The Germans were certainly in an awkward situation, but it was no worse than that which confronted the British Army in the Ypres salient before the capture of Messines Ridge. The Ypres salient was about five miles wide, and five miles deep, and the German guns commanded it. The German salient was at this time about twenty miles wide by twenty deep, and the artillery of the Allies could sweep every corner of it.
From documents captured from the Germans, it was learned that on the day after the Allies assumed the offensive a retirement was ordered to a line either along the Avre or the Vesle Rivers. These orders were subsequently canceled, because an orderly retreat could not be made in such a pinched salient, so the Germans had been commanded to maintain their positions as long as possible.
Unable to further withstand the tremendous pressure of the Allies' armies, the Germans began a retreat along the whole front north of the Marne late in the morning of July 27, 1918. They relinquished the strong grip they had held on the north bank of the river, which extended from Vincelles nearly ten miles east to Reuil, and also fell back on both flanks.
It was the purpose of the Germans to reach the Ourcq, on a line reaching from Fère-en-Tardenois to the northern top of the De Riz forest which lies before Charmel.
In the course of the day the French, British, and American troops, pressing hard on the heels of the German rear guards, had reached the line of Bruyères, Villeneuve-sur-Fère, and Courment, all within a few miles of the great German supply center of Fère-en-Tardenois, which was now so hemmed in that its evacuation must soon follow. The advance of the Allies in a northeasterly direction from Château-Thierry had now reached ten miles. Since the beginning of the counteroffensive 30,000 German prisoners were taken.
The Allies continued their triumphant progress on July 28, 1918. The Germans in the Soissons-Rheims salient were forced to accelerate the speed of their retirement northward, closely followed by tanks, cavalry, and infantry patrols of the Allies.
French cavalry, supported by some infantry elements, had, reached in the morning of July 28, 1918, the district south of Villers-sur-Fère, a little over a mile from Fère-en-Tardenois and Sergy.
The success of the Allies along the whole front was now complete and about half of the pocket in which the enemy had been cornered was retaken.
The Germans were retiring as swiftly as they could, but their losses were tremendous, as French and American troops harried them on the center, and French and British were dealing hammer blows on both of their flanks. While the cavalry were hard at it, the tanks had pushed their way in among the retreating forces, where they did effective work. The Allies' aviators meanwhile, flying a few hundred feet overhead, were machine-gunning columns on the march and bombarding German batteries.
In the Soissons area the Germans had massed a large number of heavy guns on the heights around Juvigny and Chavigny, and from these points they bombarded the western wing as far south as Oulchy-le-Château. Yet the Allies in the Oulchy region continued to make progress, though facing some of the finest German divisions, and the concentrated fire of a vast number of machine guns.