On October 11th the French Intelligence Bureau reported that "it is impossible for the enemy, with the forces that he has at present in line, to stop and face any considerable attack for an appreciable time." On October 4th, the day after Hindenburg's letter to Prince Max, the German Chancellor cabled to President Wilson, asking for an Armistice.
_Already, on September 28th_, in the very midst of the British attack on the Hindenburg line, and on the morrow of General Gouraud's and General Pershing's first advances in Champagne and the Argonne, the German Command had warned the Chancellor that this step must be taken, and from October 9th onward there was no more heart left in the German Armies.

The "prisoners" line in the chart,[10] brought daily up to date at the Headquarters of the British Army, shows what the demoralisation had become in the German ranks.

After the British battle of the Sambre (November 4th) there were practically no reserves left, and Marshal Foch had plans in store which, had there been any further resistance, must have led to the wholesale capitulation of all that was left of the German Armies.
[10] See reproduction.
* * * * * So in ignominy and shame the German onslaught on the liberties of Europe came--militarily--to its bitter end.

The long-drawn agony of four and a half years was over, and the "wearing-out battle" had done its work.

Now, six months later, we are in the midst of that stern Epilogue--in which a leagued Europe and America are dictating to Germany the penalties by which alone she may purge her desperate offence.