_In his dispatch dated June 4 Mr. Perris described the fighting on the
3d, which was the last desperate attempt of the Germans to advance in
that phase. He wrote:_
The battle blazed out afresh last night along and south of the upper
Ourcq, and the struggle is raging with violence, due, in part, to the
fact that both sides have brought up many guns and in part to the
desperation of the Germans as once more they see victory slipping out
of their hands.
Tactically, the chief feature today is the attempt of the enemy to
support the attack on the Ourcq by a thrust further south along its
tributary, the Clignon, a small stream following a marshy valley
westward to the middle course of the Ourcq. There the most bitter
combats have taken place and continue about the villages of Bouresches,
Torcy, and Veuilly-la-Poterie. At the latter point the Germans tried
to get around to the southward, but were effectually stopped in the
Veuilly Wood, a mile south of the village, by Americans. In all this
fighting the enemy's losses have been very severe, for in every case we
had the best defensive positions, well supported by machine guns and
75s.
I spoke yesterday of the importance of the French stand to the
southwest of Soissons, both as limiting the enemy's access to the Aisne
Valley and as narrowing his approach to the Ourcq Valley. A slight
withdrawal to the line of the villages of Pernant, Saconin, Missy, and
Vaucastille yesterday did not materially weaken this buttress of the
front. Nor is it seriously weakened by another short withdrawal this
morning between Pernant and Missy, for which the enemy has had to pay
dearly. We still hold Tresnes and Faverolles, and the prospects of von
Boehm reaching Villers-Cotterets are not bright enough to cheer the
drooping spirits of Berlin.