During the fighting in the Chateau-Thierry sector the headquarters of the Fourth Brigade was successively at Montreuil-aux-Lions, (in an automobile for one-half hour on the way to the front lines), Issonge farmhouse, and La Loge farmhouse. After being relieved by elements of the Twenty-sixth Division during the night of July 5-6, 1918, the brigade moved to an area in rear of the lines and occupied what was known as the Line of Defense or Army Line, with headquarters at Nanteuil-sur-Marne. The brigade remained there until July 16, 1918. During the time the above-described fighting was going on the Germans were frustrated in their fourth 1918 drive (Noyon-Montdidier defensive) between June 9 and 15, 1918, and of course being busy in the vicinity of Bois de Belleau, the Marines had no opportunity of engaging in it. Having been blocked in the Marne salient, the Germans attacked for the fifth time in 1918 on July 15, and as events turned out it was the last, for from the time of its failure they were on the defensive. The Allied troops including many Americans held this attack, called by the Americans the Champagne-Marne defensive, which was on a large scale, and the grand initiative passed from the Germans to the Allies on July 18, 1918, when Marshal Foch launched his initial major offensive, termed by the Americans the Aisne-Marne. In this magnificent and gigantic operation the Marine Brigade and other elements of the Second Division played leading parts in the vicinity of Soissons. General headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces, on May 28, 1919, credited the Second Division units with participation in the major operation of Champagne-Marne defensive, but on June 2, 1919, rescinded this credit. Chapter XI. THE AISNE-MARNE OFFENSIVE (SOISSONS). On July 11, 1918, Brig. Gen. James G. Harbord, commanding general of the Marine Brigade, received notification of his appointment as a major general, and two days later left on a five days’ leave of absence. As Col. Neville had been evacuated to a base hospital after leaving the Chateau-Thierry sector, Lieut. Col. Harry Lee assumed temporary command of the brigade. Maj. Gen. Harbord and Col. Neville both returned in time to enter the Aisne-Marne offensive, the former in command of the Second Division and the latter in command of the Fourth Brigade. Of the six Allied offensives taking place in 1918 on the Western Front, designated by the Americans as major operations, the Fourth Brigade of Marines, with the other units of the Second Division, participated in three, the first being the vast offensive known as the Aisne-Marne, in which the Marine Brigade entered the line near Soissons.