The Americans' advert° was such an obvious threat to the
German lines of supply and retreat by the Meuse Valley, Montmedy, and Metz that the enemy rapidly brought up reserves to stop them. Furious counter-attacks, the difficulties of wood fighting in the Argonne, and, above all, the bad roads and the mud, compelled the Americans to move more slowly after the second day, but they continued; none the less, to push on beyond Montfaucon, keeping in line with the French to the west. General Gouraud also met with obstinate resistance in the chalk hills and the woods of Champagne, but he gained ground daily on the Argonne side of his front. By Wednesday he was well across the Challerange- Grandpre Railway and barely three miles from the Grandpre road through the forest. The Allies between them had captured over twenty-one thousand prisoners and four hundred guns.
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