From what has been said of the course of the battle of Picardy, it can readily be seen that the task of the new Commander in Chief was one of the hardest ever given to a General on taking command of an army. After a disaster that had greatly impaired the availability of the troops of the Allies, General Foch was obliged to face the culminating effort of the greatest military machine in all history with a force placed under his command made up of armies that had never been in co-ordination--and after the collapse of one of these armies. Another serious element in the battle in Flanders is the fact that it has been necessary to send to this front also French troops from General Foch's reserves, making another drain upon these forces. The appointment of General Foch to the chief command literally on the battlefield was formally confirmed by the British and French Governments in the following notice which appeared in Le Temps April 14: The British Government and the French Government have agreed to give General Foch the title of Commander in Chief of the allied armies operating in France. The United States, after having greatly helped to bring about General Foch's command, has given a large part of the American force in France to be brigaded with the allied troops wherever there are weak spots. These factors in the military situation may make it possible for General Foch again to assemble a mobile army for a counterstroke against the German offensive. PHASES OF THE BATTLE The first days of April saw the end of the initial phase of the great drive. There were other gains that brought the Germans uncomfortably near Amiens, but the character of the fighting was similar to that of the last three years on the western front. The new line of battle extended southwest from Arras, beyond Albert, to the west of Moreuil, about nine miles south of Amiens. It lay to the west of Pierrepont and Montdidier, curving to the south of Noyon and to the region of the Oise. The greatest penetration into the terrain of the Allies had been about thirty-five miles. The Berlin War Office announced the capture of 90,000 prisoners and 1,300 guns in this first phase of the German offensive.