Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 92, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 April 1916 — GERMANS OPEN NINTH WEEK OF VERDUN BATTLE [ARTICLE]

GERMANS OPEN NINTH WEEK OF VERDUN BATTLE

100,000 Soldiers on Both Sides Killed, Wounded or Captured to Date, Is Report. London, April 16.—The most gigantic conflict in. the history of ihe world, the battle of Verdun, laa entered upon its ninth week. It is in many respects without precedent. The enormdus scale of the German preparations and execution of the attack, the unparalleled concentration of artillery and the sustained ferocity rff the fighting mark the battle as one of the greatest efforts of the war. Verdun has been rated as one of the strongest fortresses of Europe, a cornerstone of the French defenses against Germany. The evolution of military tactics during the war, however, and particularly the employment by the Germans cf long range howitzers carpable of reducing the greatest forts have done much to change the character of the Verdun campaign as compared with the earlier conceptions of what such a struggle might be. Before the battle opened the French partly dismantled their forts around Verdun and elsewhere around the fort.

In no previous battle were the losses so, high as those which have been estimated in the fighting around Verdun. These estimates, however, an not be regarded as conclusive evidence, for neither Germany nor France has announced its own casualties. The French war office has declarcd the Germans have lost 200,000 in killed, wounded and captured. The Germans state semi-officially that the French casualties number 150,000 killed and wounded and that 36,000 unwounded French prisoners have been taken. If these estimates are approximately correct, nearly 400,000 men have been eliminated as fighting units. The ground occupied by the Germans after 56 days of offensive operations, may be roughly calculated is 100 square miles. The Verdun drive was begun on Feb. 21 by the German army under Crown Prince Frederick William. The Germans are reported to have brought up seven army corps, or 280,000 men, to reinforce the troops which had been in service there, and subsequently, according to French accounts, other large bodies of reserves were called

in. - After an unparalleled -artillery bombardment by way of preparation, the infantry attack was launched. Within the first ten days of battle the French lost Haumont, Samagneaux, Brabant, Omes, Beaumont, Chambrettes, Marmont, Cotellate and numerous other outer positions and, most important of all, Fort Douaumont. These positions lie of the Meuse and north, northeast and east ocf Verdun. The failure of the Germans to break the French line in the general offensive of last week led French correspondents to assert that the German offensive had been broken down. Dispatches from the -German front state the operations are being carried forward methodically in accordance with the preconceived plan, and with a full measure of the expected success for the German arms.