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his army had been so depleted in personnel that he would be unable to resist a heavy counter-attack of the Germans which was, he believed, about to be delivered.

The result of all these feints was to cause a great deal of uneasiness on the part of the Germans. Their troops were marched back and forth to points that they believed were threatened. We had completely taken over the "power of initiative"; they were on the defensive and had to wait for us to attack. There was one decided thing they did do, however. They well knew that we were going to hit in the direction of Treves Gap, somewhere east of the Argonne. Their air service could cover this whole area from a central point, and, in addition, act against the flank of the French Fourth Army west of the Argonne Forest, in the Champagne. Furthermore, to an army on the defensive or retreating, an air service is of the greatest use because it is the only branch that may seize the offensive and hold it against advancing enemy troops that necessarily have to use the roads in going forward. Also the faster an army advances, particularly in a rough and shell-torn country, such as this area was, the harder it is for the pursuer to build his aerodromes and keep his aviation up with his troops. The amount of fuel that our aeroplanes could carry was little more than for two hours. If our aerodromes were an hour's flight from the lines and an hour back, we could do nothing, whereas they, on the defensive, would be falling back on their own aerodromes and consequently be getting nearer and nearer to them. Therefore, the Germans decided to concentrate the bulk of their whole aviation against our front. 

From our estimate of the situation we had considered it certain that this would happen. Now our air reconnaissance told us that it was in progress. 

The high command had decided that, jointly with our attack in the Argonne, the French Army, under General Gouroud, would attack in the Champagne. This necessitated an additional change in the arrangement of