24/7/1918 Foch meets the Allied commanders, calls for them to go on the attack #1918Live

On the Western Front the tide appears to be turning in favour of the Allies. The German Marne-Champagne offensive has failed and now a French-led counter-attack is recapturing lost ground in the Marne sector. Meanwhile the balance of forces is becoming ever more favourable to the Allies as thousands of US troops continue to arrive in France every day while tanks and aircraft pour out of British and French factories.

Today Allied military leaders meet at Bombon, the headquarters of Foch, the Western Front generalissimo. Foch and Weygand, his chief of staff, greet Haig, Pétain and Pershing, the three Allied commanders. Weygand and Foch argue that the time has come for the Allies to go on the offensive, proposing a rolling series of assaults to push the Germans away from vital railway lines and pave the way for eventual Allied victory.

Haig and Pétain are both wary…