Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-15
100000 American
Soldiers Abroad
Conh,. aed from Page One

NOUtliIeO from Thko OUe
six more miles of front between Rheims
and the sea than they did on the 21st
of March
The German advances. General March
declared, have stretched the Allied line
an extra sixty-six miles. Because of
this, the. importance of getting Amer
leans over is pre-eminent. We have now
passed the 100000 mark in troop ship
ment overseas. The 100000 troops in
clude combatants. medical service serv-
ice In the rear-all the units which go to
make up an army. Any announcement
from the War Department will include
all kinds necessary for the army.
1.-The number of troops being sent
across now" he added. ''is limited only
by the capacity Of the boats to carry
them. and we intend to keep that up"
The four drives starting March 81.
April Q. May 81 and June 9 are all
parts of a common scheme of an Of
fensive," he said.
You see a succession of attacks,
the first being thirty-six miles in
Picardy, the next thirteen miles In
Flanders. the third thirty-eight miles
to the Marne and the present, between
five and a half and six miles.
"One of the many 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 prop
ress 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.
I'm these two drives there were two
obvious objectives. The first was to
reach the channel ports, thus compelling
the English. In shipping troops to go
further out to sea, making the journey
longer and more dangerous.
1.-The second was Paris. which, because
of the sentimental attachment of the
French for 1t. was OF strategic import
ance.
IAN these drives have been stopped.
Trying to straiEhten Line
THE last advance IL more a straight
ening of the German line than a military
movement with a definite objective such
as Paris. Along this line was re-en-
Strant angle from which could be made
dangerous attacks on the Oise tanks.
For this reason 1t was most advantage
Gus for Germany to get the line straight
ened out. -
According to the last Information we
had the Germans were still attacking
west of Scissors, endeavoring to
straighten out along the general front,
In such a case. where there is
longer line and such strong attacks
the importance of getting Americans
| over is pre-eminent.
"The matter of the numbers Of enemy
| troops on the western front Is ques-
ton that must be considered with ref
erence to the divisions which have peen
| known to be there all along and also
| with reference to the potential divisions
which might be brought from the east
| front. 1t is impossible to predict To-Day
| when mastering superiority VIII De IN
the hands of the Allies But the number
of troops we are sending across now Is
limited only by the capacity or the
boats to carry them and we intend to
keep that up.
| The last drive, beginning June. had
for it's aim the Strengthening OF the
German line between the apex OF the
Amiens salient and the ape Noi the
IMarne salient. This drive nad oeeh
stopped, the General said, and he sug-
eested that Hindenubrg could have no
more important orwk Immediately than
1.firishing up the Strengthening out OF the
line. The reasons General March gave
were defensive. The bulge In the Al
lied line there afforded an opportunity
for counter-attack But there Is also
an important offensive reason for TINS.
Hindenburg will want to carry ms iatest
/ drive further forward Whe" TUG i'',e
is Strengthened there. the Amiens tri-
angle and the Marne triangle VIII ooth
, be thrown into one deep indentation into
the Allied line.
Parts Of Big Offensive
General March's review of the wal
since the Amiens drive began was In
teresting. especially because he treatet
all the German efforts as parts OF ON
great offensive. There was evioenti.
no disposition on his mind to regar'
the Germans as making drive her'
and then drive there. as the oppor
tunity arose. They had MADE lou
, drives. but those four drives were a.
, part of one single plan. which had two
detectives, one to cripple England b!
the taking Of the Channel ports. ant
the other to dishesrten and handicAl
France by the taking Of the cspitai O
the country. q \ S,