OCR Text |
Show FRENCH MAKE k VALIANTDEFENSE Small Body of Troops Hold, Off Two Battalions of Selected Se-lected Germans. FIERCE FIGHT AT FORT Bodies of Germans Left Hanging on Wire Entangle- j ments Rats Gassed. FRENCH FRONT. March 31 (Correspondence (Cor-respondence of the Associated Press.) Only the heroic tenacity of a small body of French troops in holding (he fort of La Pompelle southeast of Rheini prevented n strong forcr- of Germans from capturing that old and Ion.: -dlimant led work on March 1. After pourinq otejp 50,000 shells of all calibres on to the position and pumping over all the surroundings thick clouds .f the most deadly, poisonous poi-sonous Eases, two battalions of Crown Prince Frederick's selected troops ad- vanced to the attack. All the barbed Wire entanglements had been uprooted uproot-ed during the bombardment and the centers of resistance in front oi and around the fort had been demolished when the assaulting Infantry waves' came forward. The ground and the trenches form ing the only obstacles between the German lines aad the French positions posi-tions had been leveled and the few French advanced pos'n had retired Am on to their supports and then Into the casemates oi the fort Itself, where with the rest of the small garrison the) prepared to fight to the last. As the churning up of the ground about the fort had obstructed the Held of fire of the machine guns, the Germans Ger-mans me' with only slight resistance until i hey had reached the moat. This was more than half filled wnh debris resulting from the heavy bombardment Hild the attacking VOOpfl Wfere able LO advance to the stono walls. There, however, they stopped In spite of their liquid tire machines One of these implements was tried on a heavy timber door loading imo the southern side of the fort, but the door held firm Meanwhile, from behind be-hind B shelter of sandbags at one end of the moat, a group of hardy spirit-' of the garrison opened fire on the Ger-1 mans with a machine gun and killed or pul oui of action all who were at-, tempMnc, tu place cans of high explo-j Ives apa'ost the walls of the fort. Troops Maintain Corps Tradition The garrison consisted of colonial I troops ot tried courage and they fought up to the traditions of the corpr. Soon: the enemy found their efforts were doomed m allure and retired to the advanced work which, together with several bastions, they retained for, Some hours. The defenders communicated with be r comrades In tho rear, a counter-organised counter-organised and, although the I f.ghtinr. which ensued was of the fiercest fier-cest k.nd. the Germans were driven j out of every inch of trench they had occupied and forced to flee In disorder' to their own lines Bodies of Huns in Barbed Wire. Fvidences of the nature of the strucele were still to be found whrn I the correspondent of the Associated 1 Press arrived at ihe fort soon after the ; cessation of the bombardment. In the barbed wire fronting the enemy 1 trenches were the bodies of dozens of Germans shot down as they fird. The Sjatemi of barbed wire entanglements vhich had formerly prevented approach ap-proach to the fort were almost non-existent, most of them having been bur-1 bur-1 led under heaps of earth. All about were dead rats killed by the fumes of i the German gas The communication trenches had ! crumbled under the hail of projectiles land to go from one spot to another It 'was necessary to crost the open under Immediate observation from the domi-! domi-! natms heights of Nogent-l'Abesse and Berru where the Germans have been ; installed since 1014 I The Germans were evidently still I chagrined at the defeat of their care J fully planned attack and as the correspondent cor-respondent with some colleagues was examining their lines, only a hundred 'yards or so away, they opened fire and swept the fort with several sahoes of big shells The only method of es-, es-, caping further bombardment was to feign death and. when the guns had l quieted a little to creep away in groups t of two. On the way the party was observed acain by a squadron of German avia ior- who signalled to their batteries ,and once more the correspondents were bombarded until finally they I reached the marshes behind the fort and comparative security Oft |