Map of the 1918 German offensives on the Western Front from The Memoirs of Marshall Foch by Marshall Ferdinand Foch. © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc.

German Offensives

Of Mar. 21 (Picardy)

Of May 27 (Aisne-Marne)

Of July 15 (Champagne-Marne)

Of Apr. 9 (Flanders)

Of June 9 (Compiegne)

Front and situation of the German Armies March 20, 1918 (on the eve of the offensive)

Front at the end of the offensive

Scale of miles

Other views: Larger, Detail

Saturday, March 23, 1918

"On the battlefield between the Scarpe and the Oise, within a period of three days from the 21st to the 23rd instant, the English Army suffered the greatest defeat in British history. The successes achieved in the great victory are such as have not been nearly approached by the Entente since the beginning of the battle of positions in the western theater. The English offensive near Arras in April, 1916, was made on a front 12 miles wide; the Anglo-French attack on the Somme in July, 1916, was made on double that width; the French attacked on the Aisne in 1917 on a width of 24 miles. The English big attack, prepared for months in Flanders, never exceeded a space of 18 miles, and the whole of the territorial gains of almost half a year's fighting only amounted to 36 square miles. In the three days' battle in the west, the Germans made a territorial gain of 700 square miles."

Quotation Context

Excerpt from German commander Erich Ludendorff's summary of his remarkable achievement in Operation Michael, begun March 21, 1918. 'The battle of positions' was trench warfare, the standstill that ended the battle of movement of 1914, with both sides dug in along a line from Switzerland to the North Sea. Ludendorff's comparisons are a British offensive in April, 1916, the Battle of the Somme, the Second Battle of the Aisne, and Passchendaele, the Third Battle of Ypres. Despite his success, Ludendorff would not achieve the breakthrough he sought.

Source

The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, p. 88, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920

Tags

1918-03-23, 1918, March, Operation Michael, map of 1918 German offensives