The main line of pressure was thus changed from south to southwest, and while the rest of the new front is relatively quiet, there have developed two bulges, which represent the acutest stress of the battle.
The first of these is between the Oise and the Aisne, directed toward the angle of the two rivers at Compiègne; the second, midway between the Aisne and the Marne, points westward along the Ourcq, toward the ancient town of Laferte-Milon.
In both these fields there has been a series of violent struggles this morning, with a notable increase of the power of resistance of the Allies. North of the Aisne the German assaults have been nearly everywhere broken. A slight advance by the Germans on the Ourcq has been won at the cost of very heavy losses, and the French are standing with splendid resolution along its small tributary, the Savieres, which marks the border of the forest region of Villers-Cotterets.
As the enemy has reached the heights northwest of Château-Thierry, where we watch them from the south side of the river, an attempt to push westward along the north bank of the Marne is to be expected.
THE ADVANCE CHECKED
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.