THE SECOND PHASE OF THE GREAT GERMAN OFFENSIVE

The full force of the great German offensive having spent itself, though fighting still continued, it may be of great interest to consider how far the Germans succeeded in carrying out their carefully laid plans.

It was evident that their main purpose was not to capture Paris or reach the Channel ports, though these objectives were considered, but to destroy either the French or the British army. The British being the most powerful of the Allies' armies, owing to conditions that developed after the offensive started, was made the object of the Germans' most determined destructive efforts. They planned to strike a mighty blow along the Oise between St. Quentin and La FÈre, at the junction of the French and British troops. Their purpose was to break through at this point regardless of the cost. This accomplished, they would push on up the Oise valley, and by throwing large forces across the British right turn it and roll it up. To accomplish this it would be also necessary to destroy the British salient at Cambrai, for unless this was done an advance down the Somme would have left the whole German flank exposed to attack from the north.

The first German attack was launched against the Cambrai salient from the north and the east, and was successful as the British were driven back.

In this preliminary assault the Germans employed some ninety divisions or over 750,000 men on a front of about fifty miles. This was the heaviest concentration of men to the mile that had so far been used in campaigns on the western front. Against these forces the British had only about 5,000 men to the mile or less than a third of the number the Germans had in action. Having disposed of the Cambrai salient the Germans had opened the way for the real attack south which was made in the angle between the Oise Canal and the Somme. The assault was carried out with great masses of men in close formation, and the Allies' lines were overwhelmed in the first rush. But the British and French made an orderly if hurried retreat and their front remained unbroken. The Allies made the Germans pay heavily for every gain, fighting on steadily from point to point. The British during the retreat still clung to the southern bank of the Oise, but were finally forced across the river at Noyon which fell to the Germans.

Meanwhile in the north the British were slowly falling back on the old battle field of the Somme. It was wisely decided by the British High Command to retire rather than bring forward the strong armies they held in reserve back of the lines. The use of these armies would eliminate the possibility of a great counterattack. Having reached the old battle field and after the Ancre valley was passed, the British ceased to retreat and established themselves strongly on the west bank of the river.

South of the town of Albert the Germans made more important gains. They had reached and passed the Allies' old line as it existed before the fighting on the Somme. But in the last days of March they made little progress as their artillery had not kept pace with the forward rush and until the guns arrived no important advance could be made.

The French had halted behind the Avre River, an excellent position, for there were wide marsh belts lining either bank of the stream. Before the French ceased to retreat the Germans had pushed their advance westward and encircled Montdidier, producing by doing this a salient in their lines with the town as the apex. One German flank extended eastward through Lassigny to the Oise and the other along the Avre and behind it. This salient marked almost the extreme limit of the German push.

North of the Somme and south of Arras the German advance was checked, because the British held such strong positions on Vimy Ridge and the heights of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. The Germans could not push on north of the river before they had reduced these strong and commanding positions. To clear the way they made a determined attack with 90,000 men on a small front of not more than five miles east of Arras. After an intense artillery fire that lasted all day the Germans repeatedly attacked, but met with repulse. They gained a few hundred yards at several points, but the British line remained practically intact.

The net results of the German offensive showed that they had overrun considerable territory and were some miles nearer Paris. But they had not succeeded in crushing either the French or the British armies, and the real question in the war was the destruction of forces. Territorial gains were only of value as far as they contributed to that end. There was not the least doubt that the Germans had lost a far greater number of men than the Allies and that they could not continue for long a campaign on such a costly scale. Unless they found some other way out they were heading straight for defeat even if they should succeed in overrunning the greater part of France.

In the last two days of March the Germans resumed heavy fighting in the region between the Somme and the Avre and southward to Montdidier. Six villages around Montdidier were wrested from the French—Ayencourt and Le Monchel south of the town, Mesnil-St. Georges, Cantigny, Aubevillers and Grivesnes. On the following evening the French recaptured Ayencourt and Le Monchel, a hundred prisoners, and fourteen machine guns.

