For if the Montagne de Bligny had gone, the French position on the Montagne de Rheims, south-west of Rheims, and the Cathedral city itself would have been endangered, no less than by the attack on the north-east of the town, which General Gouraud a month later pinned to earth.  And when we reached Dormans, on the south bank, turning west-ward to Chateau Thierry, we were on ground no less vital, where in July the American troops in General Pershing’s words wrote “one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals.”  The story is well known.  The Germans were attempting to cross the river in force between Donnans and Chateau Thierry, and then to thrust their way down the valley of the Surmelin to Montmirail and the great main road to Paris, which passes through that town.  A single regiment of the 3rd American Division held up the enemy, on the river bank to the east of Mezy, fighting at the same time east and west against German parties who had managed to get a footing at other points on the south side, and finally counter-attacking, throwing two German divisions into complete confusion, and capturing six hundred prisoners.  No episode in the war is more likely to ring in the memory of after-times.  “In the bend of the Marne at the mouth of the Surmelin,” says Colonel Palmer, “not a German was able to land.  In all twenty boats full of the enemy were sunk or sent drifting harmlessly down the stream.”  To the east of Mezy also, four American platoons did incredible things in defence of the Paris-Nancy railway.  “They were not going to yield that track alive—­that was the simple fact.”  And their losses were appalling.  In the second platoon of the four engaged, all were killed except three who were wounded, and half of the third were down before they had driven the enemy from the embankment.  The American graves lie all on the south side of the line—­the German on the north.  “We actually took over four hundred prisoners between the railroad and the river—­the 6th German Grenadier Regiment was annihilated....”  And the Germans never reached the Surmelin valley, or that Montmirail road on which they had set their hearts.  “The deciding factor,” says Colonel Palmer, “was the unflinching courage of our men, and their aggressive spirit.”  And the action, small as were the numbers engaged, could not have been bettered.  “It is a military classic.”

Over this hard-fought ground, consecrated by the graves of men who had thus bravely—­thus gaily—­laid down their lives for a cause of which they had no doubt, we ran on to Chateau Thierry, and that western flank of the Marne salient, where in June, while the Germans were still pressing south, and in July when Foch turned upon his trapped foe, the Americans, most of whom were for the first time in real battle, bore themselves to the astonishment and admiration of all the watching Allies.  In June especially, when matters were at their worst.  The capture of Bouresches, and Belleau Wood, the capture of Vaux on July 1st,