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The Aisne Offensive — the Third German Drive

Three headstones at the Necropole Craonelle, a French military cemetery, of British soldiers who died May 27, 1918, most likely killed in the German Aisne offensive that began that day. From left to right the headstones are those of Norman Gibson, East Yorkshire Regiment, age 18; C. G. Sills, Machine Gun Corps; and G. Rees, Yorkshire Regiment. Webmatters.net includes these men and two others noting that, 'These men were caught up the whirlwind of Operation Blücher launched by the Germans on the morning of 27th May 1918. They were part of the 150th Brigade of 50th Division holding the Plateau de Californie and Craonne.'
Text:
41629 Private Norman Gibson, East Yorkshire Regiment, 27th May 1918, Age 18
67830 Private C. G. Sills, Machine Gun Corps (Inf.), 27th May 1918, Age 33
34962 Private G. Rees, Yorkshire Regiment, 27th May 1918

Three headstones at the Necropole Craonelle, a French military cemetery, of British soldiers who died May 27, 1918, most likely killed in the German Aisne offensive that began that day. From left to right the headstones are those of Norman Gibson, East Yorkshire Regiment, age 18; C. G. Sills, Machine Gun Corps; and G. Rees, Yorkshire Regiment. Webmatters.net includes these men and two others noting that, 'These men were caught up the whirlwind of Operation Blücher launched by the Germans on the morning of 27th May 1918. They were part of the 150th Brigade of 50th Division holding the Plateau de Californie and Craonne.' © 2013, John M. Shea

Image text

41629 Private Norman Gibson, East Yorkshire Regiment, 27th May 1918, Age 18

We miss him most

Who loved him best

2, Alexandra Road

Windemere. Eng.



67830 Private C. G. Sills, Machine Gun Corps (Inf.), 27th May 1918, Age 33

Abide with me



34962 Private G. Rees, Yorkshire Regiment, 27th May 1918

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May 27 to June 4, 1918

Western Front

Germany's May Breakthrough

Seeking victory in 1918 before American troops arrived in too great numbers to defeat, and trying to drive the British from the war by defeating them in the field, separating them from the French, and pushing them back to the English Channel, German commander Erich Ludendorff launched his great Kaiserschlact, Operation Michael, in March along the Somme River. The assault stunned the British and drove them back as much as 40 miles. But Ludendorff did not achieve his goals, so he attacked again, further north, in the Lys Offensive. This devestated unprepared Portuguese troops in the British line, but the Allies eventually held, aided by support from the French.

Planning to continue his offensives against the British, and hoping to ensure the French would be unable to support the British as they had on the Lys, Ludendorff planned an attack at Chemin-des-Dames north of the Aisne, where Nivelle had fought his disastrous Second Battle of the Aisne the year before. With some British units, the French held a line behind the Ailette River north of Chemin-des-Dames. Behind them was the steep slope to the Aisne River that played a part in making their 1917 advance so difficult. Further south was the Vesle River.

In the sector were the German Seventh Army under Max von Boehn and First Army under Fritz von Below. Facing them was the French Sixth Army under General Denis Auguste Duchêne. The French Fifth Army under Micheler held the line to Duchêne's right.

The French and British expected continued attacks against British forces where the Germans had already struck, in Flanders and on the Somme. Four British divisions that had been devastated in the Somme and Lys battles in March and April had been moved into what was expected to be a quiet sector held by the French, holding the French right.

Postcard map of the Chemin des Dames between Soissons and Rheims. The view is facing north towards the heights of the

Despite American Intelligence concluding that the attack would strike where and when it did, British support for this conclusion, and German prisoners who confirmed it, the French would be unprepared when German forces struck. American intelligence officers had recognized that an attack on the Chemin des Dames was imminent. On May 25, three escaped French prisoners-of-war reached the French lines and confirmed that a massive reorganization was underway behind the German line. The Chief of French intelligence believed they were correct and warned Duchêne. The general had already failed to follow General Henri Philippe Pétain's order to strengthen and restructure his line, and would have none of it, claiming the Germans were unable to attack 'tomorrow', the 26th. On that day, May 26, two Germans, a private and an officer, were captured. Questioned separately, the soldier said his fellows expected an attack that night or the following. The officer, first denying any such plans, ultimately provided disturbing detail. It was then 3:00 PM on May 26.