On the Oise front German detachments, consisting of a battalion of storming troops, having succeeded in crossing the river at Chauny, attempted to establish a bridgehead on the left bank. The French launched a swift and vigorously pressed counterattack, with the result that the German battalion was completely annihilated, or taken prisoners.

Between Montdidier and Moreuil there was stiff fighting during the last two days of March. The Germans repeatedly attacked almost without ceasing. Moreuil, captured by them, was retaken by the French, again taken by the Germans, and finally carried in a brilliant bayonet charge by British and French troops. Between Moreuil and Lassigny the German check was complete. The French also advanced as far as the vicinity of Canny-sur-Matz. A division of picked French troops after a hot fight in which they took over 700 prisoners captured Plemon and held it firmly against repeated attempts made by the enemy to oust them.

On the British front the Germans were especially active. Attacks followed one another at different points unceasingly during March 30-31, 1918. All these assaults were costly and failed. The Germans' determined efforts were unsuccessful elsewhere, for they lost considerable ground near Feuchy, four miles east of Arras; and near Serre, seven miles north of Albert, the British made a notable advance, capturing 230 prisoners and forty machine guns. South of the Somme, by successful counterattacks, the British regained possession of the village of Demuin. There was heavy fighting in the sector to the south of the main highway leading from PÉronne to Amiens, which proved costly to the Germans and brought no adequate returns.

At the close of the month it was the opinion of the French and British High Command that the offensive for the present was checked. The Germans were making strenuous efforts to rush forward their heavy artillery, and a formidable attack might be expected with all the reserves available, but the Allies viewed the future with confidence. At the same time they looked for a long struggle which might develop into such a contest as was fought at Verdun and the first battle of the Somme.

April 1, 1918, showed a slackening in the German pressure. There was brisk, and at times, violent fighting between the Germans and Allies around Moreuil and Hangard. Attacks and counterattacks followed each other in rapid succession, which resulted in the British gaining some ground. If it was the purpose of the Germans to make a drive on Amiens, this sector was of special importance, for it lay east of the city between the Somme and the Avre. What encouraged the Allies' High Command to believe that Amiens was the objective was the massing of great numbers of German troops in this area and in the district around Albert. In expectation of a heavy blow in these regions the Allies brought into the battle front as rapidly as possible a great number of guns. The Germans too were making artillery preparations, but their guns were arriving slowly and not in considerable numbers. All day long on April 1, 1918, they launched local attacks near Albert, but were unable to make any impression on the iron wall of British resistance.

On the same day the First German Guard Division, which had been severely punished by the French at Grivesnes, returned to the assault, but received such a warm reception that they were forced to seek shelter in their positions, leaving the French masters of the situation.

The British were active on the first of the month, carrying out some successful actions. German positions in a wood along the Luce River were stormed and after sharp fighting the enemy was forced to withdraw, leaving the field strewn with dead. The Germans shelled the wood after it was occupied by the British, and then organized two counterattacks with the purpose of retaking it. Both attacks were caught in the British artillery barrage and shattered. South of Hangard the British improved their position and smashed two German counterattacks which essayed to restore the situation. Early in the morning of April 4, 1918, the Germans launched a new offensive. Amiens was evidently the objective toward which their forces moved from three directions. One attack was made from the northeast from the general direction of Albert, a second from the east along the line of the Amiens-ResiÈres railroad, and the third along the Avre River where the French held the line. The Germans employed fifteen divisions against the French and fourteen divisions against the British, or nearly 350,000 men, attacking the Allies on a sixteen-mile front. All day long and through the night the French were assaulted with extreme violence. The Germans seemed determined to break through at whatever cost, their immediate aim being the Amiens-Paris railway. Despite their efforts, ten times repeated, the Germans, at the cost of heavy sacrifices, only succeeded in gaining a few hundred yards of territory, and occupied the villages of Mailly-Raineval and Morisel, while the French still controlled the heights in the neighborhood. Grivesnes was subjected to the fiercest attacks, but the French troops held it securely, and broke down every assault that was made by the enemy. The Germans were so badly battered in the fighting that raged all day and night in this region that they did not resume the offensive on the following day, and General PÉtain took advantage of the lull to launch successful counterattacks, gaining ground notably in the region of Mailly-Raineval (south of Moreuil) and Cantigny.

