hing only occasional drives. The same held good for the French. It
appeared that each side was content to rest on its laurels, biding the
time when a grand assault could be delivered with some degree of
effectiveness.

The fighting was intermittent. It came spasmodically. Each side had
fought itself out and had paused for breath. What advantage there had
been, all things considered, rested with French arms. The losses on both
sides, in killed and wounded, had been enormous--almost beyond
comprehension. The number of prisoners taken by the French was large.
Many French troops also had been captured, but not so many as Germans.
Also, the French having been the defenders for the most part, they had
suffered less in killed and wounded than had the foe.

This, then, was the result of the battle of Verdun six months after it
had begun. There had been no decisive victory. Each side retained its
positions, but each was ready to strike whenever the opportune moment
presented itself.

Even while the fighting at Verdun was at its height there came the
whisper of a grand offensive to be launched by the Allies. The whisper
became louder as the days passed. There was more talk of Roumania and
Greece throwing their armies to the support of the Allies, thus forming a
steel cordon around the Central powers and their smaller allies, Bulgaria
and Turkey, and forcing the Germans to shorten their lines. In the
eastern war theater the Russians again were on the advance and were
pushing the Germans and Austrians hard, threatening for a second time to
invade Galicia and the plains of Hungary. It began to appear that the end
was in sight.

Italy, too, had launched a new offensive with Trieste as the objective
and the driving power of the Italian troops was beginning to tell. It
began to appear that the Central powers must before long be placed upon
the defensive in all war zones.

The world waited impatiently for the opening of the grand allied
offensive that, it was expected, would be delivered simultaneously on all
fronts. It was felt that it would not be long coming. There was talk of a
new great field gun perfected by Great Britain--a gun that would be more
effective than the German 42-centimetres--but so far it had come to play
no part in the struggle.

But of all battles, land or sea, that had been fought in the greatest war
of history, the battle of Verdun stood head and shoulders as the most
important. It was the greatest and blo