Metal cross grave marker of Corporal Jakob Naumann who died on April 10, 1918, likely in Operation Georgette, the Lys Offensive, launched the previous day. From the Laventie German Military Cemetery, Laventie, France. © 2013 by John M. Shea
Jakob NaumannGefreiter10.4.1918Jakob NaumannCorporalApril 10, 1918
"The Battle of the Lys was for the enemy a tactical success but a strategic failure. He achieved no one of his principal aims, and in the struggle he weakened his chances of a future offensive by squandering some of his best reserves. By the end of April he had employed in that one northern area thirty-five fresh divisions and nine which had been already in action. These troops were the cream of his army, and could not be replaced. He had caused to the British front since March 21st something like a quarter of a million casualties, but his own losses were far greater."
Summary of the Battle of the Lys, Operation Georgette, by British novelist John Buchan. Georgette, launched on April 9, was the second of what would be five German offensives in 1918. Operation Michael, the Somme Offensive, was the first, and began on March 21. Both offensives were against the British front. In his 1918 Barrie Pitt puts the numbers of Allied dead and wounded at just under 210,000, and the German at 310,000 (page 134). But he also puts Allied prisoners and missing at 290,000 against 40,000 Germans, bringing Allied casualties to a few hundred shy of half a million men.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, p. 123, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
1918-04-30, 1918, April, Battle of the Lys, Laventie German Cemetery, Laventie, Laventie German Military Cemetery
