Hundred Days Offensive
Hundred Days Offensive | |||||||
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Part of the Western Front of World War I | |||||||
Allied gains in late 1918 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
France United States Belgium Italy[1][2] Portugal Siam |
German Empire Austria-Hungary | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Paul von Hindenburg[l] Erich Ludendorff[m] Wilhelm Groener[n] Max von Gallwitz[o] Rupprecht of Bavaria[p] Wilhelm of Prussia[q] Max von Boehn[r] Albrecht of Württemberg[s] | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
Strength on 11 November 1918:[3] c. 2,559,000 c. 1,900,000 c. 1,900,000[t] c. 190,000 |
Strength on 11 November 1918:[3] c. 3,562,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
18 July – 11 November: 1,070,000[4] 531,000 412,000 127,000 |
18 July – 11 November: 1,172,075[4] ~100,000+ killed 685,733 wounded 386,342 captured 6,700 artillery pieces Breakdown 2,500 killed 5,000 captured 10,000 wounded |
The Hundred Days Offensive (8 August to 11 November 1918) was a series of massive
The Germans retreated to the
Background
The
After the Germans had lost their forward momentum, Foch considered the time had arrived for the
The military planners considered a number of proposals. Foch agreed to a proposal by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commander-in-chief of the BEF, to strike on the River Somme, east of Amiens and south-west of the site of the 1916 Battle of the Somme, to force the Germans away from the vital Amiens–Paris railway.[8]: 472 The Somme was chosen because it remained the boundary between the BEF and the French armies, along the Amiens–Roye road, allowing the two armies to cooperate. The Picardy terrain provided a good surface for tanks, unlike in Flanders, and the defences of the German 2nd Army under General Georg von der Marwitz were relatively weak, having been subjected to continual raiding by the Australians in a process termed peaceful penetration.
Battles
Advance in Picardy
Battle of Amiens
The Battle of Amiens (with the French attack on the southern flank called the Battle of Montdidier) opened on 8 August, with an attack by more than 10 Allied divisions—Australian, Canadian, British and French forces—with more than 500 tanks.[8]: 497 The mastermind of the plan was the Australian, Lieutenant General John Monash.[9][10] Through careful preparation, the Allies achieved surprise.[11]: 20, 95 [12] The attack, led by the British Fourth Army, broke through the German lines, and tanks attacked German rear positions, sowing panic and confusion. By the end of the day, a gap 15 mi (24 km) wide had been created in the German line south of the Somme.[13] The Allies had taken 17,000 prisoners and 339 guns. Total German losses were estimated to be 30,000 men, while the Allies had suffered about 6,500 killed, wounded and missing. The collapse in German morale led Erich Ludendorff to dub it "the Black Day of the German Army".[11]: 20, 95
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.
Somme
On 15 August, 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[
Advance to the Hindenburg Line
With the front line broken, a number of battles took place as the Allies forced the Germans back to the Hindenburg Line. East of Amiens (after the
South of the BEF, the French
Battles of the Hindenburg Line
Foch planned a series of
The first attack of the Grand Offensive was launched on 26 September by the French and the AEF in the
On 29 September, the central attack on the Hindenburg Line commenced, with the British Fourth Army (with British, Australian and American forces)[23] attacking in the Battle of St Quentin Canal and the French First Army attacking fortifications outside St Quentin. By 5 October, the Allies had broken through the entire depth of the Hindenburg defences over a 19 mi (31 km) front.[20]: 123 General Rawlinson wrote, "Had the Boche [Germans] not shown marked signs of deterioration during the past month, I should never have contemplated attacking the Hindenburg line. Had it been defended by the Germans of two years ago, it would certainly have been impregnable…."
On 8 October, the First and Third British Armies broke through the Hindenburg Line at the Second Battle of Cambrai.[24] This collapse forced the German High Command to accept that the war had to be ended. The evidence of failing German morale also convinced many Allied commanders and political leaders that the war could be ended in 1918; previously, all efforts had been concentrated on building up forces to mount a decisive attack in 1919.
