Folding postcard relief map looking north from the River Aisne to the Oise Canal, from Compiègne to Soissons, and from Noyon to St. Gobain, France. A hand drawn arrow indicates Pimprez, marked with an 'X'.
Reverse:Cards number 2101 (left/west) and 2102 (right/east). Kunst-u. Verlagsanstalt Schaar & Dathe, Komm.-Ges. a. Akt, Trier.
"In order to finish on a note of easy success, the Germans on April 6th undertook the capture of the strip of ground occupied by the French Sixth Army to the west of the St. Gobain Forest, between the Oise and the Ailette Canal. This action on the part of the enemy, however, had been so clearly foreseen that the Sixth Army, which was here very far advanced, had only maintained weak outposts north of the canal. The German attack encountered merely scattered elements which withdrew fighting. Nevertheless, the attack was made with great caution and took four days to reach the Ailette (April 6th–9th)."
Germany's Somme Offensive, Operation Michael, was launched on March 21, 1918 against the British Third and Fifth Armies in fog that obscured the attackers. The British, particularly the Third Army, were overwhelmed and driven back. With no reserves, they called for assistance from the French. Newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch had been calling for a unified command and general reserve for months, and was given command of the Allied armies on April 3. The German offensive was brought to a halt on the 5th, followed by the final action Foch describes.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 273, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
1918-04-06, 1918, April, Ailette, Oise, Oise Canal
