![]() ![]() The attack was widened on the south, by the French 10th Army starting the Second Battle of Noyon (French language: 2e Bataille de Noyon) on 17 August, capturing the town of Noyon on 29 August. The offensive was a success, pushing the German Second Army back over a 34 mi (55 km) front. A machine gun position established by the Australian 54th Battalion during its attack on German forces in the town. Haig refused, and instead prepared to launch a fresh offensive by the British Third Army at Albert (the Battle of Albert), which opened on 21 August. On 15 August 1918, Foch demanded that Haig continue the Amiens offensive, even though the attack was faltering as the troops outran their supplies and artillery, and German reserves were being moved to the sector. Main article: Second Battle of the Somme (1918) On 10 August, the Germans began to pull out of the salient that they had managed to occupy during Operation Michael in March, back towards the Hindenburg Line. During those three days, the Allies had managed to gain 12 mi (19 km), but most of that had occurred on the first day, as a result of the Germans adding reinforcements. The advance continued for three more days but without the spectacular results of 8 August, since the rapid advance outran the supporting artillery and ran short of supplies. The collapse in German morale led Erich Ludendorff to dub it "the Black Day of the German Army". Total German losses were estimated to be 30,000 on 8 August, while the Allies had suffered about 6,500 killed, wounded and missing. The Allies had taken 17,000 prisoners and captured 330 guns. By the end of the day, a gap 15 mi (24 km) long had been created in the German line south of the Somme. :20,95 The attack, spearheaded by Australian Corps and Canadian Corps of the British Fourth Army, broke through the German lines, and tanks attacked German rear positions, sowing panic and confusion. :497 Through careful preparations, the Allies achieved complete surprise. The Battle of Amiens (with the French attack on the southern flank called the Battle of Montdidier (French language: Bataille de Montdidier)) opened on 8 August 1918, with an attack by more than 10 Allied divisions-Australian, Canadian, British and French forces-with more than 500 tanks. Tactics involving a combination of thousands of tanks equipped with cannon (aka " males", as shown in this photo) and machine guns (" females"), both models with rotating turrets, made the difference for the success of 1918 Allied counter-offensives. Main article: Battle of Amiens (1918) File:FT17 coverage of a French infantry onrush WWI.jpg Finally, the German defenses, manned by the German Second Army of General Georg von der Marwitz, were relatively weak, having been subjected to continual raiding by the Australians in a process termed peaceful penetration. Also the Picardy countryside provided a good surface for tanks, which was not the case in Flanders. As in 1916, it marked the boundary between the BEF and the French armies, in this case defined by the Amiens-Roye road, allowing the two armies to cooperate. :472 The Somme was chosen as a suitable site for the offensive for several reasons. ![]() :155Ī number of proposals were considered, and finally Foch agreed on a proposal by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), to strike on the Somme, east of Amiens and southwest of the 1916 battlefield of the Battle of the Somme, with the intention of forcing the Germans away from the vital Amiens-Paris railway. The British Army had also been reinforced by large numbers of troops returned from campaigns in Palestine and Italy, and large numbers of replacements previously held back in Britain by Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Pershing, was keen to use his army in an independent role. The American Expeditionary Force was now present in France in large numbers, and their presence invigorated the Allied armies. For this victory, Foch was granted the title Marshal of France.įoch considered the time had arrived for the Allies to return to the offensive. The Germans, recognising their untenable position, withdrew from the Marne towards the north. When Operation Marne-Rheims ended in July, the Allied supreme commander, the French Ferdinand Foch, ordered a counter-offensive which became the Second Battle of the Marne. The Germans had advanced to the Marne River but failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough. The German Spring Offensives on the Western Front, which began on 21 March 1918 with Operation Michael, had petered out by July. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelandīritish forces took 188,700 prisoners and captured 2,840 guns įrench forces took 139,000 prisoners and captured 1,880 guns Īmerican forces took 44,142 prisoners and captured 1,481 guns īelgian forces took 14,500 prisoners and captured 414 guns.Part of the Western Front of the First World War
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