Between the Ailette and the Aisne General Mangin's troops continued their irresistible advance, penetrating the ravine between Jouy and Aizy and capturing these villages. The principal victory of the day was the winning of Fort Malmaison, one of the strongholds southeast of Laon. Here the Germans had prepared a deadly trap for the French troops, but owing to the precautions taken the explosion did no damage.
In the Champagne General Gouraud's forces continued to operate with the accuracy of a finely adjusted piece of mechanism. At Somme-Py, where the German defensive works were of the most elaborate description and included a system of trenches and underground works to an extent of five miles, after hot fighting in the streets with grenade and bayonet the French took the entire system and advanced their line to the north of the town.
There was no harder struggle on any Allied front at this time than the French were engaged in north of Grateuil and Fontaine-en-Dormois. The Germans in this region displayed intense energy in the defense of the valleys, bringing up reserves and employing countless machine guns in their determination to stem the tide of the French advance which was constantly hurling them backward. Again and again the Germans counterattacked, only to be crushed by Gouraud's troops, who immediately proceeded to press onward. The German infantry fought well at times, but there was something lacking; they displayed nervousness and had no staying powers. And their gunners too showed that their nerves were shaken, wasting ammunition without reason and laying down barrages where they could serve no possible purpose.
September 29, 1918, was a big day for the British and American troops when Field Marshal Haig launched a new offensive movement on the thirty-mile front from St. Quentin to the Sensee River. The Americans attacking the Hindenburg line on a front of nearly three miles captured Bellicourt and Nauroy.
On the extreme British right the Twentieth Corps struck across the Scheldt Canal from Bellenglise northward. The Forty-sixth Midland Division, equipped with mats, life belts, rafts, and bridging material, stormed the main Hindenburg defenses running along the eastern bank of the canal. In spite of the depth of the water, and the width of the canal, and the strong German defenses, consisting of numerous tunnels and concrete works, this division captured the entire enemy position opposed to them. After this master stroke the division with great bravery drove ahead up the slopes beyond the canal, capturing many prisoners on the way. Bellenglise, Lehaucourt, and Magny-la-Fosse were now in British hands.
In the center of the attack English troops captured Villers-Guislain while New Zealand troops broke up a hostile attack, and pressing on took La Vacquerie and high ground in the neighborhood.
Meanwhile the Sixty-ninth Division, having forced the crossing of the Scheldt at several points, continued to advance. After stiff fighting in the western outskirts of Masnières and Les Rues Vertes they took both of these villages and carried the defensive system covering Rumilly, driving on to the western outskirts of the village. North of the Bapaume-Cambrai road Canadian troops gained possession of the defense system known as the Marcoing-Masnières line as far north as Sailly.
On the French front as the result of General Mangin's advance on this date the entire Malmaison Plateau and the western end of the Chemin-des-Dames were won. For weeks the Germans had been fighting to hold the approaches to the massif of St. Gobain and Laon which they were now forced to abandon. For four years this group of heights formed the central pillar of the German line in France. Marshal Foch's strategy forced the enemy, as on the Marne, to withdraw his center before the Allied attack to the north and the east and compelled him to move back on the wings. This retreat was one of the first direct results of the French, American, and British offensive of the past three days.
On the last day of September, 1918, the British continued to drive forward into the outskirts of Cambrai, capturing the suburbs on three sides of the city. Toward St. Quentin the villages of Thorigny and Le Tronquoy to the north and east of that town were won. In the course of the fighting north of St. Quentin the British captured over 4,000 prisoners and forty guns.
In Flanders the Belgian and British advance was pushed to an average depth of five and a maximum depth of eight miles. The British had won the famous Messines Ridge and Cheluwe, while the Belgians had advanced beyond Dixmude and taken Roulers.