History of the 151st field artillery, Rainbow Division, by Louis L. Collins, lieutenant governor of Minnesota. Edited by Wayne E. Stevens, PH. D. Pub. by the Minnesota War records commission.

THE CHAMPAGNE DEFENSIVE

71

French infantrymen, and from the prisoners thus secured, as well
as from an examination of captured documents, the French learned
more and more of the details of the German plans. The most successful of all these raids was one led by a French lieutenant on the
night of July 14. Positive information was secured to the effect
that the Germans were planning to launch their attack early in
the morning on July 15 and that their artillery preparation would
begin just after midnight. Word was sent from headquarters of
the 21st Corps and the artillerymen were ordered to be on the
alert.
Now that he knew the exact hour of the attack, General Gouraud, with a flash of genius, decided to anticipate it. At about
half-past eleven the heavy French and American artillery along
the front began a terrific bombardment of the German positions.
This was limited to artillery of 150-millimeter caliber and larger,
and the men of the light artillery units were not called to the guns
until later. According to French reports published later, this
counter-offensive caught the enemy as he was massing in preparation for the attack and caused him immense losses in men and
material. Batteries of big guns which had not fired a single shot
on the Champagne front and whose location was unknown to the
enemy came suddenly to life and heaped high explosives on gun
positions and units which were about to "jump off." But it was
too late for the Germans to alter their program —the infantry
units were already massed in their assault positions. Furthermore, the fire of the big guns would have prevented their withdrawal, had they attempted it.
Shortly after midnight, according to schedule, the German
artillery opened neutralization fire in an effort to demolish the
gun positions of the allies and thus protect their own infantry
when the time came for them to go over the top.'0 For more than
three hours the flare of a terrific artillery duel illuminated the
Champagne front, during which the men of the light artillery units
~0The fifth great German attack, of which this bombardment was the first
phase, extended over a wide front, from the Chateau-Thierry salient eastward
to the Argonne. The heaviest attacks were directed against the salient and
against that portion of the Champagne front lying in front of Ch&lons-suTMarne.