The Last German Offensive - 1918

With the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, the German Army no longer had to fight a two front war. This allowed the German Army to move almost all of its troops to the Western Front. The German High Command decided to launch one massive attack to win the war. They selected General Ludendorff (a successful German general from the Eastern Front) to lead the attack.

He was given 200 divisions and massive artillery support for his offensive. On 21 March 1918, over 6000 guns pounded British trenches for five hours. Then, 70 German divisions went over the top and attacked a mere five British divisions. The British soldiers broke and ran in the face of the onslaught. The stalemate of trench fighting had been broken and the German army could advance freely.

The Allies were forced to react, and did so by forming a joint command between the British and French armies. This allowed them to counter attack the German offensive. The German Army was able to drive to the outskirts of Paris, but there the offensive ran out of steam. The plan had failed, and Ludendorff was only able to create a large bulge 130 km long, by 65 km wide.

The now fully unified Allied forces of the British, French and the recently arrived American Army, slowly pushed the Germans back to the original trench line. Once again, the static and horror of trench warfare returned to the Western Front.

MULTIMEDIA

Video: Soldiers at battle