The northern and western outskirts of Cantigny, which was captured by the Germans a few days before, were now in French hands.

While the French were stubbornly holding their own against superior numbers, the British front south of the Somme was the scene of heavy fighting. The battle raged all day and far into the night and the British were forced back to new positions east of Villers-Bretonneux, nine miles east of Amiens. North and south of Albert their lines were heavily attacked along a front of about 9,000 yards between Aveluy and Dernancourt. All that the Germans gained in the fighting in this region was a foothold on a small triangular bit of territory just southwest of Albert, which brought the attacking troops close to the Albert-Amiens railway.

The net results of the Germans during the two days' fighting were a decided check and a very costly one.

On April 5, 1918, German forces engaged in massed attacks against the British lines just east of Corbie on the Somme. South of Hangard Wood the British were pushed back a short distance, but elsewhere the Germans achieved only costly failures.

Despite trifling gains here and there by the enemy, the Allies had every reason for feeling confident that the offensive would fail. In the vital sector between Montdidier and the Luce River, where the Germans were nearest to Amiens, their position was far from satisfactory, and in the north, where they must advance their lines if they wished to escape extreme danger, the situation was very bad indeed. The British were holding fast to their positions above Albert with indomitable courage, while the Germans were making a slow advance here and there at the cost of heavy sacrifice.

In the course of the fighting during April 7-8, 1918, the Germans made gains south of the Oise. Advancing toward the Ailette River they captured Pierremande and Folembray, driving the French to the western bank of the stream. The heights to the east of Coucy-le-ChÂteau were captured, and another force advancing from Verneuil-Barisis occupied the town of Verneuil.

Attacks and counterattacks continued along the British battle front. The little village of Cucquoy, near Serre, continued to be the center of the most determined German assaults. The place itself was nothing, a mere mass of ruins torn by artillery fire, but the hills around were occupied by the British, and the German advance was held up until these positions could be captured or disposed of.

On April 9, 1918, after a heavy bombardment in which over 60,000 gas shells were used, the Germans attacked British and Portuguese lines from La BassÉe Canal to the neighborhood of ArmentiÈres (a distance of eleven miles). The Portuguese in the center and the British on the flanks of the river Lys between Estaires and Bac St. Maur were forced to retire under the German pressure. Heavy fighting continued throughout the day in this sector. In the vicinity of Givenchy and Fleurbaix the British maintained their position and repulsed strong assaults. Richebourg St. Vaast and Laventie were occupied by the enemy.

In the morning of April 10, 1918, the Germans launched a new attack, with strong forces, against the British positions between the Lys River and ArmentiÈres and the Ypres-Commines Canal. The British were driven back to the line running through Wytschaete along the Messines Ridge to Ploegsteert.

South of ArmentiÈres, after a prolonged struggle, the Germans crossed the river Lys and established themselves on the left bank at a number of points east of Estaires and near Bac St. Maur. Southward from Estaires—the southern limit of the German offensive—the British continued to hold their lines. Givenchy was recaptured from the Germans, and 750 prisoners. The possession of this place was important to the Allies, as it stands on high ground, and is a gateway on the road to BÉthune.

In the course of the two days' fighting in this region the Germans advanced in the center to a depth of about 5,500 yards, the British and Portuguese losing a considerable number of prisoners and guns.

In the retirement of the French forces to the line of the Ailette River two French battalions were cut off and the Germans took 2,000 prisoners. The retirement of the French was made on account of an awkward corner in the line.

The fighting during these days showed that it was the Germans' purpose to exhaust the British army. Their first plan had been to cut off the British from the French, but that failed. Now they attacked the British wherever they saw a favorable chance, hoping to destroy such large numbers that they would be unable to take the offensive.

During the night of April 9, 1918, the Germans made a strong assault on the French lines near Hangard-en-Santerre. The French retaliated with a counterblow that drove the enemy back in disorder. The village changed hands repeatedly, but early in the morning of April 10, 1918, the French gained possession of the place and of a cemetery near by, and established themselves strongly in the new positions.

