regulars of the 3d Brigade had been lying under almost constant shellfire. Little action had come to them. Now and then a German raiding party came across No Man's Land to encounter death and defeat. Once in a while the regulars made reprisal raids but the German lines remained intact. The regulars, envious of the marines, were eager for action. Hungrily they looked in the direction of Vaux with its formidable trench system and its concentration of artillery and machine guns. Vaux was larger than Bouresches and more scientifically fortified. Every ruined house was a center for German troops. From the cellars ran communication trenches; concrete embankments reinforced the substantial stone walls upon which the thrifty French had erected their homes. It was upon these cellars that the intelligence service of the 2d Division concentrated its attention. Every excavation was located and carefully plotted upon maps which went to both artillery and infantry headquarters. Balloons and airplanes were the eyes of the intelligence service. Slowly and with maddening deliberation the heavy artillery of the Americans bracketed their objectives until they finally came upon the target of each cellar in Vaux. The hits were registered, sights were adjusted and everything was made ready for the prelude to the assault. The Germans upon their side were fully aware of the 3d Brigade's intentions. They sensed the time selected for the attack, and sought to prevent it. Their method was to pour into the 3d Brigade's position an intense shellfire for the purpose of destroying the morale of the Americans. For fifteen hours this terrific bombardment of the American trenches continued. The doughboys dug themselves in, took what toll of death the shells demanded with a stoicism that marked them as heroes, and waited for the zero hour. It came at dawn on the morning of July 1st. Every officer, every gunner, every infantryman was ready. More than that, every one knew exactly the part he was to play in the grand assault. Big guns increased the rain of heavy projectiles into the cellars of Vaux. Guns that were to protect the infantry laid a barrage that was a real curtain of death through which no enemy might come. In the trenches, officers with maps showing the objective of each company and the location of every cellar, passed among the waiting regulars and marked with satisfaction the readiness of each man for the charge. At a signal the brigade snapped off behind the barrage. On the right of the regulars the French were ready and moved forward in liaison with our men. Their objective was Hill 204 which commanded Château-Thierry. Smoothly and with the efficiency of a gigantic reaper the assault swept forward. German machine-gun nests were encountered but the Americans now knew the technique of nest destruction. Each of these deadly little forts was encircled and the Germans who failed to surrender promptly were finished by unerring rifle fire and automatics used at short range. So well did our barrage open and so keen was the follow of the regulars that within five minutes after the jump-off, the men of the 3d Brigade were in the outskirts of Vaux. Thereafter it became merely a matter of encircling and overrunning the fortified cellars. More than five hundred prisoners were taken and the Germans left heaps of dead within the village. The operation was one of the quickest and most successful of the war. Its preparation had been careful. To the Germans as well as to the Allies the victory was a demonstration in miniature of what was to come later in the Argonne. American determination and dash were no longer matters in doubt. The men of the 2d Division, both regulars and marines, had given a taste of their quality. The doom of the German Army had been foreshadowed in the action that began when the motorized machine-gun battalion of the 3d Division held the bridgehead at Château-Thierry and ended when the regulars of the 2d Division captured Vaux. With the great German drive halted at the Marne the high command of the Teutonic alliance was confronted with the immediate necessity for widening the salient that had been made at the Marne. They found that the 2d and 3d Divisions had blocked their progress over the road to Paris via ChâteauThierry. In this emergency they decided to attack along the western side of the Marne salient with the idea of joining that wedge with the salient at Montdidier. The attempt was made behind intensive artillery preparation on the 9th of June. This time, however, both the British and French were active. The Germans made some headway but at terrific cost. The effort continued for several weeks but the strategic object of combining the salients was a flat failure. Held upon the western side the German High Command now resolved upon a terrific assault on the eastern face of the |