May 18-24--Brisk raiding operations in all sectors, with varying
success.
May 27--Germans resume their great offensive by delivering a
terrific blow on a forty-mile front from around Vauxailion nearly
to Rheims and take the Chemin des Dames and attack the French
lines on the northern flank of the Lys salient between Voormezeele
and Locre; Americans drive Germans back at three points in
Picardy; long-range guns renew the bombardment of Paris; three
persons killed, fourteen injured.
May 28--Americans take Cantigny; Germans advance about six miles
on a nine-mile front from Vauxailion to Cauroy, take many towns,
cross the Aisne and the Vesle Rivers, and drive a wedge to Fismes;
Allies re-establish their line on the Lys-Ypres front east of
Dickebusch Lake.
May 29--Germans take Soissons; Allies, with their centre forced
back four miles, retire across the Vesle River and fall back
on Rheims; Americans repulse three counterattacks at Cantigny;
British make a successful raid southeast of Arras; French repulse
a local attack north of Kemmel.
May 30--Germans held at both flanks near Soissons and Rheims; gain
four miles in drive toward the Marne, take Fère-en-Tardenois and
Vezilly; Americans defeat all attempts of the Germans to recover
ground near Cantigny; French better their positions north of
Kemmel; German attack near Festubert fails; German long-range gun
resumes bombardment of Paris despite British promise not to carry
out air raids on German cities on Corpus Christi Day.
May 31--Germans reach the Marne in an eight-mile drive, and are
closing in on Château-Thierry; Americans make successful raid in
the Woevre region and penetrate German line near Toul to a depth
of 400 meters.
June 1--Germans turn west in their drive toward Paris, push
forward along the Ourcq River six miles or more into the area
beyond Neuilly and Chony, beat back the French between Hartennes
and Soissons, press on northwest of Soissons, reaching Nouvron and
Fontenoy, and attack east of Rheims.
June 2--French counterattacks slow up German drive between
Soissons and Château-Thierry; Germans occupy Longport, Corcy,
Faverolles, and Troesnes, but lose them all; Germans in possession
of the eastern half of Château-Thierry; French hold the western
half and recover ground southwest of Rheims.
June 3--Germans make slight gains west of Nouvron and Fontenoy,
take Chaudun, and push ahead slightly west of Château-Thierry;
French retake Faverolles north of the Ourcq.
June 4--American troops, co-operating with the French west of
Château-Thierry, check the Germans, beating off repeated attacks
and inflicting severe losses; Germans thrown back at all points
except in the neighborhood of Veuilly-la-Poterie; British recover
Thillois, southwest of Rheims.
June 5--Americans beat off two more attacks on the Marne
battlefield; German advance checked all along the line; attempt to
cross the Oise near Montalagache fails; French regain ground north
of the Aisne near Vingre; British repulse a raid near Marlancourt.
June 6--American and French troops advance two-thirds of a mile
in the neighborhood of Veuilly-la-Poterie; American marines gain
two and a sixth miles on a two and a half mile front northwest of
Château-Thierry; Germans recapture ruins of Locre Hospice.
June 7--American marines drive on two and one-half miles northwest
of Château-Thierry, storm Torcy and Bouresches, and take
Veuilly-la-Poterie in co-operation with the French.
June 8--Germans resume shelling near Montdidier; Americans again
attack near Torcy and hold Bouresches against fresh assault;
French push on north of Veuilly, reach the outskirts of Dammard,
gain east of Chezy, and retake Locre Hospice.
June 9--Germans begin new offensive on a front of twenty miles
extending from Montdidier to Noyon, and gain two and a half miles
in the centre; Americans again repulse the enemy near Veuilly;
Germans pound British positions between Villers-Bretonneux and
Arras; Paris again shelled by long-range guns.
June 10--American marines penetrate German lines for about
two-thirds of a mile on a 600-yard front in the Belleau Wood;
Germans gain two and a half miles around Ressons and Mareuil.
June 11--French deliver two counterblows in the centre and
left of the Noyon-Montdidier line, drive Germans back between
Rubescourt and St. Maur, regaining Belloy, Senlis Wood, and the
heights between Courcelles and Mortemer, and regain Antheuil, but
lose Ribecourt, and are forced to give ground along the Oise, as
German drive to the Matz River flanks their position; Americans
take Belleau Wood; Australians drive Germans back half a mile on
a mile and a half front between Sailly-Laurette and Morlancourt;
Americans gain at Château-Thierry and cross the Marne.
June 12--French make further advances between Belloy and St. Maur,
on the left of the Montdidier-Noyon line; Germans gain a foothold
on the southern bank of the Matz River, occupying Melicocq and
adjoining heights, and advance east of the Oise and on the Aisne
flank; French win further ground east of Veuilly, and occupy
Montcourt and the southern part of Bussiares.
June 13--French make successful counterattack against the German
centre on the Matz, retaking Melicocq and Croix Ricard, and
throwing the enemy back across the river; Germans gain a footing
in the eastern end of the line in Laversine, Coeuvres, and St.
Pierre-Aigle; Americans repel attempt to retake Bouresches.
June 14--German offensive west of the Oise ends; artillery
fighting south of the Aisne and in the area between
Villers-Cotterets and Château-Thierry.
June 15--British and Scottish troops in the Lys salient capture
German forward positions on a front of two miles north of Béthune;
French improve their position at Villers-Cotterets Forest; French
recapture Coeuvres-et-Valsery, south of the Aisne; Americans
repulse night raid south of Thiaucourt; announcement made that
Americans are holding sectors in Alsace.
June 16--Americans drive Germans off with gas attacks northwest of
Château-Thierry; French repulse Germans on the Matz River.
June 17--French improve their positions between the Oise and the
Aisne, near Hautebraye; Germans drench American lines near Belleau
with gas.
June 18--French improve their positions in local operations in the
Aisne region.