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By December 1917, the Allies had resigned themselves to the fact that
they would have to face a major German offensive early the next year.
Germany's strength on the Western Front was increasing - Russia's cessation
of fighting in the east meant that Germany could transfer whole divisions
to the West. By contrast, the Allies' manpower was in disarray; lack of
reinforcements to the British force and France's requirement to send troops
to Italy meant that by the beginning of 1918, the Germans would briefly
outnumber the Franco-British armies on the Western Front by 192 divisions
to 156.
The Germans were aware that America's role in the conflict could easily
turn the tide against them and they therefore needed a decisive victory
in 1918 in the west before the Americans managed to ship too much manpower
and resources to Europe. Ludendorff therefore planned a Kaiserschlacht,
an Imperial Battle, in which a series of decisive blows would bring about
the whole structure of the Allied armies. Rightly or wrongly, Ludendorff
argued that once British forces were defeated, the other Allied armies
would collapse and he therefore directed his plans towards a concentration
of attacks against the British forces
The German March Offensive - 1918
The relative quiet of the 1917-18 winter broke in the early hours
of the 21st March 1918 when the Germans launched Operation Michael.
After a five hour bombardment forty-three Divisions attacked the British
Third Army sector. By the evening of the same day the British had lost
over 38,000 men, the Germans 40,000. German advances continued, but by
the end of the month it was clear that Operation Michael was running out
of steam. Despite having advanced about forty miles and having regained
most of the ground which they had occupied in 1916, the Germans had still
not inflicted the decisive blow that would crush the British and bring
down their allies with them. All in all, the British and French forces
had lost about 185,000 men whilst German casualties numbered about 250,000.
The German Flanders Offensive -April 1918
Realising that Operation Michael had run its course in the
central sector of the Western Front and that the push towards Amiens would
not succeed without further bad casualties, Ludendorff now turned his
attention to Flanders on the northern part of the Front. His plan, codenamed
Georgette, involved a push north-westwards towards Armentieres.
On the 9th April the German forces pushed forward over three miles. The
day after Messines village was lost. Field-Marshal Haig requested urgent
support from the French military leaders. On the 11th April he issued
a special Order of the Day:
" There is no other course open to us but to fight it out. Every
position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With
our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one
of us must fight on to the end. "
The arrival of the British 5th and 33rd Divisions relieved the situation.
By the 19th April the French had relieved fatigues British forces along
a nine mile stretch of the Front, but the new forces had arrived too late
for the Allies to keep hold of the Passchendaele Ridge which the Allies
had won at such high cost the previous year and they were forced to retreat
back to safer ground to the east of Ypres. On the 29th April Ludendorff
called off Georgette.
The German Aisne Offensive - May 1918
With the substantial losses suffered by the Allies since March, it
was clear that the involvement of American troops in the conflict would
be crucial. Many of the French and British frontline units were severely
depleted or exhausted to beyond fighting strength. By the 1st May the
American Expeditionary Force had 430,000 troops in France. By the end
of the month over 650,000 Americans were available.
Ludendorff now intended to continue his plan to defeat the British in
Flanders. In order to lure away the French forces from this region he
now began an attack in the southern French sector of the Front. The offensive
on the Aisne, Operation Blucher, began on the 27th May with a 4000-gun
bombardment. Within hours the German forces had crossed the Aisne and
destroyed the best part of eight British and French divisions. By the
end of the 29th May German forces were only 56 miles from Paris, but as
with the previous offensives, German advances were eventually halted.
In this southern part of the Front the Germans now found themselves having
to defend themselves in a salient with Allied forces pinning them down
from three directions.
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