German Spring Offensive of 1918 (the Ludendorff Offensive) Essay Example
German Spring Offensive of 1918 (The Ludendorff Offensive)
• Spring Offensive that happened in 1918 was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during the First World War. The Spring Offensive was huge, but unfortunately unsuccessful.
• German general Erich Ludendorff was responsible for the offensive.
• The main goal to be achieved by this offensive was to divide French armies and British Empire, and defeat them before the arrival of American support.
• In the autumn 1918, The Allies demanded armistice terms only to be rejected by the German Empire who insisted to continue war.
• There were four German operations with codenames: Michael, Georgette, Gneisenau, and Blücher-Yorck. One of their main goals was: to draw the British away from the Channel, in order to limit their access to supplies, and then command their ports and other ways of communications.
• The first operation called Michael started on 21, March 1918 with an attack against British Empire forces, towards the rail junction at Amiens. For the first time the manoeuvre appeared to be successful since 1914. The battle continued.
• Germans defeated the British Empire and French Empire by using novel infiltration tactics. The German army used artillery in small groups, attacking French and British in their weak points and isolating from others. That allowed German army to isolate French and British from each other and destroy opponent’s troops.
• Ludendorff ‘s plan was to push the British back against the channel coast forcing them to retreat from France as well as form a gap between the French and British armies, through which his troops could advance unimpeded. In order to achieve this, he planned to use smoke and poisonous gas.
• At 4:30 a.m., the German artillery pieces bombarded the British along their 40 mile front.
• The on-foot attack made by the soldiers began at 9:40 a.m. under the cover of the overwhelming artillery fire and low flying aircraft.
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• Spring Offensive that happened in 1918 was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during the First World War. The Spring Offensive was huge, but unfortunately unsuccessful.
• German general Erich Ludendorff was responsible for the offensive.
• The main goal to be achieved by this offensive was to divide French armies and British Empire, and defeat them before the arrival of American support.
• In the autumn 1918, The Allies demanded armistice terms only to be rejected by the German Empire who insisted to continue war.
• There were four German operations with codenames: Michael, Georgette, Gneisenau, and Blücher-Yorck. One of their main goals was: to draw the British away from the Channel, in order to limit their access to supplies, and then command their ports and other ways of communications.
• The first operation called Michael started on 21, March 1918 with an attack against British Empire forces, towards the rail junction at Amiens. For the first time the manoeuvre appeared to be successful since 1914. The battle continued.
• Germans defeated the British Empire and French Empire by using novel infiltration tactics. The German army used artillery in small groups, attacking French and British in their weak points and isolating from others. That allowed German army to isolate French and British from each other and destroy opponent’s troops.
• Ludendorff ‘s plan was to push the British back against the channel coast forcing them to retreat from France as well as form a gap between the French and British armies, through which his troops could advance unimpeded. In order to achieve this, he planned to use smoke and poisonous gas.
• At 4:30 a.m., the German artillery pieces bombarded the British along their 40 mile front.
• The on-foot attack made by the soldiers began at 9:40 a.m. under the cover of the overwhelming artillery fire and low flying aircraft.
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