The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-21
SIEGE,
WORLD GREATEST.
YEAR OLD TODAY
Failure Sounded Death KneH to
German Hopes.
100000 of Her Best Soldiers
Died on Cory Field.
NO GAIN APPARENT NOW
Both Armies Hold Positions
They Did a Year Ago.
SVerdun Defense Brilliant Page
in French History.
100000 of Her Best Soldiers
Died on Cory Field.
NO GAIN APPARENT NOW
Both Armies Hold Positions
They Did a Year Ago.
rVerdun Defense Brilliant Page
in French History.
(BY HENRY WCoD1

With the French Armies at Yer
dun, Feb. 21.-One year ago today
started the German assault on Verdun.
Twelve months of tho most gigantic
siege Operations IL the history of man
kind have passed-and today the
French occupy almost precisely the
same positions they did at 7:15 a. M,
February 21, 1915. when the German
guns began their roar of artillery
preparation.
Z sssWithin one year Verdun has sound
{. err the death knell of Germans hopes
of capture. Seven hundred thousand
" her choicest soldiers have gone
10 death in vain efforts to realize the
German crown princes fondest hopes
The quantity of war material utilized
land destroyed in this titanic
twelve months has been greater than
ever 50 utilized in any preceding
battle.
French Turn on Bcsicgers.
For the first time in history also,
the defenders OF a beIeaguered fort
SIS have with stood the maximum eff
fort of their assailants-and then,
taking the offensive. themselves have
completely liberated their citadel.
This page N French history has
not betl written however. without
tracing mother earth marks that
nay take as many years to efface
as will be 'requi.ed to wipe out from
the Finds of sorrowing thousands the
memory of loved ones who went down
in the glorious defense.
! The battle field of Verdun breathes
from every square inch Of its surface
the ineffaceable marks of the titanic
struggle that is still CONFUSING the
entire soil. Some marks may be OBJ
liberated in time, but Others includ-
ing complete sterility of soil, may last
forever.
1900 CannOns Opened Attack.
JtThe roar of German artillery began
oearly in the morning on February 21,
1915, and before long resulted in a
ruassing of pieces of all calibers that
SftnaIly reached $500 in number, the
greatest artillery concentration in the
worlds history.
= TVerdun then was pastoral. Altho
ranking as one of the worlds great
est fortresses, the whole aspect of the
country was peaceful. Its fortifica-
tons were hidden beneath rolling
green hills.
But now a terrible mark stretches
across what were these fair lands. It
extends on both sides of the Mouse.
marking on the north the line where
the Germans began their assault and
on the south by the line nearest Yer
dun which they attained.
Graveyard of Crown Princes Hopes.
1t is a deep, black, blood soaked
cash. 1t begins on the west bank of
crossing the river. run to near Abau-
court. 1t is between twelve and fiji
teen miles in length. In width It
varies from a few hundred yards at
those points where the Germans made
least Roadway to a maximum depth
of three miles. where in their six
months of struggling on the offensive
the Germans made their greatest APP
proach. Within the limits of this
narrow, crooked strip of land are
found Morthomme, Hill 304, Crows
wood 'Cumieres, Douaumont, Thiau-
mont Vaux. Fleury, Chenois and a
score of other woods, Froideterre,
Pepper hill and a dozen other spots
fought over for days and weeks and
months. This IS the graveyard of the
crown princes hopes, too.
There is nothing in this strip to
meet the eye but shell churned mud
and mud of such impalpable frag-
ments of earth. stone, timber and hu-
man bodies that 4 chemical analysis
MOULD be necessary to determine what
the fra gments are. The strip is one
vast pockmarked area. 1t is imp
mated with the decaying flesh of its
dead and with slimpy, putrid water i'll
the craters.
A Million Dead Hero.
Those who died on this strip-and
the number mounts to more than a
million had little. if any chance of
ever finding another grave. Any eff
fort to carry off the dead meant
merely an additional sacrifice of life.
Before any human being could arrive
to- carry off dead soldier it was far
more probable that the body would be
struck by shell and driven deep into
the muddy. bloodstained earth A lit
tie. later another She'll close by, might
bring it again to the surface. Others
might scatter the human fragments
everywhere. The elements of human
flesh now impregnate every cubic inch
of this soil Authorities doubt wheth-
er the strip will every again regain its
fertility. They think for years to
come it will show the horrors of the
days that are past by its monstrous
glaring lack of verdure, by its black