Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-01
DEAD AND DYING
AT VERDUN HIDE
FACE OF EARTH
Hillsides Strewn and Ra-
vines Corpse-Choked
With German Victims
FRENCH PICTURE BATTLE

PARIS, March French civilians and
wounded soldiers arriving i'm Paris from
verdun declare the German losses have
been on scale almost unprecedented
At some points the corpses are said to
lie in mounds more than yard high.
Among the wounded here Is a sergeant
D. OF n Us" battery in the section near
Regneville who describes the German at
tack on Saturday morning against the
Cote de Poivre as follows;
From dawn till 7 o'clock their howitz-
ers had tried to demolish us without
hurting man or gun. We held our
fire, waiting for their infantry. At $50
o'clock a message came that they were
moving forward We could not see them
because they we're hidden by the Talou
hill. As we tried to look out our lieu
tenant ordered us under cover
Suddenly the telephone operator gave
the signal. We began firing at 1900
metres (960 yards), and fired at full
sreed for 20 minutes. When the order to
cease fire came there was heap of shell
eases fully man-hlgh behind our guns.
At the order rushed to look out from the
trench at the side AT the top of the
ravine on the edge of the plateau was a
great heap OF Germans. They looked like
Not one was standing Every minute
shells threw bodies and debris into the
air.
RAvINES CORPSE-CHOKED
''rhe whole ravine slope was gray with
corpses. One could not see the ground
they were so numerous, and the snow was
no longer white We calculated that there
fwere fully 10000 dead at that point alone,
and the river that ran past was dappled
with patches and streaks of blood
had read of rivers running blood; now
have seen IL. While the stream was not
crimson, one could trace the reddish
patches distinctly. As we watched a
German shell came and a fragment lodged
I'm my shoulder The lieutenant said It
served me right for not keeping covered.
would gladly have given both arms to
have been able to stay until the enemy
was beaten"
Refugees from the city of Verdun--
evacuated by civilians in order to save
lose from bombardment--tel story that
gives some idea of what the German sac
rifice has been.
The French had mined the Caures wood
outside of Beaumont village connecting
the mines with the village When the
Germans advanced to attack the wood,
the French regiment holding II ran as If
seized by panic back towards the village.
The Germans pursued them shouting.
Soon the last Frenchman had emerged
from the trees but the French commander
waited until the Germans had thoroughly
entered the mined area. They were just
beginning to debouch on the higher side
when he pressed the button There was
a tremendous roar, dwarfing for mo-
rnent even the boom of the cannon. The
wood was covered with a cloud of smoke
and even on the French trenches in Beau
mont, there rained ghastly dew.
When the French re-entered the wood
unopposed-they found no German un-
wounded and hardly score alive.
Another combatant gives his experiences
as follows:
"At dawn we received orders to leave
the trench and 10 retire to a strong posi-
ton in the VauX woods in front of Douau-
mont. Bending low we retired the four or
five kilometres through the snow without
much loss. Once in the new trenches we
could not hear one another speak, so great
was the noise of the cannOnading. and
when we looked through the periscopes
we could only see heavy clouds of smoke
shutting out the sky, with Jets of fire
flashing through the snowflaSes. There
were about a dozen of us In the trench,
and we felt the suppressed emotion so
much that at last we all burst out singing,
and yet none of us could hear word
spoken, even by himself
Then we saw the Germans coming on.
They were in such masses that they
guns began TO speak, white empty spaces
showed among the gray of the advancing
masses but they were soon filled up by
fresh patches of gray As they neared
our barbed wire our machine guns opened
fire and we had to cover our ears with
anything that came handy, the noise was
now so tremendous. felt no fear, but l
had no feelings or thoughts only a sort
OF buzzing and vertigo. When night
came on and the flares lighted up the
field. the Germans seemed to be quite
close. but II was an optical Illusion. They
advanced very bravely, waving their rifles
or leaping as they passed over the heaps
OF dead. 1 was knocked over by shell
and had my arm broken, and as the trench
was obliterated crawled away and for
tunately met an armored automobile which
took me to Verdun."
II have fought since the beginning of
the war" says another soldier. who has
returned to Paris and who was present
at the fighting at Ornes
II saw the shambles at Suippes and
Souain. They were nothing to what l
saw last week The enemy advanced and
We retired under orders, but we killed
them by the dozen. II was so terrible
that l. who have watched my comrades
fax >aEopnd me almost with indifference.
shudder US my memory recalls those
scenes.
CAS- their battalions advanced upon US
they were in serrfed masses by hles Of 20,
The Hhrapnel from our 75-millimeter guns
and the projectiles from our heavy artil-
lery fell among them and you could see
the great gaps, as II a mower had passed
with seythe. Then high-explOsive shells,
which burst on contact fell and limbs
were shot into the air We were so close
thar pieces OF their torn flesh fell among
US. Eventually we reached Moncourt and
tool -ilaiter for a time In a wood. AL
tho sgft was o'clock in the morning,
athe ihsting shells made 1t as clear as
day. giving the battlefield the aspect of
fai4y scene"