On May 28, 1918, the second day of the German Offensive, the German High Command changed its original plans, which were to limit the operations to the taking of the heights south of the Vesle, and then to cause the fall of Soissons and Rheims. The Franco-British resistance on the two wings, and the rapid advance of the Germans in the centre, caused the German High Command to attempt the thrust towards the Marne. From May 29 to June 1 the centre of the 7th German Army made a dash for the Marne. On the evening of the 29th the Kommandant of the 231st Division declared that it was a “question of honour to reach the Marne to-morrow.” Two second line divisions (the 231st and 103rd) were interposed between the 10th and 28th on one side, and the 36th and 5th Guards on the other. It thus became a race to the Marne between these divisions. On May 30 the 231st reached the river at about two o’clock in the afternoon, between Brasles and Mont-St.-Père, while the 28th entered Jaulgonne at six in the evening. [Illustration: RUINED CHURCH AT BRASLES.] On June 1 the Germans tried to get a footing on the heights on the south bank of the Marne. It has been seen that they were unable to cross the river at Château-Thierry, the bridge having been destroyed. At Jaulgonne a battalion of the 36th succeeded in crossing, on the nights of May 31 and June 1, only to be thrown back on the other side, or captured by Franco-American troops on the 2nd. On the 3rd the Germans gave up the attempt, and things quietened down in this sector, which the Americans continued to guard. During the German “Peace Offensive” of July 15, the Americans (3rd Division) resolutely withstood the shock on the Marne. Behind a thick smoke curtain, and favoured by the night mists, German pioneers threw bridges over the river from Gland eastwards, along a twelve-mile front. About a dozen bridges, some of them 25 to 30 feet wide, were established. German engineers were particularly active in front of Mont-St.-Père, Jaulgonne, and Chartèves. At dawn, while the infantry were being taken across the river in boats and on pontoons worked by steel cables, the artillery crossed the bridges. French and American aviators, flying as low as 150 feet, raked the bridges and pontoons with machine-gun fire, while two of the bridges, struck by bombs, collapsed, throwing men, horses, and baggage into the river.