_In his dispatch dated June 5 Mr. Perris noted that a marked pause had
fallen on the battlefield. His comment was this:_
The pause in the enemy's adventure is a sign of weakness on his
part and of advantage to us. Germany is fighting against time. The
superiority she gained from the east is passing. The power of surprise
has been her greatest asset. After that everything depends for her on
speed in the exploitation of her success, and every delay is loss.
The next thing to remark is the great skill with which General Foch
has pursued what may be called his provisional Fabian strategy. With
surprise and superior reserves in the hands of the enemy, he had to
face a situation of extreme difficulty. To weaken other parts of the
front prematurely in order to defend the Aisne would have invited a
fresh blow in those other parts.
Two needs rose supreme--that of economizing men so as to hasten the
day when the Allies should have the superiority of forces necessary to
victory, and that of barring the road of the enemy toward every vital
objective. These objects have been attained, and if it should turn out
that the third act of the offensive is finished, this will mean that,
with all the unquestionable ability and daring of the German General
Staff, Foch has beaten them for the third time in the two and a half
months of their maximum power.
In any case, nothing of first-class importance has been lost. The
allied front has not been broken. The roads to Paris, toward which
the offensive was turned on the third day, are blocked. The ruins of
Rheims are nearly indefensible, but the road to Châlons is barred. The
plateaus between the Oise and the Aisne and between the Aisne and the
Ourcq stand like bastions of a vast fortress. Château-Thierry is lost,
and the eastern railway and the high road are locally interrupted, but
the Marne and the Paris road beside it are covered.
Finally, the enemy has engaged fifty divisions of his reserves in this
battle, and many of them have suffered very heavily.