France, 1918.

The Battle of Amiens begins!

Amiens is an important transport hub in France, and the main railway line that runs across the French mainland passes through Amiens. After the German occupation of Amiens, Foch had been restless, for it undoubtedly put a noose around the neck of the French. To this end, on July 24, 1918, he presented to the Entente [***] a plan for the campaign aimed at the capture of Amiens. The basic idea of the plan was to repulse the German forces along the Somme by recovering the railways between Amiens and Paris, so as to move away from the defense and move on to an all-out attack on the Germans. Foch's plan was unanimously agreed by the Entente.

Foch planned to commit 17 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, 2,684 artillery pieces, 511 tanks, 16 armored vehicles, and about 1,000 aircraft, with four Canadian divisions, five infantry divisions, three cavalry divisions, and one American division. The campaign was under the unified command of the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Haig.

However, the German army in the vicinity of Amiens had only one army group with a total of 7 divisions, 840 artillery pieces and 106 aircraft. Compared to the Entente, Germany was clearly at a disadvantage.

Not only was the Allied forces superior to the Germans in terms of numbers, but on the basis of learning the lessons of the German infiltration tactics in the first half of the year, Haig changed his tactics. He ordered the coalition forces to attack without artillery fire, but to launch a surprise attack led by tanks.

In order to achieve the effect of the surprise attack, Haig demanded that all pre-battle preparations be carried out covertly and secretly. 230 troop carriers and 60 bomb trains shuttle back and forth on quiet summer nights; The roads were paved with sand and straw, and the piles of supplies were camouflaged; Search and artillery test firing are prohibited; The entire area was covered by British and French air forces, which had air supremacy. In order to confuse the German army, the Anglo-French forces also carried out feints in the Ypres area.

Despite all the measures taken by the coalition forces, it is difficult to achieve the mobility of such a large army without leaking the slightest rumor. A few days before the offensive, German intelligence officers heard suspicious noises in the shallow rear of the British troops in the forward positions of the German 2nd Army, and aerial reconnaissance also detected the movement of tank columns. However, after receiving this information, the German high command not only did not pay due attention to it, but accused the intelligence service of being nervous. Ludendorff also did not believe that the Allied forces, which had been battered by the Germans in Operation Michael, would be able to organize a large-scale offensive in less than half a month. In this way, all the Anglo-French forces were able to reach the area east of Amiens by the night of 7 August.

At 3 a.m. on August 8, fog began to rise on the ground. In a few moments, the earth was white. As soon as 4 o'clock passed, the Allied tanks, under the cover of aircraft noise, secretly advanced in the direction of the German positions.

At 4:20, 2,000 guns opened fire at the same time, and shells rained down on German positions, command posts, observation posts, communications hubs and other rear targets. In an instant, the German positions were filled with smoke and devastation, many of the fortifications were blown to the ground, and the charred ground was as potholed and undulating as if it had been plowed. Forty-five minutes later, the Allied forces launched an assault on the Germans on a 40-kilometer-wide section with three times the strength of the German army.

In an instant, the shouts of soldiers, the clashing of weapons, and the whistling of bullets mingled over Amiens. Although the fog affected the actions of the attacking forces and prevented the air attack, the purpose of the coalition raid was still achieved. The Allied attack was completely unexpected by the Germans, and before the German command could find out the situation, the Allied forces crossed the no-man's land and broke into the first line of German positions.

In the course of the coalition advance, the tank once again demonstrated its great effectiveness to the world. Due to its better protection, the tanks advanced and fired at the German machine guns, and at the same time destroyed the telegraph and telephone in order to cut off the German army from the high command. The British tanks kept rolling forward, causing many German soldiers to have a nervous breakdown and instinctively flee one by one. Soon, the Allied forces broke through to the first line of German positions. Colonel Osido, a German staff officer, was just about to have breakfast to satisfy his hunger, when he was captured by the British, becoming the first divisional officer captured by the British in the Battle of Amiens.

However, the coalition offensive was not flawless. Since the coalition forces used tanks and cavalry to work together, this had a considerable negative impact on the assault. Because the cavalry is faster than the tank, the tank is often left behind in the movement, so that the original tank to cover the advance of the cavalry, into a cavalry to cover the advance of the tank, but the cavalry can not block the fire of the German machine guns and rifles, as a result of the attack, the tank and the cavalry always alternate like shuttle, moving back and forth. Before it was dark, the cavalry was forced to retreat because the horses needed water, and the tanks followed suit. As soon as the tank retreated, it was just within the range of German artillery fire, and a lot of them were hit.

Tactical errors resulted in the destruction of more than 100 tanks by German artillery and the loss of more than 12,000 men, but the battle on August 8 was the greatest victory for the Allies since the Battle of the Marne: more than 27,000 corpses lay on German positions, 15,000 were captured, and 400 artillery pieces and countless military supplies fell into the hands of the Allied forces.