All day long on April 11, 1918, the Germans were hurling great masses of troops against the British lines on the northern front, from La BassÉe to the Ypres-Commines Canal southeast of Ypres. As the result of these heavy assaults Haig's troops were forced back north of Estaires and Steenwerck. The evacuation of ArmentiÈres followed. The German advance on the previous day between Warneton and the Lys on the north and their drive to the south of ArmentiÈres had subjected the place to attack from three sides. For the British to attempt holding the town under these conditions would have caused a useless sacrifice of troops. ArmentiÈres had no military importance, but the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge and the Passchendaele Ridge to the north of it were of great value. As long as these positions held out the British lines were safe. The Germans were confronted with the same situation that prevailed on the Somme front. The German push toward Amiens had been held up by the British possession of the Heights of Vimy and of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. These formed the hinge on which the whole British line swung as it moved westward. The same thing was happening in the north. The British center had given way under the fury of the German attacks, but the flanks held fast. On the north the Messines Ridge blocked the way of the German advance. For in case of a westward push both German flanks would be in great danger from this bastion which commanded the entire field of maneuver. Their front and rear as well as flanks would be subjected to destructive artillery fire from this ridge which therefore became the center of the fighting in the north.

The Germans recognizing the supreme importance of the ridge made determined and valiant efforts to capture the position. They launched one attack after another that were costly and brought no results. They entered the British lines in the village of Messines, but were promptly driven out in a brilliant counterattack and the important positions remained in British hands.

In the area west and northwest of ArmentiÈres the British troops were forced back in the fighting that continued throughout the day on April 12, 1918. The British retired to the neighborhood of the railway south of Bailleul, where the heaviest fighting continued without respite. The Germans captured Merville and drove the British forces operating near Ploegsteert to retire to new positions in the neighborhood of Neuve Église.

In the Hangard-en-Santerre sector of the French front to the southeast of Amiens the struggle was prolonged throughout the day. The Germans attacked with large forces, but the French held their own until late in the day, when the enemy, reenforced by fresh troops in considerable numbers, gained a portion of Hangard, while the French still held on to the western part of the town. In the Noyon sector the Germans were active with their artillery, but attempted no infantry attacks. Rheims, the martyred city, was again bombarded, with the result that a number of buildings were fired, especially in the vicinity of the cathedral.

During the night of April 12-13, 1918, the Germans made a determined drive for Neuve Église, three miles southwest of Messines, and after a prolonged struggle occupied the village. The British vigorously counterattacked in the morning and drove the enemy out, capturing a battalion commander and a number of prisoners. There was hard fighting at other points on the British front, the Germans losing ground at Festubert. On the French front all enemy attacks broke down. Northwest of Orvilles-Sorel French forces broke into the German line on a front of three quarters of a mile and won a strip of territory.

The Germans continued to bring up fresh divisions into the Messines sector, until twenty-three divisions were engaged. Neuve Église was wrested from the British during the night of April 14, 1918. Seven attacks were made on the British lines near Merville, only one of which pushed back the British line and was successful in gaining ground. The British in a dashing counterattack drove out the Germans and reoccupied the line. Bailleul and the neighborhood were the scene of violent fighting. The Germans seemed determined to carry the place at any cost. The town, which contained many handsome buildings, was reduced to a mass of ruins. The German pressure forced the British to evacuate the town in the night of April 15, 1918, after they had been driven from the heights to the south and southeast. The British troops fell back on the east and west line north of Wulverghem and Bailleul.

On this date (April 15, 1918) the Germans made other notable gains. Attacking the British on a nine-mile front, Haig's men were driven from Wytschaete and most of the Messines Ridge positions were taken. It will be recalled that this famous ridge was captured by the British from the Germans on June 7, 1917, after elaborate mining preparations had been made and 1,000,000 pounds of high explosives were used in blowing up the heights.

Intense fighting continued all day long on April 16-17, 1918, about the Messines Ridge and the Passchendaele Ridge to the north, forcing the British to retire to their lines east of Ypres.

