Second Battle of the Somme
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Second Battle of the Somme (1918) | |
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Part of the Somme River , France | |
Result | Allied victory |
Henry Rawlinson
Arthur Currie
John Monash
British Fourth Army
United States II Corps
5,600 casualties
The Second Battle of the Somme of 1918 was fought during the
The most significant feature of the two 1918 Somme battles was that with the failure of
Battle
On August 15, British Field Marshal Douglas Haig refused demands from Supreme Allied Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch to continue the Amiens offensive, as that attack was faltering as the troops outran their supplies and artillery, and German reserves were being moved to the sector. Instead, Haig began to plan for an offensive at Albert.[citation needed]
The
The second battle began on 21 August with the opening of the
On the morning of 2 September, the
Faced with these advances, on the German Oberste Heeresleitung ("Supreme Army Command") issued orders to withdraw in the south to the Hindenburg Line. This ceded without a fight the salient seized the previous April.[9] According to Ludendorff, "We had to admit the necessity ... to withdraw the entire front from the Scarpe to the Vesle."[10][page needed]
By 3 September, the Germans had been forced back to the Hindenburg Line, from which they had launched their offensive in the spring.[citation needed]
On their way to the Hindenburg Line, in a fierce battle, the Canadian troops, led by General Sir
In late September/early October, one of the epic battles of the whole war was the breach of the Hindenburg Line (the
See also
- List of Canadian battles during World War I
- Hundred Days Offensive (1918)
References
- ^ "United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919". Volume 1, page 36. US Government Printing Office. 1948.
- ^ Terraine 1963.
- ^ Gray & Argyle 1990
- ^ Pitt 2003
- ^ Rickard, J (5 September 2007). "Second battle of Bapaume, 21 August–1 September 1918". Military History Encyclopedia on the Web. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
- ^ Australian War Memorial, 1998, "Mont St Quentin and Péronne" Archived 2007-08-07 at the Wayback Machine Access date: 1 March 2007.
- ^ "The Saskatchewan Dragoons" Archived 2008-02-16 at the Wayback Machine Access date: 15 June 2008.
- ^ Canadian War Memorials in France, "Dury Memorial"[dead link] Access date: 15 June 2008.
- ^ Nicholson 1962.
- ^ Ludendorff 1919.
- ^ Veterans Affairs Canada, "Bourlon Wood Memorial" Access date: 15 June 2008.
Bibliography
- Gray, Randal; Argyle, Christopher (1990). Chronicle of the First World War. New York: Facts on File. OCLC 19398100.
- OCLC 561160(original title Meine Kriegserinnerungen, 1914–1918)
- OCLC 2317262. Archived from the originalon 16 May 2007.
- Pitt, Barrie (2003). 1918: The Last Act. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. OCLC 56468232.
- Terraine, John (1963). Ordeal of Victory. J.B. Lippincott. OCLC 1345833.
Further reading
- Bomford, Michele (2012). Beaten Down by Blood: The Battle of Mont St Quentin-Péronne 1918. Big Sky Publishing. OCLC 794935136.
- Cowley, Robert (1964). 1918: Gamble for Victory: The Greatest Attack of World War I. Macmillan. OCLC 861763448.
- Harper, Glyn (2003). Spring Offensive: New Zealand and the Second Battle of the Somme. HarperCollins. OCLC 54528921.
- Horsfall, Jack (2006). The Third Army's Advance to Victory: Western Front 1918. Pen & Sword. OCLC 67873232.
- Marix Evans, Martin (2010). Somme 1914–18: Lessons in War. The History Press. OCLC 551415357.
- Murland, Jerry (2014). Retreat and Rearguard – Somme 1918. Pen & Sword Military. OCLC 880197455.
External links
- Philpott, William: Battles of Somme in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
- Media related to Second Battle of the Somme (1918) at Wikimedia Commons