various states of readiness in France. Seven fully trained divisions were either in the line or near the Marne salient. There were five partially trained divisions in quiet sectors south of Verdun in the French sector and another five partially trained in quiet sectors between Ypres and Arras in the British sector. An additional five divisions were in training areas, two divisions were in depots, and two divisions just arrived. Of these divisions Pershing believed he had 17 divisions ready for service. Planning On the evening of 30 May 1918, three days after the start of the Blucher-York offensive, General Pershing, Commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces in France, stopped at Sarcus to meet with General Ferdinand Foch, Supreme Allied Commander, and his staff. Recollecting the mood during dinner, Pershing commented, “It would be difficult to imagine a more depressed group of officers. They sat through the meal scarcely speaking a word.” Meeting with Foch alone after dinner, Pershing suggested an early counterattack be made against the Marne salient to which Foch replied that was what he had in mind. On Saturday, 1 June, Pershing attended a meeting of the Supreme War Council in Versailles. During the two-day meeting there was a heated discussion over the shipment of American troops with both the British and French demanding that only infantry and machine gun units be shipped. On 3 June, Pershing sent a cable to Newton Baker, Secretary of War, indicating the military situation in the Marne salient had become bleak with the French line giving way and the seven divisions occupying that portion of the front losing almost all their materiel and a large percentage of their personnel. Two weeks later, 14 June, after the American 1st Division took Cantigny, Foch wrote to General Philippe Pétain, commander of the Armies of the North and Northeast, “I have the honor to invite your attention to the importance of the communications net at Soissons, which is used for the supply of four German divisions on the front and which constitutes at the same time the sole junction point of all the railroads available to the enemy on the Aisne and south thereof.” Foch's letter to Pétain eventually reached General Charles Emmanuel Mangin, commander of the French Tenth Army. Mangin replied on 20 June with a summary plan for offensive operations to seize the plateau southwest of Soissons. From here long-range guns could