Though outnumbered, the French have given a fine account of themselves, breaking repeated assaults of the enemy, who is reported to have got into the villages of Coeuvre and St. Pierre, a feat more than counterbalanced by the French advance at Damard, further south on the border of Villers-Cotterets Forest, and the admirable action of the Americans on the ground recently taken by them in Clignon Valley. This, however, is not the best sign for the fifth day of the offensive. Von Hutier's thrust from the north toward Compiègne was by far the most threatening of the numerous lines of attack the German command has now opened. It has been brought to a stop by reactions of the French left and centre, and was this morning contained, as we may hope definitely, from the Mery Plateau and along the course of the Matz. ENEMY'S FEVERISH HASTE The feverish haste with which the enemy's attacks are multiplied as the field of the offensive is enlarged, speaks eloquently of the conscious need to bring the grand adventure to a speedy climax. But this haste involves heavy moral as well as numerical usury. Instead of a full normal period for refilling and new equipment, including rest at the rear, or in a quiet sector, and a course of fresh training being given to a division withdrawn from the line owing to its losses, it is hurriedly reconstituted and pushed back into the battlefront after as few days as possible. Up to now the German armies have been sustained, not only by reinforcements from Russia, but by the long rest of the Winter months; otherwise they could not have accomplished what they have done. These sources of strength are being rapidly exhausted. The human material--cannon food--is failing in quality. The field depots have been emptied of recruits. Men from the depots in Germany are rushed to the front. Cavalry officers are dismounted to fill gaps in the infantry. Men detached for special work are called back to their units, and still the war god is unsatisfied. Incorporation of the 1920 class began in April and May. Miners and mechanics are again turned into the fighting ranks, ill as they can be spared from industry. It is probable that not a division has been left in the east that would be fit for the western front. Wounded men and invalids imperfectly cured are pressed back into service. And behind the armies thus replenished there is the nation, hungry, enfeebled, terrorized, uttering words of despair even in its letters to the front. Ludendorff may well hurry! DEFENSE OF COURCELLES