wethe Wethe the French have come comeby b by the knowledge knowledge knowl knowl- I edge that our generals are cool and prudent that our troopers are re re of ot that brand of courage which calls forth from their commanders themselves the cry We Va can only fall on our knees before them Whatever Ver Verdun un may mean to Germany Ger Gel many that Is what Verdun means t tg France Franca J I |