The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1916-10-27
French CLOSING
IN ON FORT VAUx.
The Allies Following Up Gains
at Verdun.
SAY CASUALTIES ARE SMALL
German Prisoners Captured in Drive
Already Number 1co Officers and
Nearly 5000 Men.

German Prisoners Captured in Drive
Already Number 1co Officers and
Nearly 5000 Men.
London, Oct 27.-The French troops
at Verdun are following up as fast a.
they can the advantage galne1 Dy
their sudden forward sweep on Tues
day, and, according to the latest intor
nation, have closed in to with less
than i've hundred yards of Vaux fort
Announcement of the capture Is mo
mentarily expected, thus completely
restoring the French line held on Feb
ruary 25.
German artillery shelled the French
in the region of Vaux and Douaumont
says the official report from Paris
but undertook no infantry attacks.
The German forces are reacting sc
slowly and with such apparent lack
of strength that, In the opinion OF
French military men, they no longer
possess a general reserve, but are
obliged to withdraw men from one
section of the front to reinforce an
other section.
Reports of the casualties which are
now in hand show the French losses,
were very light, considerably less
than the number of prisoners taken,
and a large proportion of them was
of cases in which the men were slight
ly wounded.
Thus far $500 unwounded German
prisoners have been counted, includ,
ing a hundred officers. Considerable
material was captured. The Germans
had massed guns of all calibres in the
Ravine of Death, all of which fell into
the hands of the French.
The French recaptured from the
German crown prince in six hours and
twenty minutes territory which it had
cost the Germans five months of the
hardest fighting and a half million
men to take earlier this year.
The order for the offensive was
given at 100 o'clock Tuesday morning.
For a couple of days the artillery prep
aration by the French batteries had
been Of the most extreme severi
Monday the Germans opened with
ct6Ty dfdlldUlc UdIlOly, bCiiONii6
French attack was about to be del1v-
cred. Not single Frenchman stirred.
Tuesday at dawn fresh tornado OF
fire by the French brought only fee
BILE reply, the Germans apparently re
garding the bombardment as mere
demonstration. The French infantry
meanwhile stood at arms, awaiting the
order to spring forward. Many OF
them had participated in the defence
of Verdun from the opening of the
great German attack in February.
Early in the day evidence came OF
the awfulness of the French artillery
fire in the shape of sixty German de-
serters, including two officers, who,
unable to stand the torrents of shells,
walked out and surrendered before the
infantry struggle began.
Suddenly the curtain Of French
shells which had pounded the German
trenches into fairness was lifted
slightly and dropped again with the
utmost precision just behind the Ger.
man line.
Officers waited, watches in hand, fcI
the chosen moment. Then the French
infantry, covered with mud and sand,
and soaked to the skin, went over the
top of their positions. They rapidly
gained the German lines, where they
found amid killed and wounded hun.
dreds of Germans who, half dazed,
mostly surrendered after slight re-
sistance.
The first work thus taken was the
Haudromont quarries, from which the
French were able to push onward with
an unexpected sweep. Thiaumont fell
early, and the Faussecote ravines
were taken. Then the attacking
waves rolled irrisistibly forward and
round the village and fort Of Douau.
mont, which were encircled just as
dusk fell at six o'clock and their gar
risons were taken prisoner.
Nightfall brought only a slight ces
sation from the artillery, who's
flashes lighted up the now clear sky
Along the field tracks, pitted with
shell holes. great patches Of prisoner:
were escorted to the rear. Many
were found covering in shell holes
until detachments of the French clear
Cd up the battlefield. -.