The villages and conurbations around Arras and Amiens would turn into battlefields when Operation Michael was launched in May 1918. Controlling these cities was very important for the overall control of supplies and communications. If successful, the Germans could split the Allied lines and possibly knock the British out of the war permanently.Ī series of important locations lay within Operation Michael’s path, including Arras and Amiens. Its goal was to break through British positions along the Somme. Operation Michael was the first phase of the Spring Offensive. In a series of operations, the German Army would smash through the weakened British frontline, spearheaded by a new breed of highly trained soldiers: the fearsome Stormtroopers. The Kaiserschlacht (Kaiser’s Battle), known as the Spring Offensive, would take place in March-April 1918. In November 1917, General Ludendorff and his generals devised a huge attack across the Western Front. German High Command believed it had the answer. Image: Map of the German Army's Spring Offensive of early 1918 (Wikimedia Commons) No army had yet to achieve that final decisive breakthrough and win the war. Millions of young men and women had lost their lives. Many attempts to break the deadlock had taken place since fighting began between France, The British Empire and their allies with Imperial Germany and its supporters in August 1914.įrance and Belgium’s once-green fields had been turned into a maze of trenches, craters, and blasted open spaces. Even after years of gruelling fighting, and millions of spent lives, stalemate reigned on the Western Front at the beginning of 1918.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |