El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-07-15
Curtains OF Fire Preoent
Reaching Any Water
Near Trenches.
FORT VAUX UNDER
FIRE SINCE MARCH
Heroic Defence Continued
Until French Troops Be-
came Utterly Exhausted.

r ONDON. Eng. July 15.-H. Warner
Allen. correspondent for all the
~ British newspapers with thu
French army. sends the following &C
court OF the heroic defence Of Fort
v2uz. one of the principal positions be-
,.ore Verdun-
ENNne Of the most heroic incidents in
the defence Of Vaux is the story Of
. the entrenchment to the northwest Of
the tort. known as Fl, which was held
+ by the I0Ist line regiment. No sup
plies could he brought up. and thirs:
began to he the most terrible of foes,
but not a word of complaint was heard
One night q rocket was sent up to
Iask the French artillery 10 protect RI
with "a curtain OF shell. Unhappily' the
rsslSet missed fire and set fire to the
SUPPLY Of rockets in the depot Red
and green flames rose on all sides and
the trench was hidden in clouds OF
smoke The men. who did not know
what had happened were at loss to
understand Was the enemy attack
ing. they wondered. with flaming liq-
uids2 Had the French position been
turued9 But not a man lost his pres
ence Of mind Everyone set TO work
70 zemove cases Of grenades out Of
,dnSer from the fire
When tho fire was under control,
he weary men who had been fighting
j Z received a recompense for their Ia
Dors in the shape Of two gallons OF
water. which had been brought from
|Fremin Wood The precious liquid was
served out at once-just a mouthful
for each man
Rain Gives Relief.
1ut Fl was entirely isolated BY the
of
il. and thirst became a more and more
terrible enemy. Then there came a
rainstorm- Hastily sheets of canvas
were spread out TO catch the drops. and
drinking tins were set along the edge
rfIthe trenches
The fight went on all next day. ana
on June . Al 8 A. m the defenders OF
RI were relieved.
Meanwhile at Fort Naux itself the
situation was as follows On the north
OF the fort. on its right and on its
left. the Germans had pushed forward
Refreshments and then on the south
rn side they isolated the Fort with
+ curtain Of fire such as had never
before been seen It is estimated that
sine March the Germans nave never
irsd on the fort and its immediate
ne5ghoorhoOd less than 5000 heavy
shells DAY. and this figure increased
enormously during the last few days.
The fort Itself was completely demol-
ished: but in this hell-hOle a little
garrison under Maj Raynal, contin-
ued TO resist
Thirst at Verdun FrightfuI.
Throughout the battle of Nerdun
thirst has been one OF the most ter
RIBS trials TO which the soldiers have
9et-< submitted. Letters captured on
Tcrf'hau prisoners continually refer to
10 and the French could not escape 4 !
hardship that was common to both !
sartics-
The enemy advanced on the higher
ground but the French organized the |
pins Of the buildings inside the fort |
N every window, at every opening !
behind the debris Of a wall. machine |
ssns were placed; picked shots took |
IefuSe; and every German who reached |
u courtyard Of the fort was shot !
The Germans tried the experiment of |
biting down at the end Of a cord bas-
/ lets full Of Srenades and when these |
baskets were on q level with the win |
lows held by the French they dropped I
~ them a grenade with a time fuse |
f.d swung them in through the open
|iE 10 explode inside. But still the /
sarrison fought on.
Then the End
There is, however. a limit to human /
fndursnce- The last message sent by !
al kaynal ran as follows
We are near the end Officers and /
I0idiers have done their whole duty Z
4 i've. Ia France
IN the eth the Germans announced /
pat they had carried the whole fort 1
.ns made certain number Of IN !
9Anded prison ers- In truth they only /
|onnd few exhausted men lying in
lulns that we're no longer tenable.