voice replies in muffled tones as though telling a secret: "All well, Colonel, they shall not pass". He goes on his way continuing his rounds "How goes it?" and from each dark shell-hole rises the same secret whisper.

At the aid post of the fort or Tavannes, two wounded men and a runner leaving the "furnace".

Their privations and sufferings are written on their wan faces.

"Where was that? At Mort-Homme or Froideterre? At Haudromont farm or Chapelle Sainte-Fine? It makes no difference! It was "in front of Verdun, one day" any day you like in this battle, in which so many days were alike, and these innumerable stories, so magnificent that no poet could have had the genius to invent one of them, these stories—each one so immortal—are all as alike in their essentials as were the countless actions in this "battle of annihilation" (Joseph Bédier: L'Effort français).

In the wood of Les Fosses. A runner on a track.

THE IMPORTANT PHASES OF THE BATTLE OF VERDUN

February 21st-25th 1916.—The central attack.

March-April 1916.—The attack on the flanks.

May-September 1916.—The battle of attrition.

The central attack (February 21st-25th) endangered the position of Verdun but the arrival of the first French reinforcements saved the place.

The enemy widened his attacking front, but his effort to outflank the position was a failure.

The defence was reorganised, road and rail taking their part in the battle. The enemy's attempts at attrition on the spot were a failure.

On July 1st the allied offensive was launched on the Somme.