The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-06-16
MORE THAN S00,000 AMERICAN SOLDIERS
 ON FRENCH SOIL,
 SAYS GEN. MARCH
Continued from Page One,

l Itary Baker stated less than week ago that more than 70o,0oO had embarked. l The fact that the figure had increased approximately 100000 in less than seven l days drew a quick question as to when superiority in man power might be at i tained
 "The matter of the number of troops on the western front, General March replied lis a question that must be con sldered with reference not only to the enemy divisions which have been known to be there all along, but with the po- tential increase which might be attained | by bringing divisions from the eastern 1 front
 MAKES NO PREDICTION
 Ut is impossible to predict a day-say a month ahead, or any other definite be in the hands of the allies, but the number of troops we are sending across now is limited only by the capacity of the ships to carry them, and we intend to keep that up."
 l General March made it clear that there is no doubt in his mind or in that Of the allied military leaders that the chan nel ports are the main objective of the whole German effort In terse sentences and with quick motions toward the map 1 as he followed out the strategy of the one great battle, he outlined the situa- ton that General Foch is facing
 ONE GRAND SCHEME
 "The four drives he said. "one be- ginning March 21 the next April 9 and this map we see this red dotted line beginning June g, are all part of the common scheme of offensive. Looking at I this may, we see this red dotted line running down to the Swiss frontier, which represents the allied line when the Germans began their advance on March 21 Considering as 8 whole the success | sion of attacks, the first penetrated this lime some 36 miles into Picardy; the sec ond some 15 miles into Flanders, and the third distance of 3S miles further along the Marne, Under the present drive 1 the line has been penetrated an average distance of from five and half to six miles - l "One very striking feature in connec- | tiou with this whole advance is the ex- ltension of front which the allies have had to cover as a result The total stretching of the line from Rheims to the sea was 66 miles.
 1 .Tn order to hold that line, the allies have had to have more troops than they had at the start.
 "Obviously, the objective of the Ger man advance is, first the channel ports, which would make it necessary for England in shipping troops to France | to go further out to seat and longer distance, making the turn around longer and slowing up the movement, hand making it more dangerous; second, Paris, which, of course, is great strategic objective because of it's inn portance sentimentally and practically I to the people of France.
 ALL DRIVES STOPPED i All of these drives have been stepped. The last advance. the advance which we are now considering in. the daily. press, is more to straighten out the German line than it Is an advance lconsidered as military movement with a definite and important objec- tive-like Paris, for instance.
 Taking the general location of the Fadvance along the Disc, you will see that between the Picardy and Marne advance we have been holding re- entrant angle which furnishes the dis tance from which dangerous attack could be made on the flank of the Marne advance and the most desirable thing which Germany could have at this stage would be a straightening out of the line. That is apparently what she had in mind in beginning her ad- vance on June g. She succeeded in that moving forward for a distance of six miles, and the last information which
 
 she still is attacking with the idea of finally strengthening out her line along the general front which I have indi- cated to you.
 ACTIVITIES TOWARD PARIS
 "The activities of the Germans are now toward Paris, but as for the i'm portance of the objective from a mili- tary standpoint, the capture of the channel ports would have more i'm mediate effect upon the prosecution of the war than a movement on Paris"
 In connection gith the advance to- ward Paris, however. General March pointed out that the farthest point they had thus far reached this year was 20 E miles farther from Paris than the point of their nearest approach to that city in 1914
 { While General March did not say so, it was evident that he anticipates fur ther efforts to complete the reduction of the Compiegne salient before the major movement toward the channel is resumed. Other officers feel that the