Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-03-28
REPETITION 0F
HISTORY SEEN IN
VERDUN ATTACK
Curious Similarity Is Noted
Between Present Struggle
and That in 1892 When
PruSSianS Captured Fortress

tAssoclated Press I0rresp0Ddence>
Paris, March l3.-History has re-
peatNl itself with curious fidelity to
detail In the struggle for Nerdun and
IN some Of its sldelights In 1892 as
in 1914 The Prussians approached the
fortress hy way Of longwy and in the
same month of August In 1892 as
wei as In 1917. Longwy fell after two
days Commandment. The Duke of
Brunswick avoided the armies Of the
Marquis de Lafayette and do Luckner
IN 1892, ana marched on Nerdun as
did the crown prince in 1914. In 1892
as In 1916. the king Of Prussia was a
spectator OF the assault Then rs in
1916. the Prussians took the route by
.Ormont and Iiaumont, and APP
preached the stronghold in exactly the
same sector as in 1915.
Goethe related the passage of the
troops through SamognCu%, August 30,
1872. TO bivouac al Bras lust south Of
the Cote du Poivrc pepper HilD. the
object Of furious German assaults IN
1915. Etain. Elk, Manheullos, as well
as Sam0gneux Were the scene Of oper-
ations and would, as today, have fig
ured in the official communique Of the
revolutionary government had there
been such thing.
France Iuprcpared
In 1872 as in 1914, France was un-
prepared for war. Legislators had
neglected to supply war material Yer
dun was armed with only four pieces
Of heavy artillery and had "A garrison
Of only $500 men; then as today the
cry was 1nore cannon--more ammu-
nition.' that was the demand made
to the revolutionary leaders by Lieu
tenant Colonel Galbaud. commanding
the fortresses. His cry was unheard,
and he solicited aud obtained from
Lafayette the privilege Of fighting in
the ranks,
Nicolas Joseph Beaurepalrc, who
succeeded him, Went to his post like
Il man approaching suicide. Assure
the legislative corps" he wrote. that
when the enemy has become master
of Verdun, Beaurepaire shall have
ceased TO live
The legislative assembly. impressed
by The fall of Longwy, sent 1000 rifles
to Nerdun--too late. The Prussian
commander had occupied the place
lin the name of Louis XVI, and Beau
repairo shot himself
The Prussians held Verdun in 1892
just long enough for KeIlermann and
Dumouriez to organize a counter-at-
tack.
Equipment of Garrison.
Nerdun has 140 pieces Of cannon
and was garrisoned by 5000 troops in
1870. II was again in the month of
August that the Prussians poured into
the Argonne. 1922 years almost day for
a.. Ia.
TO the Duke of Brunswick and the sui
eide of Beaurepaire
The fortress had clements Of both
strength and weakness then in the es-
timation Of SO good an authority as
Marshal Won Moltke himself. Thanks
to its high wallis and its deep bitches
filled with water" he said, "Nerdun
was in state to resist an assault alb
soutely. on the other hand it was
and dominated ON all sides
by heights at the feet of which were
villages and vineyards permitting the
besiegers to spproach very close to the
exterior works.
None of the forts of 19t4-1i-16 ex-
listed in 1870 The interior fortress
had to rely on its own strength That
the heroism of the garrison was equal
to that of the men who recaptured
Douaumont, Won Moltkc himself testi-
flies in his memoirs.
Fortress Recaptured.
During the night of October 49,"
he wrote. while the wind blew hur-
riCane, the advance guards on the
HayvauX hill were surprised ana the
guns of our battery spiked. The
2Sth there was an even more import
ant sortie by the garrison. The
French climbed the Mount St Michael,
north of the fortress, destroyed the
parapets and shelters from which we
were able TO withdraw our guns. An
other detachment attacked the Hay
yaux hin again and put out of action
the guns posted there and which we
could not withdraw because Of the
soaked ground.
Then, as today, the assalants re-
CURED reinforeements to reduce the
valiant defenders of Nerdun a great
between 1870 and today is
that while when the losses were sixty
TO seventy per day, they now run into
the tens OF thousands.
Nerdun resisted in 1870 until over
whelmed at the end OF October 10y the
in men and guns that
came to the pfussians after the fall of
Metz.
The name OF "Verdun" as it is pro-
nounced today in every household in
France is a concentrated expression of
all the higher sentiments Of the gallic
race. There is the tenderness of an
affection little suggestive of the cold
ness Of stone and mortar; there Is ven
Grafton for 4 superior force that may
be counted upon, there are pride,
gratitude and reinsurance. for Yer
dun has wider application than the
name Of fortress to the French it
means the army as well as the town,
apart from the ramparts and the
meats, that modern science mas rem
dered useless.
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