The counterattack brought the American lines 750 yards ahead and yielded a number of prisoners, whose capture was due to a barrage laid by the American artillery, which cut off the enemy's retreat.
The attack had an immediate sequel in the evacuation by the Germans of Hill 204, upon an advance by the Americans up its west side. The Germans had paid much to hold this hill, resisting many assaults, notably the one described in the last chapter, and now they chose to vacate it rather than defend the hill further. Their tenure of all this area was to be very brief, and perhaps they knew it.
Soon after the Vaux demonstration, the Germans attacked the American and French positions all along the Marne. Ordered to break through the Americans holding the line south of the Marne, and reach a line running eleven kilometers south of Jaulgonne, running through Montigny, they crossed the Marne under the protection of a severe bombardment, and pushed ahead three kilometers to a line through Crezancy.
The grand advance was signalized by a long-distance bombardment of towns in the rear of the American lines. Heavy shells from German naval guns fell in regions far behind the actual battle area, some reaching points twenty to thirty miles distant. It was mainly a night display, marked by a constant hurtling of projectiles from ten-and fifteen-inch naval guns, and canopied the whole countryside with a blaze of light. The German purpose was to batter towns and communication lines beyond the defense line and to harass the movement of supplies and reenforcements.
The Marne curls to a salient northward at Jaulgonne, and the peak of this bend provided the first crossing for the Germans. Descending upon this point in great force, they succeeded in crossing the river in the face of a destructive fire from American machine gunners and infantry, who fought and died where they stood. The salient could not be held, being exposed to fire from three sides. Westward of it toward Château-Thierry, and eastward toward and beyond Dormans, the German advance likewise could not be stayed, and there was a general withdrawal of American forces along the river bank.
The Germans succeeded in crossing at ten points between Château-Thierry and Dormans. They threw many pontoon bridges over to bear their troops. Shoals of canvas boats were also brought into requisition. These proved more serviceable than the bridges, the laying of which was repeatedly thwarted by American fire. Protected by the heavy bombardment, the boats managed to carry the members of the kaiser's famed Tenth Guard Division, twenty to each boat; but very few of them got back.
American guns foiled their passage three times. Machine gunners clung to their posts on the river bank here and there till the last moment. They poured deadly streams of bullets into the enemy, and only withdrew when their guns were so hot that they could not be fired. One group happened to be in a place where the Germans were anxious to erect a bridge, but their efforts were fruitless. The American bullets piled up the German dead on the opposite side of the river every time the enemy started to cross.
South of Jaulgonne the enemy crossed the Marne on six pontoon bridges, hurriedly thrown over the stream, and masses of infantry swarmed forward. The artillery constantly had the bridges under the heaviest fire, and at least two direct hits were made, two of the bridges being blown up. The task of preventing German swarm, despite these checks, proved too great, and the Americans fell back to the base of the salient made by the river.
Once on the southern bank of the Marne, the German masses, augmented by numbers of machine gunners, proceeded to force the Americans farther back toward Condé. They had succeeded in landing a force estimated at 15,000 men in the river sector abandoned by the Americans. This force promptly started to fight its way south, having a point about nine miles distant as its objective. The Americans and French held up this advance to such an extent that two hours after the time set by the enemy for reaching his objective, he was still far away from it. The Germans specially suffered heavy losses in the woods forming the triangle from Fossoy to Mézy and Crezancy. There the Americans were overwhelmed by such large numbers that the line could not hold; but nevertheless they refused to retreat where they could possibly hold a place in the woods. This sent the German advance sweeping over large numbers of nests which sheltered ten, five, or two Americans, and sometimes one, who held on while the Germans passed by and then opened fire on them.
It was manifest that the advance could not be allowed to continue. The enemy by noon had driven forward over two miles on a front of about three and a half miles south of the Marne through the American positions; but he got no farther. Even while fighting in the open continued, the Americans organized a counterattack in the region of Condé, below Fossoy, about the time the German advance had apparently eliminated the salient. There, because of their heavy losses, they seemed content to stand, and there they remained for four hours. Meantime American reenforcements came up. Light artillery was hurried into position. It concentrated a heavy fire at short range, and when this fire ceased, the augmented American infantry dashed from cover. Machine gunners moved forward, and, lying on the ground, poured a stream of bullets into the enemy. The fierceness of the fire brought the Germans up short. They would not face the steel, and, retiring, hesitatingly at first, finally broke and fell back.