![]() ![]() Seeking to reclaim the initiative, Foch devised a strategy not focused on concentration, but rather one of independent Allies hitting the Germans at different points along the front. “Blackjack” Pershing (1860-1948) streaming into the continent, the advantage was clearly on their side. Marshal Foch knew that the entire effort had cost the Germans dearly in material, men, and morale and with fresh American troops under John J. Within months of the German offensives ending, the Allies had pushed the Germans back, thus negating their gains. The German gamble with the Spring offensives in 1918, while having driven into the Allied lines, did not break the Allies. This critical battle would see the implementation of lessons learned in combined arms as a way forward to victory. This campaign would begin at the logistically important city of Amiens on the Somme River in northern France, which would prove to be the turning point of the entire war. ![]() Recognizing that the German army was exhausted and depleted from constant combat, internal turmoil back home, and the breakout of the influenza, French military commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) devised a strategy centered around attacks by the various Allied armies of the British, French, and Americans to reclaim the initiative. When the Kaiserschlacht ended on 29 April 1918, over 500,000 casualties had been claimed in total from all sides, with Germany having born the largest losses with over 340,000 men. The German offensives of Spring 1918, also known as Kaiserschlacht or the “Emperor’s Battle,” were a massive German effort to hammer the French and British allies and force an accord before the full might of the American Expeditionary Force or AEF, could be brought to bear and tip the military advantage in the Allies favor. The Battle of Amiens: The Beginning of the End ![]()
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