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Tinted postcard of Marshal Ferdinand Foch. Made Commander-in-Chief of all Allied forces on the Western Front April 3, 1918, he led the Allies to victory in November.
French (and one British) soldiers in what appears to be a hastily-improvised line. An official photograph on the British Front in France taken May 3, 1918. French reserves came to the aid of the British during the German Offensives of 1918. Operation Michael on the Somme had been fought from March 21 to April 5, and Operation Georgette on the Lys River from April 9 to 29.
US troops digging in pause to watch a Whippet tank.
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'.
Small and neutral Portugal tries to resist the pressure applied by a cheerful Great Britain to join the Entente Allied cause. British warships encourage Portuguese acquiescence, as the shadow of German militarism threatens. After German submarines sank Portuguese vessels, Portugal seized German ships in its ports. Germany responded by declaring war on Portugal on March 10, 1916. One of a series of 1916 postcards on neutral nations by Em. Dupuis.
"General Foch is charged by the British, French and American Governments with the co-ordination of the action of the Allied Armies on the Western Front. To this end all powers necessary to secure effective realization are conferred on him. The British, French and American Governments for this purpose entrust to General Foch the strategic direction of military operations. The Commanders-in-Chief of the British, French and American Armies have full control of the tactical employment of their forces. Each Commander-in-Chief will have the right of appeal to his Government if in his opinion the safety of his Army is compromised by any order received from General Foch." ((1), more)
"The last spasm of the first German offensive occurred on April 4, when the enemy struck between the Somme and Montdidier. Though the Germans had sixteen divisions in their front line and the French only seven, the French had eight divisions in reserve, and they intervened rapidly. The French also had ample artillery, 588 75-mm and 378 heavy pieces. Showing little interest in infiltration tactics, the Germans attacked in dense formations and suffered heavy casualties. The following day First Army counterattacked. Instead of a tightly coordinated offensive, its individual corps launched separate attacks after brief artillery preparations, but the corps advanced as much as one and a half kilometers." ((2), more)
"April 5th.—The Brigade has been on an hour's notice to move since midnight, but no one slept less soundly. Our other Brigades have gone to meet a German attack between Albert and Aveluy ('Aveloy') Wood, made at 7 this morning. Early reports understated the German success; the counter-attack failed. Our Brigade has been transferred to Army Reserve. Companies are on the range at last. Officers are reconnoitring again. The day is gloomy, there's more rain. The new 'Cavalry' Tanks, 'whippets,' are armed with machine guns only, are easy to manœuvre and do fifteen miles an hour instead of three, like the old heavily-armed pattern." ((3), more)
"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)." ((4), more)
"On April 2nd, Sir Henry Horne decided that the Portuguese must be relieved, so the 50th Northumbrian Division was instructed to begin moving up immediately in order to carry out the relief of the Portuguese 2nd Division on April 9th. On April 5th, the Portuguese 1st Division had been withdrawn, but as no one was ordered forward to occupy the vacated trenches, their compatriots extended themselves northwards to do so for the remaining four days.But on April 7th and 8th Armentières to the north and the area around Lens to the south were deluged by mustard gas barrages . . ." ((5), more)
(1) Statement of the Beauvais conference on April 3, 1918, superseding the previous agreement reached at Doullens. On March 26, in response to the success of Germany's Somme Offensive, Operation Michael, a Franco-British agreement charged Foch with 'coördinating the action of the Allied armies on the western front', subordinating their commanders, Henri Philippe Pétain and Douglas Haig, to the coordination of Ferdinand Foch. On March 28, American commander John Pershing had offered Foch, 'all that I have I put at your disposal.' Neither British Prime Minister Lloyd George nor Haig trusted the other, and the Prime Minister was happy to see Haig subordinate to Foch. Foch had for months pressed for a unified command and reserve force that could seize the offensive when the opportunity presented itself.
1918, the Last Act by Barrie Pitt, pp. 111–111, copyright © 1962 by Barrie Pitt, publisher: Ballantine Books, Inc., publication date: 1963
(2) 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 Germans used Hutier infiltration tactics that focused on breaking through weak points, leaving strong defensive points to be taken by following forces. 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 now had both. Commanding the French Army, Henri Philippe Pétain and the French First Army used his new tactics of well-prepared attacks with limited, but achievable goals. The French 75-mm field gun had been used successfully through the entire war, but the French in 1918 had more heavy guns they could bring to bear.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, page 440, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
(3) Entry for April 5, 1918 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J. C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. Dunn had reached Hédauville, France, 20 km northeast of Amiens on the night of April 2nd, to reinforce the British line against the German Somme Offensive, Operation Michael, which was suspended on the 5th.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 464, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(4) 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
(5) German commander Erich Ludendorff launched his great offensive of 1918, Operation Michael, on March 21. Although it drove the British forces from hundreds of square miles of territory, it did not achieve the breakthrough and splitting of the Allied armies Ludendorff sought. Trying again, he turned to a previously rejected plan, to attack on the Lys River along the Franco-Belgian border. Portugal joined the Entente Allies in 1916, and its troops, the Portuguese Expeditionary Force, took up positions in 1917. They would be the first victims of Ludendorff's Operation Georgette. General H. S. Horne commanded the British First Army.
1918, the Last Act by Barrie Pitt, page 117, copyright © 1962 by Barrie Pitt, publisher: Ballantine Books, Inc., publication date: 1963
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