This neat operation carried out by the British in the Lys sector was duplicated by the French on the following day when they attacked north and northwest of Hautebraye, between the Oise and the Aisne, and improved their positions there. The Germans counterattacked with fury, but were thrown back on their own lines. The French took 375 prisoners and 25 machine guns. On June 18, 1918, the comparative quiet which had reigned for some days on the French front was broken. At 9 o'clock in the evening the First German Army under the command of General Fritz von Below made a frontal attack upon the salient of which the devastated city of Rheims formed the head. It was estimated that the Germans had 40,000 troops engaged in the assault along the front extending from Vrigny Plateau to Sillery. The orders were to carry the city at all costs, a counterblow to compensate the Germans for their failure to capture Compiègne. The counterbattery work of the French gunners dislocated all their plans and their losses were enormous. At every point the Germans were thrown back. So admirably was the French artillery served that the Germans gained nothing even in the first onrush, though hundreds of their cannon were busy and high explosives and gas shells were showered on the French lines. The front of the new German attack was the semicircle they had drawn about Rheims in the recent offensive on the Aisne front. The Rheims region comprised the left flank of the German attack. The French had given ground on both sides of the city, but still held Rheims itself and the protecting forts near by. As the Germans hemmed in the city on three sides, it was only a question of time when they would attempt to drive out the defenders. The attack we have described was on a front from Viny, west of the city, to La Pompelle, and approximately fourteen miles. In the Seicheprey region, and northwest of Montdidier, in front of Cantigny, and in the neighborhood of Belleau Wood, the American troops, as noted elsewhere, were fighting with valor and distinction. For some days following trench and air raids constituted the principal activities on the French front. The Germans "lay low," but it was well known that they were preparing for a new offensive, as they were cunningly maneuvering into position their reserves for an attack. There were no sure indications where the blow would fall. The Allies meanwhile were busy "nibbling" at the enemy lines whenever a chance offered, gaining ground and taking prisoners in minor operations that amounted to little when judged separately, but were of importance in the aggregate.