Careful and secretive preparations, including 30 German divisions moved into the sector unobserved, left the Allies completely unprepared for the offensive which opened at 1:00 AM on May 27 with the largest German artillery bombardment of the war: 1,036 guns firing 2,000,000 gas and shrapnel shells in 4.5 hours, along a 30-mile front from Soissons to Rheims. Advancing at 3:40 AM, seventeen German divisions overwhelmed the five defending divisions. The German Seventh Army drove the French from the heights of Chemin-des-Dames, back across the Aisne River, and in their center, the Vesle, advancing up to 10 miles on a 30-mile front. By 10:00 AM the Germans held the Aisne and its bridges. The Allies were overwhelmed and unable to organize significant resistance.

Writing from Paris on June 4, a senior French civil servant recorded that French and German troops crossed the Aisne River side by side over bridges that had not been blown and with the Germans taking no prisoners so they would not slow their advance.

Headstones at La Nécropole Nationale de Pontavert. The cemetery contains the remains of 6,815 soldiers, 67 of them British, 54 Russian, and the remainder French. Of the total, 1,364 are entombed in the ossuary.

Foch and Pétain began rushing additional troops to the sector, first the three reserve divisions then six infantry and three cavalry divisions from the Fifth French Army, part of the general reserve in the British zone. On the 28th, Pétain moved an additional 14 divisions, some from the French Tenth Army which was reduced to four divisions. Foch moved five American divisions training with the British to quiet French sectors to the east to release additional French troops. He extended the Belgian line to relieve the British, then supported by the reduced French Tenth Army, which Foch prepared to move into battle.

On May 28, the Germans, not having anticipated their success and having found the supplies available to the Allies, crossed the Vesle River and paused on the high ground south of the river, but resumed their advance on the 29th, broadening the front, and taking Soissons.

That same day, May 28, at Cantigny, the Americans launched their first offensive. The attack began at 6:45 AM by the 28th Infantry supported by ten French tanks and a platoon of French flame throwers on a mile-long front. The Americans took the town and held it against two significant counterattacks that afternoon and evening, and against a third attack the next morning. In the battle, the American 1st Division suffered 1,067 casualties, 199 of them killed.

On the 29th, Sidney Rogerson who served with one of the British divisions that had been overrun on the 27th, was taking up position in Treslon with 250 other British soldiers and French and colonial troops. Rogerson had retreated 30 kilometers since the battle began.

On May 30, the battle was being fought on a 62-mile front, the Germans had reached the Marne River and were moving west toward Paris. They moved six fresh divisions into the battle. Foch moved the French Tenth Army, already reduced to four divisions, from the British zone to the Marne. The Allied right, where the French Fifth Army had entered the battle, was the sole stable Allied position on the battlefront.

On May 31, the Germans were on the outskirts of Château-Thierry, a town that lay both north and south of the Marne, the river spanned by a large bridge. An American machine-gun unit was hurried to the town to support the colonial troops defending it. The defenders were able to blow the bridge and prevent the crossing of the river.

Map of the Marne salient showing the battle line of June 2, 1918. From The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas.

On June 1, the Germans were reaching the limit of their advance with casualties increasing, ammunition running low, and problems of supply compounding. The German forces were only 56 miles from Paris, but they were also 90 miles beyond their railheads. Having previously focused on driving the British from the field, Ludendorff had been unprepared for his success against the French. The proximity of Paris would draw him further from his strategic goal.

Foch and Pétain met on June 2 to, in Foch's expression, 'put a stimulant into our energies.' Foch emphasized the French Army's goals: that the German advance on Paris be stopped, that no ground be yielded, and that officers who did not follow these orders by replaced. Foch also assured Pétain that Allied troops were aligned and would be moved into battle as soon as transport was available.

Although the Germans advanced south of Soissons on June 2 and 3, it was only with difficulty. On June 4, they stopped their attacks. They were preparing a new one that would come agaainst the French from Noyon to Montdidier on June 9.

The French lost 45,000 prisoners by May 30, and 50,000 by the battle's end.

Americans were now in the line, and helped stop the German advance. The American 2nd Division stopped the German advance along the road from Château Thierry towards Paris, and prevented the Germans from crossing the Marne at Château Thierry. They would counter-attack at the limit of the German advance at Château Thierry, in Belleau Wood, and at Vaux.

1918-05-27

1918-06-04

Events contemporaneous with The Aisne Offensive — the Third German Drive

Start Date End Date View
1918-01-01 1918-12-31 Romania at War, 1918
1918-03-21 1918-07-17 Germany's 1918 Offensives
1918-06-01 1918-07-04 Château Thierry and Belleau Wood