Allied line.

The fourth drive started a few days later, on June 9, in a region where
an attack was expected. It resulted in heavy losses to the Germans, who
succeeded in pushing only six miles toward Paris in the region between
Soissons and Montdidier (mawn-dee-dy[=a]'). The advantages of a single
command had begun to appear. General Foch could use all the Allied
forces where they were most needed.

[Illustration: WESTERN FRONT]

The fifth drive opened on July 15 and spread over a front of one hundred
miles east of Soissons. The Allies were fully prepared, and while
falling back a little at first, the American and French troops soon won
back some of the abandoned territory.

THE TURNING OF THE TIDE.--A glance at a map of the battle front of
July 18 will show that the Germans had driven three blunt wedges into
the Allied lines. These positions would prove dangerous to the Germans
if ever the Allies were strong enough to assume the offensive. And just
now the moment came for Foch to strike a great counter-blow. During the
spring and early summer American troops had been speeded across the
Atlantic until by the Fourth of July over a million men were in France.
On July 18 fresh American and French troops attacked the Germans in the
narrowest of the wedges along the Marne River and within a few days
compelled the enemy to retreat from this wedge. On August 8 a British
army began a surprise attack on the middle wedge, and by the use of
large numbers of light, swift tanks succeeded in driving the Germans
back for a distance of over ten miles on a wide front.

The offensive had now passed from the Germans to the Allies. Under
Foch's repeated attacks the enemy was driven back first at one point and
then at another. He had no time to prepare a counter-drive; he did not
know where the next blow would fall. By the end of September he had
given up nearly all his recent conquests, devastating much of the
country as he retired. In several places also he was forced still
farther back, across the old Hindenburg line. In two days (September
12-13) the Americans and French under the direction of General Pershing
wiped out an old German salient near Metz, taking 200 square miles of
territory and 15,000 prisoners. Altogether, by the end of September,
Foch had taken over a quarter of a million prisoners, with 3,669 cannon
and 23,000 machine guns.

It is said that the complete defeat of the German plans was due
primarily to three thi