Arras. On the contrary the Germans had paid for
their advance by such terrible losses that the ground that they had
gained meant almost nothing. They then made, on April 30th, a vigorous
endeavor to broaden the Amiens salient in the region of Hangard and
Noyon. This attack also failed.

On May 27th Ludendorf made his next move. This was in the south, and was
preceded by the most elaborate preparations over a forty-mile front. At
first it met with great success. German troops from a point northwest of
Rheims to Montdidier were moving apparently with the purpose of breaking
the French lines and clearing the way for a drive to Paris.
Consternation reigned among Allied observers as the Germans carried,
apparently with ease, first the formidable Chemin des Dames, which was
believed invulnerable, and then the south bank of the Aisne, with its
great fortifications at Soissons.

Criticism began to appear of General Foch, who was thought at first to
have been taken by surprise. The Germans were using four hundred
thousand of their best troops, and the greatest force of tanks, machine
guns and poison-gas projectors which they had ever gathered. They
captured over forty-five thousand prisoners and took four hundred guns.
They penetrated thirty miles and gained six hundred and fifty square
miles of territory, but they were held on the River Marne.

It is now apparent that General Foch knew exactly what he was about. He
might easily, by sending in reinforcements, have put up the same
desperate resistance to the German offensive which they were now meeting
in other sectors. But he preferred to retreat and lead the enemy on to a
position which would make them vulnerable to the great counter-attack he
was preparing for them on their flank. The Germans reached the Marne,
but they paid for it in the terrible losses which they incurred.

The German line now from Montdidier, the extreme point of the Amiens
salient, to Chateau-Thierry, the point of the new Marne salient, was in
the form of a bow, and on June 9th General Ludendorf attempted to
straighten out the line. His new attack was made on a twenty-mile front
between Montdidier and Noyon in the direction of Compiegne. This was
another terrific drive and at first gained about seven miles. French
counter-attacks, however, not only held him in a vise but regained a
distance of about one mile. This battle was probably the most disastrous
one fought by the Germans during their whole offe