 So in July of 1918, the Germans have conducted three attacks, two of which had achieved spectacular results, but they're also losing men. So Ferdinand Foch, looking at the situation, is recognizing that despite their significant territorial gains, the Germans are no closer to winning a strategic victory on the Western Front. And what Foch is starting to do is he's looking for a place where the Allies can go on the offensive. Ludendorff's objective during the spring offensives had been to separate the British from the French, push them off of the European continent, and isolate the French. So Ludendorff's idea is to attack the British again. He wants to pull all Allied reserves, particularly French reserves, away from the British sector. So he is going to determine that another attack in the same vicinity of where the Blucher assault had been conducted is the way to do this. So Ludendorff designs a plan for an offensive targeted at capturing the French city of Reims, the idea of being attacking on both sides of Reims and essentially encircling the city and then capturing it. At the same time, Foch consults with the Ten, Hague, and with Pershing, and believes that the Germans are going to make another attack, and he wants to blunt the German attack and then immediately counterattack. And the most enticing area is the Marne salient. And so he along with the Ten and the French commanders are going to plan an operation for a major assault against the Marne salient. A general idea is going to be whether a German offensive and then launch a lightning strike against the shoulder of the salient near the French city of Soissons. The idea being that if you could punch into the shoulder and cut the logistical lines into the salient, then it would dislodge the entire German position. So the main assault is going to be on the western edge of the salient. Both sides now have a plan, now it's just a position of waiting. Now unfortunately for the Germans, on 15 July, hours before the German offensive was set to begin, an Allied patrol had captured several German prisoners, including the German officer. The officer had orders designating when the offensive was to begin. That information was quickly relayed up the chain of command and the Allies prepared to launch an anticipatory artillery strike against the Germans before they began their offensive, and in fact this is what they do. About 15 minutes before the German offensive was set to go off, while the German ground forces were gathering in their staging area, the Allies launched a massive artillery barrage, killing many Germans, disrupting much of the German organization, and indicating clearly that the Germans did not have the element of surprise. However, as is so often the case, plans are in motion and it's too late to alter them at this point. So at the set time, the German batteries commence firing on the Allied lines. So not only have the Germans lost the element of surprise, but they're also facing the Allies who have arranged their forces in a much more sophisticated way. The French by this point have understood the concept of a defense in depth and they're going to utilize that on a large section of their frontage. This enables them to bear the initial brunt of the enemy attack and then stop it and push it back. So the Germans are going to launch their assault on 15 July and they're going to have limited success to the east of Reims. To the west of Reims, they're going to fight a very, very difficult drawn out battle against the French and American forces right there, the most significant of which is going to be the fight against the American 3rd Division in the Sermon Valley. But the Americans in the French are going to hold and succeed in providing Foch what he needs which is that initial stoppage of the Germans which allows Foch to launch his counter attack. It is going to begin on 18 July. It is tremendously successful to the north near Soisone, the American 1st Division, American 2nd Division and French 10th Moroccan Division are going to drive into the German lines advancing as many as 5 to 10 kilometers over three days, effectively bringing the German logistical system under threat of artillery barrage which does exactly what Foch had wanted which was to force the Germans to begin withdrawing from the Marne salient. The attack is not so successful that it completely surrounds the German forces within the salient but it does batter the Germans to a degree that they now have to withdraw. In the process of doing this, the 1st and 2nd Division suffer a tremendous number of casualties. They are going to be rendered combat ineffective for at least a month. They will not go back into action until early to mid-September. The Americans are still having problems with coordinating infantry and artillery and armor so combined warfare, but they're learning. Several days after the initial attack on 18 July, Allied forces all along the salient begin a general offensive and over the next roughly two weeks the Germans are going to conduct a fighting withdrawal from the edges of the salient. They are going to pull back to a series of defensive lines that they have established trying to hold off the advancing Allies. By early August the Germans have withdrawn all the way to the Veil River. The Americans and the French have followed them and most significantly the Americans take up position near the small French town of Femme. At this point the salient has effectively been reduced and the Allies have seized the strategic initiative. About a week after the attack, Fosch pulls together the Allied commanders in chief for a conference. What Fosch wants to do is conduct operations that reduce the other salients to improve Allied logistics and will allow them to have a better position on the line to launch a series of massive assaults on their own to theoretically win the war. With the reduction of the Marne salient already underway, there is another salient up near the Belgian town of Ypres, just south of it in the British zone. There is also a large salient near the city of Amiens. These will be reduced by the British in coordination with the Belgians and the French. To the east there is a large salient surrounding the town of Somme-Mihile, just south of Verdun. This task is going to go to the Americans. Pershing has been negotiating with Fosch over the course of the summer to create an independent American army. With the battle experience that American divisions are gaining, Fosch now agrees that the time is right to go ahead and form an American army. Because most American training and logistical networks are located in Lorraine, this makes Somme-Mihile an ideal location for an assault by the American army. Pershing acting upon his agreement with Fosch is going to call for the formation of the American First Army, which will come together formally on 10 August. So with the Germans reeling after the loss of the Marne salient and the significant casualties that the Allies have inflicted upon them, they have effectively ceded the strategic initiative to the Allies. And Fosch is more than willing to take up that initiative and go on the offensive all along the western front. He is going to coordinate an assault by not only a Franco-American force on the Marne salient, but he's planning an American attack at Somme-Mihile and a British attack near Amiens. So now we start to see, finally after four years, that the Allies are going to be conducting operations in a coordinated manner. Denying the Germans the ability to deal with one assault individually before turning to another. Now the Germans are going to have to defend everywhere. This series of events is going to set the stage for what won't be known as the Second Battle of the Marne.