The sun., 1916-12-17
BATTLE IS
Gernsans' Desperate Defence u,
Verdun Cru m tiled Under Attack.

From a star Correspondent o, ne associated
Press.
FErpEr Hut. Ncrdun Front, Dec. -
tvia chantilly. Dec. 16).-A short. sharp
battle brought to the French to-day their
! third smashing victory within u period
! Of two months in tho vicinity of Nerdun.
Every objective point 81 the French con-
manders was obtained with c~hronomctr.c
accuracy.
Although the Germans offered a dos.
pcrate defence. the attack was 80 pow
crful there was no w~lthstanding II. with
the result that the Germans were pushed
back along the line by the French. who
only ceased on orders when the OBJ
~jcctives had been gained.
Thousands Of German prisoners poured
into the French lines during the
day. including 200 officers, and large
groups are still arriving. The total
count already Is 1900. 'The latest
French official statement says the mum
Der OF prisoners exceeds 10000 one
division alone captured over 1900 Ger
mans within an hour. More than eighty
large and small German cannon were
G captured or destroyed and many others
are known to be buried.
Four Villages IN french Hands.
The villages Of Nachcrauville. Lowe
, mont and BesonvauN and Nardaumont
Wood are now In French hands. The
front over which the offensive was exc
cuted was ten kilometers long. When
the fighting ceased owing To the dark
ness the French advance had exceeded
an average Of three kilomcters along the
whole front. at various points rushing
further out and threatening the German
batteries. whose retreat was hindcrcd by
the bad condition Of the ground.
The battle began at 10 o'clock In the
morning with the left flank on Fort
Vaux. The correspondent OF the Assoc
ciatcd Press watched the engagement
from a dominating height. As the church
clock struck the hour every French gun
opened a storm Of steel. placing every
shot Immediately behind the German
front line. Meanwhile the French in
fantry made one Of its characteristic
dsshes and reached the village Of Nach-
Granville, where. utilizing the new
method Of infantry attack. they drove
the Germans from house to house until
the village was entirely in their hands.
Attack ..D-thmann's howl"
Advancing beyond the village. the
French attacked II German trench known
az "Rethmann's Bowl" which was
pierced after a hard tight and its occu-
pants made prisoners. Then up tho
slopes Of Pepper Iiill the ihfantrymcn
could hc seen making mctholical
progress. mtil at exactly an hour from
the start Tho twin crcsts Of this height
had been swept clear Of Germans. and
the rockets announced the French were
established there.
Gen. Mangin was again the principal
organizer Of the victory. in which he
followed his own example at bouaumont
and Fort aux by delivering irresistible
blows II the cher point ia the German
lines and hannering until his opponents
were forced to give ground. Gems.
.Nlvelle ana Pc,ain watched the en-
gagcinent, In which only Jour French
divisions participated. although IL ~
known the Germans had five divisions
engaged. from every regiment OF when
Prisoners were taken.
1t Is repor;cd without c~onfwmatinu
that several Of the German divisions
which took pa,t in the fighting wcrn hur-
ried from I.umanii to rejoln the Crown
Princes army and .r,; they were among
those suffering defeat.
The French losses during the attack
were unbelievably slight. The German
artillery seemed 10 fire at ra.dom. prob
ably d~isorganized by the abs ,nce of der