_On June 3 Mr Perris was more optimistic than at any time since the
battle began. He wrote as follows:_
There is a slackening in the violence of the battle. Yesterday's
fighting was the most equal I have seen in this stage of the offensive.
We lost Faverolles again--this village has since been recaptured--but
regained Hill 163, just west of the village of Passy, and broke attacks
against Corcy, Troesnes, and Torcy. It is to be expected that the
enemy will make new efforts to destroy the French bastion on the bare
plateaus between the Aisne and the Ourcq.
Local currents of fortune are also in the nature of things, according
as one side or the other decides to throw its local reserves upon this
or that point. So far as the intentions of the German command have been
revealed, however, it may now be said that the position is in hand at
the end of the first week of this third act of the German offensive.
What is the outlook? By lengthy preparation aimed at an unlikely sector
the enemy gained ground to nearly as large an extent as in the first
act. In the last week of March von Hutier pierced from St. Quentin to
Montdidier, say, thirty-five miles. In the last week von Boehm advanced
from the Ailette to Château-Thierry, about thirty miles, on a similar
length of front. It is too early to attempt comparison of the cost of
the two enterprises in losses and exhaustion.
The German staff seems to have counted on employing forty-five
divisions in the Aisne offensive. Before the end of last week this
figure had been exceeded. No essential objective has been attained,
and none has been approached as nearly as in the two northern phases
of the offensive. Concentration, not dispersal, of effort is the means
to a quick decision. If Germany were not pressed for time and could be
content with partial victories, she might be satisfied, but Germany is
decidedly pressed for time, and only decisive actions now count.
The Americans are coming into the battlefront, and will presently be
there in force. This front now extends over 200 miles. The superiority
of aggressive force given by the collapse of Russia and Rumania is
ebbing away.