_On May 31 Mr. Perris described the extension of the battlefront during
the preceding twenty-four hours. He wrote:_
The battlefront now forms a vast triangle, the apex pointing markedly
toward Château-Thierry and less markedly toward Dormans. The west side
runs for about fifty miles from the Oise opposite Noyon to the Marne.
The east side runs back thirty miles to Rheims.
The enemy goes on multiplying his objective and distending his lines.
The military worth of this strategy is perhaps in inverse ratio to its
shown appearance on the map.
On the opposite flanks of the battlefield the allied forces have here
been drawn slightly back from the acute salient, marked by the two
trivial points named in a previous message, Betheny and Laneuvillette.
The ruins of Rheims thus become the corner of the allied defenses on
this line. I have explained that the city lies exposed in a saucer at
the southwestern corner of the Champagne and is completely dominated by
the allied crescent of high positions on the mountains of Rheims.