ft behind with orders to hold at all cost. But nothing the
enemy could do could prevent our crossing of the Ourcq.

On July 30th the fighting had become most intense in character. The fact
that the town of Sergy was captured, lost and recaptured nine times
within twenty-four hours, is some criterion of the bitterness of the
struggle. This performance of our men can be better understood when it
is stated that the enemy opposing them there consisted of two fresh
divisions of the Kaiser's finest--his Prussian Guard.

After that engagement with our forces, the Fourth Prussian Guard
Division went into an enforced retirement. When our men captured Sergy
the last time, they did so in sufficient strength to withhold it against
repeated fierce counter attacks by a Bavarian Guard division that had
replaced the wearied Prussians.

But before the crack Guard Division was withdrawn from the line, it had
suffered terrible losses at our hands. Several prisoners captured said
that their company had gone into the fight one hundred and fifty strong
and only seven had survived. That seven were captured by our men in hand
to hand fighting.

While our engineer forces repaired the roads and constructed bridges in
the wake of our advancing lines, the enemy brought to that part of the
front new squadrons of air fighters which were sent over our lines for
the purpose of observation and interference with communications. They
continually bombed our supply depots and ammunition dumps.

After the crossing of the Ourcq the American advance reached the next
German line of resistance, which rested on two terminal strongholds. One
was in the Foret de Nesles and the other was in the Bois de Meuniere.

The fighting about these two strong points was particularly fierce. In
the Bois de Meuniere and around the town of Cierges, the German
resistance was most determined. About three hundred Jaegers held Hill
200, which was located in the centre of Cierges Forest, just to the
south of the village of the same name. They were well provided with
machine guns and ammunition. They were under explicit orders to hold and
they did.

Our men finally captured the position at the point of the bayonet. Most
of its defenders fought to the death. The capture of the hill was the
signal for a renewal of our attacks against the seemingly impregnable
Meuniere woods. Six times our advancing waves reached the German
positions in the southern edge of the woods and six times