15 July 1918: 2d Battle of the Marne begins during WW I.

After the failure of Operation Michael--Gen. Erich Ludendorff's so-called Peace Offensive--in the spring of 1918, the architect of Germany's operations shifted his attention to the French Fourth and Sixth Armies along the Marne River in Champagne.

After observing the success of German stormtrooper tactics against the British in Flanders, Gen. Henri Gouraud's Fourth Army prepared a defense-in-depth that allowed his men to negate the effectiveness of the Germans' preparatory artillery bombardment and infiltration tactics. He did this by clearing the bulk of his front-line trenches and pulling most of his artillery out of range of the German guns. Several reverse-slope strongpoints were left to slow the attackers. The French main line of defense was a continuous reverse-slope trench designed to prevent infiltration and observation by artillery observers on the ground.

The French had already learned the date the Germans planned to attack when they captured several troops in a trench raid who informed them of the time when the artillery barrage would begin: 0010 hours on the 15th.

The French stunned the Germans with an artillery bombardment on their assault trenches beginning at 2330 on the 14th. Although the Germans made quick progress through the abandoned French front lines behind a rolling barrage, the artillery fire soon left them behind as they encountered the French strongpoints.

To the west, in the French Sixth Army sector along the Marne, the goal was to hold onto the south bank during an intense three-hour bombardment that included many gas shells. The U.S. 3d Division ("Rock of the Marne") served with particular distinction during the attack.

Gen. Gouraud launched a brief counterattack that failed to gain ground but convinced the German attackers they could not prevail against the Fourth Army. Gouraud thus was able to send reinforcements to Sixth Army units that had suffered during the German onslaught and the British XXII Corps augmented with 85,000 U.S. II Corps troops also came to Sixth Army's aid. By the 17th, the German offensive had stalled.

ILLUSTRATIONS: (1) French Schneider tanks support a counterattack on the Marne, 15 July 1918. (2) French light tanks advance during the 2d Battle of the Marne. (3) Stormtroopers advance in the French Fourth Army sector early in the 2d Battle of the Marne. (4) Men of the U.S. 3d Div.--The Rock of the Marne. (5) U.S. 28th Div. troops battle Germans near Couthiezy, France, 15 July. (6) Doughboys receive medical treatment in an underground bunker in the 3d Div. sector, 15 July. (7) Movie poster.