The advance of July 19, 1918 in the Aisne-Marne Offensive. From The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas. © 1920
The advance of July 19, 1918Showing plateau southwest of Soissons which the Germans chose to defend to the last.
"At 4 o'clock in the morning of July 19, under cover of another rolling barrage, the Allies attacked along the whole front; but during the night the Germans had put in all the reserves in the area, and the resistance that morning was much stiffer than it had been the day before. Especially this was true in the northeast corner of the plateau. It was this corner that the Germans had to hold at all costs, for the loss of it meant to them the loss of Soissons . . ."
German commander Erich Ludendorff's Friedensturm, Peace Assault, the Champagne-Marne Offensive, left his forces occupying an enormous salient from Soissons and Reims to the Marne River. Commanding the French 10th Army, that included the 1st and 2nd American Divisions and the Moroccan Division, General Charles Mangin struck on the western side of the salient on July 18, advancing as much as 8 km. Soissons was an important communications center.
The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas, page 160, copyright © 1920, by George H. Doran Company, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1920
1918-07-19, 1918, July, Soissons, advance of July 19 1918
