The Kaiser, the Crown Prince, Hindenburg and Ludendorff held a war council on the evening of the 28th, and in view of the results obtained, altered the original plans. The battle, which was to have been merely a diversion, previous to a general attack on the British front, was now to form the principal offensive. Ludendorff accordingly ordered the attack to be pushed vigorously on the wings and to exploit to the full the success in the centre, in order to reach the Marne as rapidly as possible and cut the Paris-Châlons-Nancy Railway. From the 29th onwards, the battle developed. On the right wing, the French divisions, which defended Soissons from the north, were overwhelmed and compelled to fall back westwards without, however, abandoning Cuffiès. Soissons, unprotected and in flames, was entered by the enemy after fierce street fighting, in which they sustained heavy losses. The Moroccan Division, which had arrived in the neighbourhood of Chaudun at noon, was immediately sent to the western outskirts of Soissons and along the Crise, in support of what remained of the first-lines. Fresh divisions were also brought up to the south-east of the town, with orders to check the German push at all cost, which they did to the last man. The 9th Battalion of Chasseurs (4th Division, to quote one example only) resisted heroically at Hartennes and Taux, in which region the Germans were unable to make appreciable progress. In the centre, the enemy’s effort southwards enabled two of their corps to reach Fère-en-Tardenois and advance beyond that town. Further to the east, they continued to advance along the Valley of the Ardre. Driving back the 45th Division and the Colonials who were defending the Vesle, they reached the Gueux-Tramery front-line in the evening. Rheims was still covered by the impregnable “La Neuvillette” lines. Early in the morning of May 30, the enemy, supported by masses of artillery, attacked to the west and south of Soissons towards Villers-Cotterets Wood. North of the Aisne, where the 170th Division, astride of the river, resisted the enemy’s furious assaults, progress was insignificant. On their right, the Moroccan Division on the Mercin-Lechelle front resisted stubbornly, as usual. On the Montagne-de-Paris Hill, the Foreign Legion stood firm. Zouaves and Algerian Tirailleurs, after desperate indecisive fighting, which lasted until nightfall, succeeded in checking the enemy on the Chaudun-Chazelle-Vierzy line. Further to the south, at Plessier-Huleu, the Chasseurs of the 4th Division stubbornly opposed the German advance which was very slow in this region, thanks to the bravery and self-sacrifice of this division. It was only with the greatest difficulty that the enemy advanced between Parcy-Tigny and Grand-Rozoy, occupying Oulchy-le-Château after very hard fighting.