New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-04
Germans Held at Bay by
Rapidity of Moves OF
French "75's."
CURTAIN OF FIRE
CUTS OFF RETREAT
1.utous Charge Seven Times to
Carry Ridge Soldiers Get
Few Bullet Wounds.
~ FRED Il. PlTNEl.

Mach According 70 the
Inflammation. over so per cent OF the
p..h losses at verdun occurred in
,re,iminsry bombardmcnt. In some
Wv f. The bombardment lasted l2O
p''s. and was entirely with big guns
Nv German MS" not being brought
NV ~. thunder Of the exploding she'll.
60 steady and tremendous that 1t
os.;ble for a voice to be heard
.Ir ~ shouting into the car. On the
.,.. hand. when the German infantry
80 hogan French losses fell TO
o. rin;mum on most parts Of the
t.e,, Only a very small proportion
.v,.,eb wounds were from bullets.
How the French artillery worked in
..,,v. WAS described by a wounded SOL
''s sra made many prisoners" he said,
chm, We could not learn much from
.ssm. They we're SO shaken that they
..,h,sd instead Of talking. They did
m,r.se 70 cay that their advance had
b,ep supported by q hundred '0s' a
s..a,od .3Os.' two nos and three
los, while 20 she'll Nerdun they had
three 'lsOs.
.By, our '75s' threw the fear Of God
;,,o them. Once more those admirable
,,,,s. proved their value. At 1 o'clock
:, ,bs afternoon Of the 25th they broke
Sa.is,ysly the formidable attempt of
No Germans 10 advance from the Bois
des Caures.
Fire Like Loosing of Hell.
aTbree regiments attempted the as
,.ni. and we let them come, but our
sr,;llerv made all preparations 10 re-
rsive them. Our batteries came up az a
rsllop and took position, and when the
Germans reached the point selected the
src Of hell was loosed upon them. Our
crrs were served in relays. They came
ar AZ gallop, numbered. hred a Ger.
,sjn time. limbered up and galloped
tvsy. while others, arriving az gal.
lor. took their places. A barrier Of
.leIls made behind three German regi-
ments would not permit them 70 n.y.
and they were annihilated.'
A Young infantry lieutenant lay N
inc hospital az Lyons with his LETT
Leg sho, away above the knee. his LETT
thumb and index finger shot away, ana
his right foot frozen. This is how he
came 10 be IN such state:
"For eight days we had been eX-
yectinr the attack, and the order OF
The day. Verdun must never be TAKEN
Conquer or de- had shown US our role.
One the DIST the csnnonade began with
terrible rain OF shells. The affair was
well under way. On the 23d We re-
ceivsi orders 10 occupy a small wood in
iront Of Us. We had 10 cross barrier
Of German shells. and | made my men
70 one by one at intervals OF twenty
yards.
Luck Tickle TO French.
"Ne made the crossing without loss
md began 10 organize into position,
bu, four hours later NC received or
dtrs 20 withdraw, a. IL was learned
that We would be fsnked on our left.
lNie IlfMt llth Wa lIUA Will 10 49,
crossing the barrier. I had to leave
par. OF ny company lying on the field,
and no sooner had NC reached our
I'D position than We we're sent TO re-
irforce a regiment on our right. Under
The shelter Of long ridge we reached
The new post. and there for several
miles We had the feld of battle under
or eyes. on an sides cannon roared
constantly and thick. heavy cloud
hitter 70 taste covered the plain and
lose half way Up the hill.
1T rss broken everywhere by the
James OF exploding shells and we
could make cut each battery by four
shslls coming in thick succession. Just
tslog Us was a little village which
vss the key 20 our position. German
bells fell on Il INCREASINGLY, and even
ne night did not interrupt the strug-
gle. Rockets and star shells made 1t
Is light as day.
"A, dawn We were stupefed 70 see
ifur squsdrons Of German cavalry de-
'eend the opposite slope az a gsllop
md tide into the village. Behind them
masses % infantry advanced. We
allied 70 see them annihilated.
Nothing happened. What could il