supporting barrage to mark a line for the troops. Colonel Conrad Babcock protested to Buck that without a heavy barrage his troops would sustain heavy losses crossing flat, open ground under heavy artillery and enfilading machine-gun fire. However, the plan was not altered. 1st Lieutenant Soren C. Sorenson was put in charge of three 6-man infiltration squads. Attacking behind the 2:00pm barrage, they tried to enter Berzy-le-Sec by going through the trees bordering Ploisy Ravine and entering the town from the north. They reached the outskirts of Berzy-le-Sec, but withering machine gun fire made it impractical to enter the town until after dark. At the same time a battalion of the 26th Infantry followed the barrage and attacked due east from the ravine bluff south of town. This attack quickly foundered due to devastating German artillery fire. Babcock arranged with Buck to make a night infiltration. This was subsequently canceled at around 11:00pm because an intense artillery barrage was scheduled for 4:45am and there was no way to signal division HQ if the town was captured. As a result, Sorenson and his men were ordered to fall back to Ploisy while the 28th Infantry dug in for the night. Although Berzy-le-Sec was not taken on 20 July, records of the German 65th Infantry Brigade reported the town was not in German hands at 11:00am. Diagrams accompanying the report show defending units east of the town and west of the railroad and highway. Yet neither French nor American troops reported getting anywhere near the town that morning and 28th Infantry did not attack until 2:00pm. Late in the afternoon Mangin, Bullard and Pershing arrived and insisted on the necessity of capturing Berzy-le-Sec. Orders were issued to renew the attack the next morning. The orders also indicated that the American 1st Division would be relieved by the Scottish 15th Division after the attack was successfully completed. Further south, 1st Brigade was still west of the Soissons – Château-Thierry road, straddled the ravine carrying the railroad southwest. They reached the vicinity of Bois Gérard, Visigneux, and Aconin Farm then bent its flank on an east–west line to stay in touch with 2nd Brigade. The Moroccans also crossed the railroad and entered Bois Gérard. They were relieved on the night of 20/21 July by the French 87th Division. On XX Corps’ southern flank the French 58th Division completed its relief of the American 2nd