North of the Aisne the crown prince's forces succeeded in capturing Mont de Choissy (northwest of Soissons) after strong attacks, but only held it a short time when they were driven out by French bayonets.
During the night of June 1, 1918, operating between Soissons and Château-Thierry, the Germans with strong forces and operating in a five-mile front, made a gain of three miles over the previous day's advance, occupying the towns of Longpont, Corcy, Faverolles, and Troesnes. Later all these places but Faverolles were won back by the French.
On the Marne the situation remained unchanged. The Germans were in possession of the eastern half of Château-Thierry while the French occupied the western half of the town.
Northwest of this place, in the Neuilly St. Front region, the French made some headway, driving the Germans back on Passy-en-Valois and capturing an elevation known as Hill 163.
The German push had now slowed down. They continued local attacks that failed in every instance. The French held firm north of the Aisne, the most important sector of the battle front. The problem confronting the Germans was to link up the front in Picardy with that along the Aisne, which would extend their positions at Amiens, but this they had failed to accomplish. South of the Forest of Villers-Cotterets they had made repeated efforts to extend their positions along the Marne and throw the French back toward the Ourcq, but met only with defeat. It was along this stretch of the line that the American troops, as noted elsewhere, gave the French such valuable support.
In Flanders the situation of the German forces was much the same; they were held in a wedge, the sides of which they could not break through, one heel of the wedge being on high ground west of Kemmel and the other on the ridge in the rear of Béthune.
In the Aisne fighting area Germans were also held in a wedge much larger in extent, one heel of which was about Rheims, and the other west of Soissons. From this position the Germans must sooner or later endeavor to extricate themselves.
One of the most important factors in the battle, the mastery of the air, had passed to the Allies. German troops attacking or on the march were harried without respite by the Allies' pilots flying at tree-top level. Day and night centers behind the German lines were bombed on a scale hitherto undreamed of. In one day the French launched sixty-three tons of bombs at important points on the German bases.
June 6, 1918, on the Picardy front, the Americans made an advance of two and a half miles in the Château-Thierry sector. Details of the fighting here will be found in another place. Between the Ourcq and the Marne, French and American troops made an attack that resulted in the gain of two-thirds of a mile in the neighborhood of Veuilly-la-Peterie and the capture of nearly 300 prisoners.
The Franco-American forces continued to make gains with an advance in the Chezy sector northwest of the line. The Germans, it appeared, were in an exhausted condition and their resistance lacked spirit.