The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1916-04-27
YERDuN BATTLE 900.
WORST OF WAR
NOTHING 50 FAR COMPARABLE
WITH DEAD MAN FIGHT. =.
HAS RACED FOR THIRTY HOURS
French Regain Positions on Shell
Swept Height and kin Four
Thousand Out Of Ten Thou.
sand In One Brigade.

sand in One Brigade.
Parig, April 24.--Nothing in this
war so far is comparable to the stu
pendous fury of the Mort Homms
dead NAM battle, which has been
raging for the. last thirty hours.
The German crown prince Is piling
up regiment after regiment on the
blood drenchsd slopes OF that sinister
hill, which is likely to prove the
graveyard of the German hopes OF,
capturing Verdun.
Today q clear account of the course
Of the battle during the past week
reached me. ...
At the beginning Of the week the
French held the crest of Dead Man,
but the crown princes battery swept
II with such hellish FIRE that Gen
eral Petain Withdrew his front line to
the southwest, south and southeast
slopes. s.,. ;.... a.
The Germans at that time held the
north and northwest slopes and a po-
sition similar to that at Hartmanns'
weilerkopf was established with both
sides unable to occupy the summit.
On Thursday, however, General Pc
tain sprung surprise attack on the
northern slopes, which gave him the
German trenches, his troops holding
them against several sharp counter
attacks, g., a4a' H,s,., f..
nj nnfn IN
the result OF Thursdays battle az
final, and on Friday night he delivered
series Of staccato blows, which last
ed until dawn. During this fighting
some OF the Saxons gained possession
Of General Petsins most advanced
trenches on the northern slopes, but
q speedy counter-attack threw them
out. .r..... .... 80 ss.-.
After this repulse to his infantry
the crown prince ordered his guns
into action. All morning furious fire
covered every inch of the terrain be-
tween Mort Homme and the Bethin-
court brook.
At p. IN. the Smelling ceased and
, brigade Of hardy Silesians were OF.
dered to regain the northern slopes OF
Mort Homme. -
One. regiment leaped from their
| trenches and dashed across the in
/ terVsl between the trenches, but so
completely did the French cannon and
machine guns cover the ground that
! the attack was doomed to instant fail.
ure.
A second regiment of Silesians was
then ordered to advance. 1t got fur
= Their than the first, only to suffer heav'
! Ter losses. The SilesiGns fell thick
and fast until the survivors dropped
to their stomachs and crawled back
to their own trenches.
This brigade's losses are estimated
/ at 40 per cent, or 1000 men. And
+ General Petain still holds Mort
Homme in firm grip.
The lesson OF all the fighting In the
latter part of the week is that the
Germans are now powerless to quell
| the French gunfire and 1t Is not an
/ exaggeration to say that General Pc.
tain now has decisive superiority in
! this vital respect. In other words, the
Easter battle has shown, once and for
all, that the crown prince cannot take
Verdun.
A bloody episode before Fort Vaux
on the eve of Good Friday demon.
strated as clearly as the Mort Homnne
battle the deadly work OF the French
! batteries.
The Prussian general commanding
| there packed his trenches with 10000
men in readiness for a great attack
but a few minutes before it was
planned to open word reached the
French commander of the. impending
danger.
A swift telephone message to the
! rear unleashed every French gun, and
within sixty seconds their fire was
concentrated to a nicely ON the com
pact mass of Germans huddled in
their trenches in momentary expecta,
ton of an order to attack,
Every shell took terrible toll in
this work of slaughter and the whole
brigade instead of attempting to
storm Fort Vaux had to set to the
! raor IN raPnrm