The Westward Push.
On the evening of May 31, the German High Command held a new war council, at which the Kaiser and Hindenburg declared in favour of the continuance of the offensive. The push towards the Marne having absorbed all the reserves of the corps engaged in the centre and to the east, the enemy were unable to increase their efforts in the region of Château-Thierry, where the French reserves were arriving in great numbers. They therefore decided to push westwards.
Attacking at midnight, the enemy met with but little success in the region of Soissons, but to the south-west of the town, where they still had large reserves, they reached the Savières Stream and the Dammard-Hautevesnes-Bussiares-Etrepilly line on the evening of June 1. The 7th and 11th French Corps and the 2nd Cavalry Corps counter-attacked, and made the enemy pay dearly for their advance in this region.
On the same day, the Germans carried the northern side of Château-Thierry, defended to the last by the French Colonial Division (General Marchand) and the motorised machine-gun battalion of the 3rd American Division which, later, prevented them from crossing the Marne.
On the east, the fighting was less fierce, but the 120th Division (General Mordacq), in defending the wooded slopes in front of Cuchery, sustained very bitter fighting. At the end of the line the Colonials prevented any enemy advance in the direction of Rheims.
On June 2 the enemy’s plan was made clear. While their principal efforts were directed westwards, south of the Aisne they reached Missy-aux-Bois, and lower down heavy fighting took place in the afternoon on both banks of the Ourcq. French cavalry, fighting on foot, drove back the enemy with fine dash to the south of Dammard, but were compelled to fall back in the evening, the enemy having received reinforcements.
On the 3rd the Germans launched a general attack against the Villers-Cotterets Wood, between the Aisne and the Ourcq. All their available reserves (three divisions of fresh troops) attacked with the first-line divisions. To the north, they carried Missy-aux-Bois and progressed beyond it, and after sustaining very heavy casualties reached Amblény and Dommiers, where they were checked by French reinforcements. Lower down, they reached Longpont, and advancing along the Ourcq, south of the wood, progressed towards La Ferté-Milon via Troësnes. In the evening, after heavy losses, they were held up on the Montaigu-Dommiers-Longpont line, thus leaving Villers-Cotterets Woods still intact.
