The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-04-19
MORALE OF~ FRENCH
INSPIRATION TO ALL
Magnificent Defense OF Vcrdun Has
Raised Army to Pinnacle OF
Patriotic Enthusiasm.
GERMAN LOSSES 100000 MEN
CITY Itself a Wreck, Germans Smelling
It ConstantIy--Frcnch Meet Rail-
road shortage With Efficient Motor
Transports
Try STANLEY wAsHBURN.

Especial 10 the l. n S. and London
Times.)
Verdun, France. April 1S.~-The de-
Tense OF Verdun IS the story of the
character and morale Of heroic
army which. though taken IN tho
least expected quarter could not he
blasted out OF Its steady determine
ton TO resist. even though the Ger
mans have for weeks employed the
products Of the factories and sheir
human resources almost without In
terruption since their first attack.
with all this expenditure the GER
mans have only been able 10 bend
the defense at a cost at least double
what the capture ST Nerd1tn would
have been worth to them from a
strategic point Of view.
Through the courtesy OF the french
government every facility was placed
at my disposal TO enable me 10 OBJ
serve the situation todaS IN Nerdun.
The city today impressed me as one
Of the most depressing places l iraEe
vet encountered In the war zone,
The Germans. having failed. to realize
thelr aspirations Of breaking the
French defense outside OF the town,
have turned their attention to the
complete destruction Of the city 1t
self They have been pouring shells
into Verdun at the rate of 400 to 500
daily, taking one-quarter of the town
after another They have already
fired 10000 shells within forty days
4 Deserted City.
The streets were utterly deserted by
human beings except for an occasional
soldier hurrying with an urgent mes
sage. the scene being relieved only by
lonely dogs skulkng through the
a}leys Every window was barred.
ell hxsg4 Fn fny
rife detonations of the high explosive
shells These arrived about once every
two minutes with the sound OF express
trains Their landing was announced
by dctonation like the explosion of a
land mine. with clouds OF dust and de-
hr4s leaping into the air like the erup-
ton Of q volcano.
The calihrcs OF these ambassadors
If Tcutontc frightfulnegs apparently
range from s TO 3s centfmcters,
observed four of the. latter explode and
their arrival was extremely harrow
ing Five and stx-story buildings sim
ply me3t into piles OF debris, clouds Of
dust rising to a height of hundreds Of
feet
Accompanied by the governor OF the
fortress ] motored to an observation
point in one of the al iacent forts
where an excellent view OF the entire
terrain was obtsinaIble. Telescopes
made It possible TO see the Germans
hevond their lines. Save for the she'll
ing everywh ere, especially of tho town
itself. the day was relatively quiet,
German Losses 175. 200 or More.
II seems dinicult TO get an accurate
estimate az the German losses, but
from alt the sources questioned and
from observation OF the terrain here
compared with analogous territory on
the eastern front, where I know the
losses, pproximately, the Germans
must certainly have lost from 175,o00
to 100000 men stu. when one con-
siders the enormous numbers engaged
and the accuracy Of the French 1853.
1t Is possible that even more casual
ties may have resulted.
The most extraordinary feature OF
the entire defense has been the ca
pacity OF the French TO adapt them
selves 10 the situation IN the matter
0f transport, / an Informed that tne
y Germans had twelve lines OF ran feed
ing this front The French met the
rail shortage by motor transport
which, after the first few days, en-
abled them 10 fight with relatively
email handicap.
From personal observation during
% single day II seems impossible that
the German will be able to secure
any decisive advantages here without
losses which would be increasingly
com mensurate with their strategic
gains.
From the prisoners l was able to
talk with ] gathered that news OF the
Verdun failures is beginning to per-
Colate along the German front, re-
sultlnr IN great depression in the Ger
man lines
Before going to verdun spent two
days In the ArRonne district, visiting
Two separate corps, inspecting the first
line trenches and observation points.
Accompanied ny. the general COM
handing I obtained the entire organi-
cation Of one corps including the
transport, commi@ariate, intelligence
and all other departments and |
have never seen a more efficient or
Raui2ation, not even except the jap
anese army.
The morale Of the French soldiers
IS perfectly extraordinary. and it is
an inspiration to be with them