Germans withdraw back across the Marne

On the night of 19–20 July 1918 the German divisions which five days earlier had crossed the Marne on both sides of Dormans withdrew to the north bank of the river. According to the French official history, cited by the British history, the withdrawal was completed at about four in the morning of 20 July. When the French Ninth Army of General Antoine de Mitry went into the attack that day, it “found empty ground in front of it” and reached the bank of the Marne without difficulty. The bridgehead that was to have been the start of the march on Épernay had not lasted a week.

The fate of the bridgehead had been decided earlier. From 15 July the French artillery and air force, and the British air force as well, had been ceaselessly shelling and bombing the few bridges over which supplies went to the six German divisions on the south bank. The losses of the sappers and of the units crossing the river, as the German monograph on the battle recorded, “reached terrifying proportions”. On the afternoon of 17 July the chief of staff of the Seventh Army reported to the headquarters of Crown Prince Wilhelm’s army group that the only way out was a rapid withdrawal of the three corps standing across the Marne. In the evening the army commander, General Max von Boehn, halted further attacks, and at midnight the Supreme Army Command agreed to a gradual evacuation of the bridgehead, though it still held back the final order. General Erich Ludendorff wrote in his memoirs that after the attack east of Reims had been broken off there was no longer any sense either in going further or in leaving the troops on the south bank. They could not, however, be withdrawn at once, because the bridges were under constant fire and the crossing had first to be prepared.

On the morning of 18 July the French Tenth Army struck from Villers-Cotterêts at the western flank of the salient, and the matter became urgent. At 9.40 a.m. Boehn ordered preparations for the withdrawal, and at 11.45 a.m. the Crown Prince ordered the bridgehead to be abandoned. On the night of 18–19 July the Germans brought most of their guns, transport and stores back across the river. The French Ninth Army was to attack on 19 July, but the attack did not take place. According to one version in the French official history, two battalions of light tanks failed to reach the battlefield; according to another, the troops were too tired and intermingled after three days of heavy fighting. The German infantry therefore held on to the south bank for the whole day and calmly sent all its wounded back across the river. Ludendorff recalled that the withdrawal order, issued even before the counter-offensive, was deliberately left unchanged so as not to cause confusion among the troops. In the English edition of his memoirs the withdrawal is set for the night of 20–21 July, but the British official history, which used the German monograph, and the American Battle Monuments Commission agree on the night of 19–20 July. The withdrawal was carried out in good order, without significant losses.

On the morning of 20 July General Philippe Pétain ordered as many troops as possible to be taken from the Ninth Army in order to support with all energy the attack of the Fifth Army on the eastern flank of the salient and the right wing of the Sixth Army in the west. That same day, on the eastern flank, in the valley of the river Ardre, the British 51st and 62nd Divisions went into action. Ludendorff too was drawing conclusions. At 11.20 a.m. the Crown Prince’s army group ordered the whole front between Chartèves on the Marne and the vicinity of the river Ourcq to be pulled back about 8 kilometres during the night of 20–21 July. At the same time Ludendorff concluded that the offensive against the British in Flanders, being prepared under the code name “Hagen”, would most probably never take place. Instead of attacking, the Germans now had to give up, step by step, the Marne salient they had won in May.