German Spring Offensive
On 21 March 1918, Ludendorff launched Operation Michael, the first of five great offensives intended to win the war in the west before American forces arrived in decisive strength — Germany's last throw, made possible by the divisions transferred from the defunct Eastern Front. Using stormtrooper infiltration tactics behind a hurricane bombardment, the Germans broke the British Fifth Army and advanced up to 60 kilometres — distances unseen on the Western Front since 1914 — prompting Haig's 'backs to the wall' order and the appointment of Marshal Foch as supreme Allied commander. But the offensives captured ground without strategic objectives, cost Germany nearly a million irreplaceable casualties — disproportionately its best assault troops — and outran supply across the wastelands they conquered. By July the offensive was exhausted; the Allied counterstroke at the Second Battle of the Marne and the 'black day' of Amiens (8 August) began the Hundred Days advance that broke the German army. The gamble's failure converted Ludendorff himself, by late September, into the first advocate of an immediate armistice.
- Year: 1918 CE
- Category: Military
