ENEMY EXHAUSTED

No action took place during last night, which was everywhere comparatively calm. When it is considered that the ultimate venture into which the German Command has thrown half a million of its best men is in danger of becoming a fiasco, this failure to push on and keep pushing suggests that the armies of Von Einem in Champagne, Fritz von Below around Rheims, and Von Boehn on the Marne are more than a little exhausted by their first day’s labours and losses.

It was neither numbers nor quality that was wanting. About 56 of the best German divisions were engaged yesterday, 14 on either side of Rheims in the front line, and as many in the second line.

A thousand prisoners were taken in this region last night, 600 by the Americans. The front runs north-eastward to Mareuil-le-port, which is in the hands of our Allies, crosses the Marne to the east edge of Châtillon, and passes to Marfaux and Rheims. The defence of this latter sector on the vineclad slopes falling to the Marne is a feat on which the French and Italian contingents must be congratulated.