Ludendorff was stunned by this sudden defeat. In the high command, he exclaimed in frustration: "August 8 is the darkest day in the history of this great war for the German army. ”

In order to make a last resistance, Ludendorff immediately issued a stern order, demanding that the Germans at the front line hold their positions at all costs. At the same time, he also transferred 6 reserve divisions from other areas to urgently reinforce the defenders of Amiens, and another 7 integrated divisions were also ordered to reinforce them.

On August 9, the coalition forces continued their offensive. However, the coalition forces encountered great difficulties at this time: the coalition officers and soldiers were exhausted due to the excessive consumption of yesterday's battle, and the supplies were not replenished in time; 300 tanks available, neither overhauled, nor replenished ammunition and fuel; The German soldiers fought hard under the pressure from above. All kinds of difficulties made the coalition attack on this day seem lifeless and powerless.

Haig knew that when German reinforcements arrived in Amiens, the attack would be much more difficult. Therefore, he personally rushed to the front line on the 10th and commanded the allied forces to launch a stubborn attack on the Germans. On the one hand, Haig ordered more reserves to be invested, and the British, French, Canadian, and Australian armies all participated in the battle; On the one hand, he ordered the front of the offensive to be widened and the entire force was deployed on a 75-kilometer front from Albert to the Oise River, so as to increase the difficulty of the German defense and weaken its resistance.

While Haig was strategizing, what he feared finally happened. On this day, most of the German reinforcements arrived in Amiens, and the German resistance was strengthened. The Germans built a large number of temporary fortifications at a relatively fast pace, and relied on them to put up stubborn resistance. In the bloody battle, the German army's high-explosive shells shook the earth, and many allied officers and soldiers and equipment were shaken into the sky and then fell back to the ground heavily.

In order to reduce casualties, the various divisions of the coalition forces had to be thrown into battle in small detachments, and the major battles became countless battles with local surnames. The Germans fought-for-tat, relying on craters and bunkers, and using machine guns against the Coalition stragglers, resulting in huge losses for the Allies. By the end of the 10th, the French had advanced 10 kilometers on an 18-kilometer front; The situation was even worse for the British, advancing only 5 kilometers on a 16-kilometer front. Seeing that the attack on the front line had been frustrated, Haig ordered the pace of the attack to be slowed down.

Although the Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the Allied forces, they failed to achieve their goal of forcing the Allied forces to stop the offensive. Ludendorff learned that the Allied attack had weakened, and he ordered the Germans to organize a counterattack on the 11th. Ludendorff considered that the Germans could not repel all the Allied forces with their current strength, and that the best way to do this was to push back the most powerful British troops in the Allied forces, thus forcing the Allies to retreat. So, he ordered all German firepower to concentrate on the British attack.

German artillery fire was overwhelming the British assembly area, the forest was blown to pieces, the trees were scorched, the hills were flattened, and the entire British line was shrouded in smoke and fire. Because a large number of tanks were destroyed by German artillery, the British army lost the ability to attack, so it could only be beaten passively and was defeated by the Germans. Fortunately, the French army, the Canadian and Australian armies successfully repelled the German counterattack, and quickly sent troops to reinforce the British army, so as to contain the German offensive.

Although the coalition forces were exhausted by this time, the combat effectiveness of the coalition forces was greatly strengthened due to the participation of 890,000 new US troops in the war and a large amount of material replenishment. The Germans, on the other hand, were rapidly declining in combat effectiveness due to continuous fighting and little supply. Seeing the opportunity, the Allied forces organized a powerful offensive against the Germans in the early morning of the 12th. The Germans put up stubborn resistance, but eventually fell apart due to the disparity in strength. By dusk, the Germans had to withdraw from Amiens and retreat to Albert, Peronna, and the area east of the upper line of the Somme. On the 13th, the coalition forces completely stopped the offensive.

This is the end of the Battle of Amiens!

The Battle of Amiens marked the final decline of Germany. From then on, the morale of the German army dropped sharply, and among the troops assigned to the Western Front, desertion occurred in large numbers; The soldiers often gathered together and shouted: "We don't want to fight for millionaires!" ”

"Long live the revolution!"

Almost all the German generals began to understand that the hope of victory had been dashed, that there was no hope of continuing the war, and that extraordinary measures had to be taken.

On August 13, Hindenburg, Ludendorff, the Chancellor, and the Foreign Minister held a joint meeting at the German High Command.

At the meeting, everyone was depressed and everyone was silent.

Ludendorff said helplessly: "Now, we are no longer able to crush the enemy, and it is impossible to insist on defense for peace, there is only one way out in front of us, to end the war with peace negotiations!" ”

The war in Europe is coming to an end!

(To be continued)