of forcing the enemy to make peace." How true this was is made plain by the details just published.

On September 25th--that is to say, the day before the British attack on the Hindenburg line, and the French and American attacks east and west of the Argonne--the Intelligence Department of the French General Staff reported to Marshal Foch that since July 15th, in the Marne salient, at St.Mihiel, and in the British battles of Amiens, Bapaume, and the Scarpe, the enemy had engaged 163 divisions.

His reserves were reduced to 68 divisions--as against 81 in July--and of these only 21 were fresh troops.

The German line had been shortened by 125 miles, but so weakened were the German Armies, that the same number of divisions had to be kept in the line as before the shortening--each division representing only some three-quarters of its former strength, and 16 divisions having been broken up to fill the ranks in those that remained.
_Following immediately on this report came the three converging attacks of the Allies._ On October 9th the German Army, under British pressure, abandoned the whole Hindenburg position, and entered upon a general retreat from the North Sea to the Meuse.

At that moment 44 of the German divisions in line were not to be depended on for further serious fighting, and there were only 22 divisions available to replace them, of which 15 were of inferior quality, holding "quiet" sectors.