GENERAL MANGIN.
The objective was the Fére-en-Tardenois Railway, the only line of communication of the hundreds of thousands of Germans massed in the Château-Thierry “pocket.” Should this railway be captured or cut by gun-fire, the German armies would no longer be able to maintain themselves south of the Vesle.
From the Aisne to the Marne, the German front was held by part of the 7th Army (Von Boehn), i.e. twelve divisions in echelons and eight divisions in reserve.
Opposing these forces, from north to south, were:—
The 10th Army (General Mangin), from the Aisne to the Ourcq, comprising the 1st, 20th, 30th, and 11th French Corps, 1st and 2nd American Divisions, and the 15th Scottish Division.