III.

Second Battle of the Marne

(July 15-August 4, 1918), the action that marked the turning point of the war. The Germans, according to the plan of General Erich Ludendorff, attacked to the east and west of Reims. West of the city they succeeded in crossing the Marne but made little subsequent progress. On July 18 the Allied commander General Ferdinand Foch counter-attacked with forces that included several American divisions. One of the centres of fiercest combat was at Château-Thierry, where the American troops won their first decisive victory. The German armies were forced back across the Marne. Foch's counter-attack destroyed Ludendorff's plan for a massive attack in Flanders and shifted the initiative to the Allies.