27, is as follows:
London, Feb. 26 (1916). A furious struggle has been in progress around
Fort de Douaumont which is an advance element of the old defensive
organization of Verdun fortresses. The position captured this morning
by the enemy after several fruitless assaults which cost him extremely
heavy losses, [Footnote: The French text says "pertes tres elevees."
Thus the English translation exaggerates the original text.] was
reached again and gone beyond by our troops, which all the attempts of
the enemy have not been able to push back."]
What had actually happened differed from both the French and German
accounts. While changing troops in the line, the position had somehow
been forgotten in a confusion of orders. Only a battery commander and
a few men remained in the fort. Some German soldiers, seeing the door
open, had crawled into the fort, and taken everyone inside prisoner. A
little later the French who were on the slopes of the hill were
horrified at being shot at from the fort. There had been no battle at
Douaumont and no losses. Nor had the French troops advanced beyond it
as the communiqu?s seemed to say. They were beyond it on either side,
to be sure, but the fort was in enemy hands.
Yet from the communiqu? everyone believed that the fort was half
surrounded. The words did not explicitly say so, but "the press, as
usual, forced the pace." Military writers concluded that the Germans
would soon have to surrender.
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