_Walter Duranty, in reviewing the fourth phase of the offensive, sent
the following cable dispatch to_ THE NEW YORK TIMES _on June 13:_
It has been said that the secret of Pétain's rise in three years from
the position of Colonel to Commander in Chief of the French armies
is his knowledge of when to launch counterattacks. The ability to
select the right place and time for a sudden stroke which nullifies
the enemy's gains has been the attribute of great captains throughout
history, and is one of the cardinal bases of successful strategy. In
that one word, counterattacks, lies the explanation of the triumphant
French resistance in the present battle against vastly superior
numbers--that and the indomitable courage of the defenders.
The master tactician commanding the army whose sector has been assailed
has so imbued his subordinates with his own principles that there is
hardly a position in the whole range of operations that the Germans
have not been forced to take two or three times over. For it is not
only the counter-stroke on a grand scale, like that which has won
back nearly all the Germans' gains on the left wing, which counts in
a struggle of this kind, where the losses inflicted on the enemy are
far more important than a hill or a village saved or abandoned. It is
the unexpected change from defense to attack, at the psychological
moment, that has maintained the spirit of the French troops and smashed
their weakened assailants just as they were thinking their success was
assured.
As the situation stands today [June 13] the Allies have won a great
victory in one of the hardest fought battles of the war, and a
carefully planned move in Hindenburg's desperate struggle against time
has been met and nullified. The Germans have also learned to their cost
that the American troops are already to be counted with. The enemy,
whose morale is daily weakening under the strain of non-successes and
never-ending calls upon his strength, has received a bitter reminder of
the American menace, which more than any other factor is responsible
for his convulsive striving after a speedy decision.
[M. Tardieu, in a cablegram June 18 to the French High Commission at
Washington, stated that 80,000 Germans had been put out of action in
the Noyon-Montdidier offensive, and that General von Hutier had failed
completely to realize his objective--the capture of Compiègne.]