Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1916-03-03
vERDUN line
AGAIN SMASHED
Germans Capture Six Towns
and 10000 Prisoners.
SLAUGHTER IS TERRIFIC

French Admit Evacuation of Beau.
mont, But Say Lines Have Not Been
Observation-Disclosures is Unparal-
Ieed.
In their driving offensive for Yer
| dun the armies OF the German crown
| prince have pushed vast Wadge lAto
ne rerncn .l.e5 north OF the fortress
until they are under the guns OF the
outlying flrts.
Berlin reports indicate a battle lin"
only four and half miles from Yer
iun itself.
! In the sectcr stretching from Bra
bant to Beaumont, where the he vi
est fighting has taken place, the Ge.-
Ian centre already has battlel is
way more than three miles south from
| is former position. Botl sizes haze
suffered tremendous losses in killed
and wounded during the fighting over
| lis ground, and the French have q 50
lost heavily in prisoners. The latter
low number more than 10000, accord
ing to Berlin.
In their southwark drive the crown
princes fLrces have captured no l,sS
than nine villages and fortified farms,
successfully occupying Maumont, ga
inogneux, Brabant, Ornes, Beaumont,
Chambrettes, Marmont. Cotellate and
In hci n q
LOW occupies the ridge on tie cut
skirts of Luudetmont.
The German lines along the ridge
between ChampnCuville and Loude.
mont are but slightly more than Two
miles from Fort de VacherauV.Ie a-d
elsewhere are about the same distance
from Douamont, outlying d@fcns OF
Ferdun.
1t is announced by Paris, which con-
cedes the evacuation of Beaumont,
that the French have established Their
lines behind that village along the
heights east OF ChampIeuviile, AMI
south Of Crnes. Champneuville lies
above a big bend Of the Meuse river,
five miles north OF Verdun. 1t occu-
pies the western flank OF chain Of
hills stretching north and southeast
OF the Meuse.
More than four hundred guns are
massed behind the German front, AMI
the cannonade CT the French redoubts
and forts is described as the sub-lm-
est spectacle CT destruction and thun-
der since the world began.
French officers who saw the French
bombardment of the German positions
in Artois last spring and the French
cannonade of the German positions in
Champagne last autumn describe ten
as mere displays of fireworks with tie
tornado of steel which the German
batteries are now launching.
So terrific is the fire of the big Ger
man guns and the reply of the French
artillery that the thrcbbing thunder
IS plainly audible at Bar lie Due, near
" thirty miles away from the scene
OF the battle.
The kaiser himself is with the
troops of his son, the crown prince,
encouraging them to supreme e1o:t.
The Germans, Paris declares, have
made little impression yet on the
French center The line is bent, bat
far from broken. The nature Cf the
country between Beaumont and Sa-
mogneux lends itself more to a.tac
than to defense, and the French COM
mand appears to have brought the line
back chiefly to avoid u e-e-s lusses
as well as to take u0 posi-io tn
are more easily defended.
The French defence, accoT ing
military experts, his proved itself n22
effective By inhictiag appaii.n5 Is
on the GerI2als. P-is~.-e@s ta.-e
stated that whole Teg;C;eE>s ave b..
wiped out. 1t is e-pe-t2J, h-Wev-
that the Germans Wi! rc.J.n to q
charge with renewed fry as they ae
sire to get within reach Of the frees