The German retreat, it should be noted, was conducted in an orderly manner and was in no sense a rout. The method of retirement employed at this time, and which the Germans indeed adopted on other occasions, was as follows: One company withdraws from every two on the first line; the remaining troops redouble their fire to give the impression that the line is still strongly held. Out of each remaining company two sections are then taken out, leaving but one section in the line. When this last section is ordered to withdraw, a few men are left behind to occupy small posts well furnished with machine guns and these keep up a vigorous fire to protect the retreat. The few men left behind for this work seldom escape death or capture, but they are sometimes able to regain their own lines. The retreat continued on July 29, 1918, with the Allies in close pursuit. The Germans had brought more heavy guns into play and succeeded in slowing up the advance, though they could not stop it. In the course of twenty-four hours the Allies had pushed their lines forward from two to three miles on a twenty-mile front. The Germans had been forced to abandon the line of the Ourcq and proposed to fall back to a line beyond the Vesle between Soissons and Rheims. One of the most important operations at this time was the French drive east and northeast, from the neighborhood of Oulchy-le-Château, at the salient in the German line, which opened the way for the advance of the Allies to Fère-en-Tardenois and beyond. Grand Rozoy and the heights to the north of it were occupied and also Cugny, which stands one mile east of Oulchy. Farther north of Grand Rozoy the troops of General Pétain were pushing forward to capture the hills that dominated a wide area north and south. In these operations the French captured nearly 500 Germans. The fighting around Sergy on the north bank of the Ourcq was of a specially violent character, the place changing hands no less than nine times in twenty-four hours. Here, where the Americans had only the assistance from the French of a few armored cars, they fought practically "on their own" with distinction and bravery. (Details of their achievements in this struggle are noted in another place.) To the east, and just north of the Ourcq, the Allies won possession of the villages of Vallée and Givray. Toward Soissons a hard fight was in progress for the possession of Buzancy. It had twice been won by the Allies and then the Germans captured it. New Scottish troops, aided by a few British columns, attacked the town and it was won for the Allies. After defeating the Prussian Guards and Bavarians, the American forces made an advance of two miles beyond Sergy on July 30, 1918. The German resistance to the Allies' thrusts now became increasingly vigorous. Along almost the entire front to the east they launched fierce counterattacks, but only succeeded in gaining a little ground near St. Euphraise to the southwest of Rheims.