MARNE - The Second Battle of the Marne - 1918

North of the village of Belleau lie some hills around the hamlet of Givry. During the first days of the Second Battle of the Marne, from 18 until 24 July, not only the American 26th Infantry Division, but also French troops had some fierce fights with the Germans on these hill slopes.

We leave the area of Belleau Wood and Givry  to make a jump of 25 Km. north-westward to the Fôret de Retz near Villers Cotterêts. Before we arrive there, some reminders about

The Second Battle of the Marne (18 July-4 August 1918)

On 18 July 1918 the forest served as the Headquarters of General Mangin.

On this hill in the Forest of Retz, the Mont Mangin (231 m.), the French constructed an observation tower, from where General Mangin observed and commanded the attacks of his 10th Army on 18 july 1918.

The 10th Army included also the U.S. 1st. and 2nd. Divisions, and the 1st Moroccan Division. On 21 July these Army units secured the important road from Soisssons to Château Thierry. From the Wood of Retz we make a jump of 20 km. eastward ...

The country road, D 229, from Wallée northward, runs over the former battlefield of the valley of the river Ourq, along Landowski's "Fantômes" on the Butte de Chalmont.

At the foot of the Butte is a 5 meters high, allegorical statue, representing "France 1918". Between the image of "France 1918" and the "Fantômes" - sculptures are 4 "steps", each symbolizing a year of the war. 

The 8-metre-high statuegroup "Les Fantômes" on top of the Butte is sculptured by Paul-Maximilien Landowski (1885-1961), a Great War veteran, who served in the French 35th Infantry Regiment.

On each side of "France 1918" are two memorial walls with French inscriptions. The left wall tells about the complete order of battle, of the generals, and the units, which were involved in the Second Battle of the Marne during the period 15 July until 4 August.

"ON 15 JULY 1918 THE ENEMY LAUNCHED AN OFFENSIVE AT THE CHAMPAGNE AGAINST THE IVth, Vth, AND VIIth ARMIES. ON THE 17th HIS EFFORTS WERE BROKEN AT CHATEAU THIERRY AND IN THE ARGONNE. AT DAWN OF THE 18TH JULY, BETWEEN NOUVRON AND THE MARNE, THE Xth AND THE Vth ARMIES LAUNCHED AN ATTACK ON THE FLANK OF THE ENEMY, AND REACHED IN THE EVENING THE FRONT PERNANT-TORCY. WITHOUT STOPPING THEY MOVED ON THE NEXY DAYS, AND CONCQUERED THE BUTTE DE CHALMONT (25 AND 26 JULY), THE DECISIVE SUCCES, WHICH PUSHED BACK THE ENEMY ON THE HIGH GROUNDS OF THE TARDENOIS. IN VAIN HE TRIED TO RESIST NORTH OF THE OURQ,- BATTLES NEAR GRAND ROZOY - THE INTERVENTION IN THE SOUTH BY THE VIIth AND IXth ARMIES - BUT IN TOTAL DEFEAT.

HE WAS FORCED BACK ON THE VESLE. SOISSONS WAS LIBERATED. 30.000 PRISONERS AND A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF MATERIAL WERE CAPTURED. THE FRONT HAS BEEN SHORTENED WITH 50 KM - THE ROAD PARIS-CHALONS SECURED. THE THREAT AGAINST PARIS RELIEVED AFTER TRHREE WEEKS OF HARD COMBATS, IN WHICH PARTICIPATED AMERICAN, BRITISH, AND ITALIAN DIVISIONS. THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE MARNE ENDED VICTORIOUSLY.THE INITIATIVE OF THE OFFENSIVE PASSED IN THE HANDS OF THE ALLIES."

The Phantoms represent a group of eight soldiers-ghosts. Seven Phantoms, who have closed their eyes: a young, beardless recruit, a sapper, a machinegunner, a grenadier, a colonial soldier, an infantrist, and an aviator. 

View northeastward to Loupeigne and the direction of the Vesle River.

From these fields the Germans retreated more northward, to Hill 148 and Hill 212 near Fère en Tardenois. View eastward to Fère en Tardenois.

... and again we make a jump eastward of only 10 km. to Fère en Tardenois and Seringes et Nesles along the Ourq river.

On 27 July the US. 28th Division cleared these heights, east of the Soissons - Château Thierry Road, and north of Oulchy.   At dawn of 28 July, 3 American Divisions (3rd, 28th, and 42nd) attacked the German positions on Hill 184 near Seringes et Nesles and Hill 212 nearby Sergy. At the end of the day the Americans conquered both hills and the villages around it.

View at Seringes et Nesles.

At the foot of Hill 184, at Seringes et Nesles, lies the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery.

The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery contains 4 plots, A, B, C, and D, with the graves of 6.012 American soldiers. The cemetery has been designed by the French Paul Cret, a veteran of the Chasseurs Alpins, who designed amongst others also the Château Thierry Memorial. All soldiers, buried here, were killed in 1918 in this area.

The sandstone Memorial at the end of the cemetery has the shape of a curving collonade.

The wreaths has been laid a few days before, during the yearly Memorial Ceremony on 25 May.

Outside on the cemetery, there are also some graves of women to be found, like this grave of a nurse, Katheryne E. Greene, ...

... or this grave of a YMCA secretary, Lorraine Ransom, who died 4 months after the war.

At the entrance of the cemetery in the middle is a small chapel and a French ossuary.  The cemetery has two wings, a German plot and a French plot.

It contains the graves of German soldiers, fallen in this area during the summer of 1918.

View over the German wing in the direction of the French Cemetery.

The chapel is dedicated to the French officers of Artillery and Infantry, who fell in 1917-1918.

Also in this wing: graves of French soldiers, killed in this area during the summer of 1918.

With a last view over the Loupeigne war cemetery, we finish this photo impression of some locations of the Second Battle of the Marne.