French troopers under General Gouraud, with their machine guns amongst the ruins of a cathedral near the Marne, driving back the Germans. The Second Battle of the Marne (July 15 - August 6, 1918) was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by French forces and including several hundred tanks overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties. The German defeat marked the start of the relentless Allied advance which culminated in the Armistice about 100 days later. The Second Battle of the Marne can be considered as the beginning of the end of the Great War. Henri Joseph Eug癡ne Gouraud (November 17, 1867- September 16, 1946) was a French general, best known for his leadership of the French Fourth Army at the end of the World War I. Photo taken by Central News Photo Service, 1918.