The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-06-15
EIGH |
HUNDRED
THOUSAND
o. Troop Shipments
ass That Mark and
More Are to be
Sent.
MILLION BY JULY FIRST
Limited Only by capaeity Of the
Boats to Carry Them
Over There at
n.>.A.A
MILLION BY JULY FIRST

UNITED Press Leased Wire Service.1
| WASHINGTON. June 15.-Overseas
troop shipment has passed the 500, 900
mark. according to an omcial an
lnounccment today.
| Making his initial weekly talk to the
war department correspondents, Chief
Of STAFF March revealed this cheering
figure Today. He also declared that
| all four offensive drives by the Ger
mans "have been stopped"
That more than million Americans
will have been sent to FraEce by July
| a, was the statement of Senator Kirby,
Arkansas, following tho weekly meet
ing today between the senate military
committee and the war council.
The German advances, General
March declared have stretched the al
| lied lfzo an extra sixty-six miles. Be
Ecfuse or this "the importance of get
ting Americans over is pre-eminent.
We have now passed the 100000 mark
| in troop shipment overseas. The SOO.-
900 troops include combatants, medi-
cal service, service in the rear-all the
units which go to make up an army.
Any announcement from the war de-
partment will include all kinds neces-
sarv for the army"
The number of troops being sent
across now, he added, is limited only
| by capacity of the boats to carry
them and 1--WE intend to keep that up
He declined to predict when the al
| tlied-American forces would have a
numerical superiority. This question,
| he suggested, involved a considera-
| tion of how many troops the Germans
had at the outset and how many po-
tential divisions might be stripped
| from the eastern front.
Reviewing the military situation
from March 21 onward, March declar-
! ed that "the activity now is toward
Paris" but that the channel ports
first, and Paris second, constitute the
obvious objectives of the Boche.
rThe four drives starting March 21.
April 9, May 27 and June 9, are all
parts of a common scheme of an Of
fensive," he said.
seYou see a succession of attacks.
| the first being thirty-six miles in Pic
ardy, the next thirteen miles in Flan-
ders. the third thirty-eight miles to
the Marne and the present five and a
half and six miles.
"One of the striking features
of this whole advance is the extent OF
the front which the allies have had to
cover as a result of the German pro-
gress. The total stretching of the line
from Rheims to the sea is sixty-six
miles. In order to hold that extra line,
the allies had to have more troops
than at the start.
''In these two drives there were two
obvious detectives. The first was to
reach the channel ports. thus compell-
I ing the English in shipping troops to
go further to sea, making the journey
longer and more dangerous.
The second was Paris, which be-
cause of sentimental attachment OF
the French for it, was of strategic i'm
portance.
"All these drives have been stopped
"The last advance is more straight
ening out of the German line than a
military movement with a definite OBJ
jective such IS Paris. Along this
! line was re-entrant angle from which
could be made dang erous attacks on
the Marne f1anks. For this reason it
was most advantageous for Germany
to get the line Strengthened out
According to the last information
we had, the Germans were still attack
ing west of scissors endeavoring 70
straighten out along the general front.
'In such a case, where there is a
longer line and such strong attacks.
the Importance of getting Americans
over is pre-eminent.
tThe matters of the numbers of en-
emy troops on the western front is a
question that must be considered with
reference to the divisions which have
been known to be there all along and
also with reference to the potential