In the Hangard sector on the French front, where since the beginning of the offensive the Germans had been hammering away in an effort to get astride the railway connecting Amiens with Clairmont, the British carried out a highly successful operation. At daybreak on April 17-18, 1918, along a front of about five miles between Thennes and Mailly-Renneval, the French launched a dashing assault that resulted in the capture of over 600 prisoners and the seizure of some important points which the enemy occupied. The ground over which the French had to charge had been transformed by recent rains into heavy mud into which the attackers sank at times up to their knees, but they pushed on undismayed. The commanding heights on the northern flank were carried amid victorious cheers. In the center bodies of infantry penetrated Senecat Wood and cleared up the gun emplacements which defended the approaches to Castel. Pressing forward, the French infantry established themselves on the outskirts of the town and prepared for an assault on the place. Toward the south other French units captured dominating heights and advanced toward Anchin Farm on the road between Ailly-sur-Noye and Moreuil. The French advance met with the strongest opposition from the Germans, but their efforts were ineffective and their casualties heavy.

The main purpose of the Germans in their continued pounding of the French around Hangard was to prevent reenforcements being sent north. This they failed to accomplish. The French not only fought them off and gained ground, but were able to send a considerable force to the northern front.

The fighting around Hangard, which was prolonged for days, was of the most sanguinary description. Desperate hand-to-hand fighting took place in the streets of the town and inside the houses. Hangard changed hands again and again, but was finally occupied and strongly held by the French.

The fighting continued with undiminished fury on the northern front, but the Germans made no important gains. Attacks in the Mont Kemmel region were beaten off. At Givenchy, and at other points of the front, the Germans failed to gain ground, while great numbers were slaughtered by the British machine-gun and rifle fire. It was estimated that the Germans employed 137,000 men in their furious assaults on the Allied front extending from Givenchy, eleven miles northwest to the neighborhood of St. Venant. Important reenforcements of French troops strengthened the British resistance in the north, and German masses attempting to break through lost heavily.

During the week the Germans, employing picked troops, made violent attacks on the Belgian front between Kippe and Langemarck, but were unable to gain a foot of ground. The Belgians captured 714 prisoners, a 77-millimeter gun, and 42 machine guns. Documents found on captured German officers revealed the importance attached by the Germans to the operation. They had planned to capture Merckem, Luyghem, Aschoop, and neighboring towns, and after reaching the Ypres Canal purposed to push on in the direction of Poperinghe and envelop the left of the Allies. At the close of the week (April 20, 1918) it was evident that the German offensive had broken down, and that no more important movement would be attempted for some time. In the Givenchy-Festubert region (west of La BassÉe) the British forces expelled the Germans from some advanced points which they had occupied two days before.

A determined attack made by the Germans against the French lines north of Seicheprey, in which the American troops fought with valor and distinction, is described in another part of this work.

In summing up the operations of the week, it will be noted that the fighting in the Lys region absorbed most of the German energy, and that the British defense was strained at times nearly to the breaking point. The German advance from the south was diverted by indomitable British resistance encountered at Givenchy. ArmentiÈres was evacuated to avoid an encircling movement, after which the German armies on the north and south of the place joined hands. British divisions on the north and south flanks remained firm, but the attack in the center was pushed, and after the river Lawe was crossed Merville, Merris, and Neuve Église were captured, when the advance was checked. The struggle then narrowed down to Bailleul, Nieppe Forest, and Mont Kemmel, the main objective being the capture of Hazebrouck. In the course of the week's fighting these villages changed hands a number of times, but in the end Bailleul fell and the Germans occupied Meterne, Wulverghem, and Wytschaete, and an important section of Messines Ridge. This rendered the forward line eastward of Ypres untenable, and the British retired to new positions. The fighting at every point during the week was of the most desperate character. The Germans found it difficult to exploit their first successes in any direction but the most northern and northwestern sectors, where they discovered a weak point and concentrated a powerful attack. The Allied High Command had no reason to feel discouraged, for the situation, though serious, gave ground for confidence. The net result to the Germans was a small gain in territory, but their losses in men had been appalling. It was no longer a question of overrunning territory in France, but the destruction of man power that would count in the end.