Subsequent operations
Through October, the German armies retreated through the territory gained in 1914. The Allies pressed the Germans back toward the lateral railway line from Metz to Bruges, which had supplied the front in northern France and Belgium for much of the war. As the Allied armies reached this line, the Germans were forced to abandon increasingly large amounts of heavy equipment and supplies, further reducing their morale and capacity to resist.[26]
The Allied and German armies suffered many casualties. Rearguard actions were fought during the
See also
Notes
- ^ Allied Commander
- ^ Commander of the French Army
- ^ Commander of Army Group Centre
- ^ Commander of Army Group Reserve
- ^ Commander of Army Group East
- ^ Commander of BEF
- ^ Chief of Imperial General Staff of the British Army
- ^ Commander of AEF
- ^ Commander of Army Group Flanders
- ^ Commander of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps
- ^ Divisional Commander of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps
- ^ Chief of the German Great General Staff
- ^ First Quartermaster General
- ^ First Quartermaster General
- ^ Commander of Army Group Gallwitz
- ^ Commander of Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria
- ^ Commander of Army Group German Crown Prince
- ^ Commander of Army Group Boehn
- ^ Commander of Army Group Albrecht
- ^ Also possessed 2,251 artillery pieces on the frontline out of the 3,500 total artillery pieces used by the Americans. Ayers p. 81
References
- ^ Caracciolo, M. Le truppe italiane in Francia. Mondadori. Milan 1929
- ^ Julien Sapori, Les troupes italiennes en France pendant la première guerre mondiale, éditions Anovi, 2008
- ^ a b Neiberg p. 95
- ^ a b Tucker 2014, p. 634.
- ^ Bond 1990, p. 20.
- ^ a b c Reid 2006, p. 448.
- ^ Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914–1920, The War Office, pp. 356–357.
- ^ a b c d e Bean. The Australian Imperial Force in France during the Allied Offensive..
- ISBN 9781863957458.
- ISBN 9780857982131.
- ^ a b c d Livesay, John Frederick Bligh (1919). Canada's Hundred Days: With the Canadian Corps from Amiens to Mons, Aug. 8 – Nov. 11, 1918. Toronto: Thomas Allen.
- ISBN 1-896979-20-3.
- ISBN 1-55125-096-9.
- ISBN 0-345-02608-X.
- ^ "Canada's Hundred Days". Canada: Veterans Affairs. 29 July 2004. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
- ISBN 0-88830-310-6.
- ^ a b "History of the Great War – principal events timeline – 1918". Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ "Mont St Quentin – Peronne 31 August – 2 September 1918". Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ "The Second Battles of Arras, 1918 – The Long, Long Trail". Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ a b c Hanotaux (1915). Histoire illustrée de la guerre de 1914.
- OCLC 60369666.
- ISBN 9781315682709, retrieved 26 May 2022
- ^ Blair 2011, pp. 145–148.
- OCLC 166099767.
- ^ Leonard P. Ayers, online The War with Germany: a statistical summary (1919) p 105
- ISBN 978-0-1987-3074-3.
Bibliography
- Bond, Brian (2007). The Unquiet Western Front, Britain's Role in Literature and History. London: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-03641-2.
- OCLC 41008291. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
- Blair, Dale (2011). The Battle of Bellicourt Tunnel: Tommies, Diggers and Doughboys on the Hindenburg Line, 1918. Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1848325876.
- Christie, Norm M. (1999). For King and Empire, The Canadians at Amiens, August 1918. CEF Books. ISBN 1-896979-20-3.
- Christie, Norm M. (2005). The Canadians at Arras and the Drocourt–Queant Line, August–September, 1918. CEF Books. OCLC 60369666.
- Christie, Norm M. (1997). The Canadians at Cambrai and the Canal du Nord, August–September 1918. CEF Books. ISBN 1-896979-18-1.
- Dancocks, Daniel George (1987). Spearhead to Victory: Canada and the Great War. Hurtig. OCLC 16354705.
- Hanotaux, Gabriel (1924). Histoire Illustrée de la Guerre de 1914 (in French). Vol. 17. Paris: Gounouilhou. OCLC 175115527.
- Livesay, John Frederick Bligh (1919). Canada's Hundred Days. Thomas Allen. OCLC 471474361.
- ISBN 978-0-670-92006-8.
- Montgomery, Sir A. (1920). The Story of Fourth Army in the Battles of the Hundred Days, August 8th to November 11th, 1918. London: Hodder & Stoughton. OCLC 682022494. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
- Orgill, Douglas (1972). Armoured Onslaught: 8 August 1918. New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-02608-X.
- Priestley, R. E. (1919). Breaking the Hindenburg Line: The Story of the 46th (North Midland) Division. London: Unwin. OCLC 671679006. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
- Reid, Walter (2006). Architect of Victory: Douglas Haig. Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 978-1841585178.
- Schreiber, Shane B. (2004). Shock Army of the British Empire: The Canadian Corps in the Last 100 Days of the Great War. St.Catharine's, Ontario: Vanwell. ISBN 1-55125-096-9.
- Tucker, S. (2014). Zabecki, D. (ed.). Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-598-84980-6.
External links
- Lloyd, Nicholas: Hundred Days Offensive, in: 1914–1918 – online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Maps of Europe Archived 1 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive at omniatlas.com