'according to prisoners the German losses in the course of the attack have been considerable' . . . 'it is proved that the losses'. . .'the enemy exhausted by his losses has not renewed the attack'. . . Certain formulae, later abandoned because they had been overworked, were used each day: 'under our artillery and machine gun fire'. . . 'mowed down by our artillery and machine gun fire'. . .Constant repetition impressed the neutrals and Germany itself, and helped to create a bloody background in spite of the denials from Nauen (the German wireless) which tried vainly to destroy the bad effect of this perpetual repetition."[1]
The thesis of the French Command, which it wished to establish publicly by these reports, was formulated as follows for the guidance of the censors:
"This offensive engages the active forces of our opponent whose manpower is declining. We have learned that the class of 1916 is already at the front. There will remain the 1917 class already being called up, and the resources of the third category (men above forty-five, or convalescents). In a few weeks, the German forces exhausted by this effort, will find themselves confronted with all the forces of the coalition (ten millions against seven millions)."[2]
According to M. de Pierrefeu, the French command had converted itself to this belief. "By an extraordinary aberration of mind, only the attrition of the enemy was seen; it appeared that our forces were not subject to attrition. General Nivelle shared these ideas. We saw the result in 1917."
