western
flank of the Marne salient, where in June, while the Germans were
still pressing south, and in July when Foch turned upon his trapped
foe, the Americans, most of whom were for the first time in real
battle, bore themselves to the astonishment and admiration of all the
watching Allies. In June especially, when matters were at their worst.
The capture of Bouresches, and Belleau Wood, the capture of Vaux on
July 1st, the gallant help which an American machine-gun battalion
gave the French in covering the French retreat across the bridge at
Chateau Thierry, before it was blown up, and foiling the German
attempts to cross, and the German move towards Paris, were perhaps,
writes a British military authority, "the most splendid service, from
a military standpoint, the Americans rendered to the Allied Cause. It
was certainly the first occasion on which they really made themselves
felt, and brought home to the Germans the quality of the opposition
they were likely to encounter from the American Armies."

As we approached Chateau Thierry, the fog had cleared away and the
night was not dark. On our railway journey to Metz a week earlier, we
had seen the picturesque old place, with Hill 204 behind it, and the
ruins of Vaux to the north-west, in daylight, from the south bank of
the river. Now daylight had gone, but as we neared the Marne, the high
ground on the curving north bank, with its scattered lights and their
twinkling reflections in the water, made still a dimly beautiful
setting for the much injured but still living and busy town. We
crossed the temporary bridge into the crowded streets, and then as we
had come a long way, we were glad to dip for tea and a twenty minutes'
break into an inn crowded with Americans. Handsome, friendly fellows!
I wished devoutly that it were not so late, and Paris not so far away,
that I might have spent a long evening in their company. But we were
all too soon on the road again for Meaux and Paris, passing slowly
through the ruined streets of Vaux, with Bouresches and Belleau Wood
to our right, and behind us the great main road from Soissons to
Chateau Thierry, for the command of which in its northern sector, the
American divisions under General Mangin, and in its southern portion
those commanded by General Degoutte, had fought so stoutly last July.
Altogether seven American divisions, or close upon 200,000 men, were
concerned in Foch's counter-attack, which began on July 18th; and as