CHAPTER XXXV
THE WAR IN THE AIR
Aeroplanes, dirigible and other balloons are no longer considered freaks and curiosities, as they were at the beginning of the war. Their use has become an integral part of all military and most naval operations. On all fronts they are employed regularly and extensively, just as any other branch of the military and naval services. In considering, therefore, aerial operations at the various fronts during the six months' period—August 1, 1917, to February 1, 1918—in this chapter we shall treat only of such undertakings in the air which were carried out independent of the general military operations. Those events in the air which formed part of offensive or defensive actions have been mentioned in their proper place as part of the general narrative. In this direction it must suffice to state here that all forms of aerial activities were continuously carried on by all belligerents at all fronts to even a greater extent than before. Statistics as to losses of aeroplanes and of members of the various flying services are very incomplete and more or less unreliable, primarily because each side has been trying to keep the other in the dark as to actual increases or decreases in the effectives of their air service. Such figures as are available, however, will be given a little farther on. They must not be taken as final, even though it has been attempted to compile them with the utmost care.
As in the past, air warfare, independent of military operations, consisted, of course, of German and Austrian attacks on French, English, and Italian territory behind the actual front, and of similar operations on the part of the French, English, Italian, and American air services against German and Austrian territory.
As compared with previous performances, the Zeppelin attacks against English and French territory decreased considerably in number, though apparently not in effectiveness, except that the losses suffered by the attackers were much heavier as a result of improved conditions in aerial defense. There were only two raids over England and none over France. The first Zeppelin raid over England occurred on August 21, 1917. It was directed against the Yorkshire coast, caused little damage and killed one man. On the same day British aeroplanes brought down one of the monster airships off the Danish coast.
During the night of October 19-20, 1917, thirteen Zeppelins raided the eastern and northeastern counties of England. Thirty-four persons were killed and fifty-six injured. On their return journey they were attacked by French airmen and it was announced later that four were destroyed and three captured. Amongst the latter, one, the L-49, was brought down intact, the first one to be captured in this manner since the war had begun.
Figures regarding Germany's Zeppelin strength and losses are, of course, hard to obtain. From German sources there are none. But at the end of 1917, French and English authorities semiofficially published the following data:
| Destroyed before the war | 2 |
| Destroyed in Germany | 5 |
| Destroyed in neutral countries | 5 |
| Destroyed in England or on the way home | 15 |
| Destroyed at sea | 2 |
| Out of use | 5 |
| In use at training schools | 4 |
| In use in the North Sea | 9 |
Though Zeppelins apparently had practically reached the end of their usefulness, a considerable increase took place in the number and extent of aeroplane raids, especially over England.
A number of watering places on the southeast coast of England were raided on August 12, 1917. Twenty-five persons were killed, fifty-two injured, and two German machines were brought down. Dover, Margate, and Ramsgate were visited on August 22, 1917, killing eleven persons and injuring thirteen. Eight of the attacking machines failed to return home.
The east coast was again raided on September 2, 1917. The following day, September 3, 1917, an English naval station at Chatham, near London, was bombed. One hundred and eight persons were killed and ninety-two wounded, most of them members of the English naval service. The first moonlight raid of London was carried out during the night of September 4-5, 1917. It resulted in the death of eleven persons and in the wounding of sixty-two.
Five zeppelins destroyed after the air raid on London, October 19-20, 1917.
The end of September, 1917, brought a large number of raids on England. On the 24th the southeast coast and the London district were raided. Fifteen were killed and seventy injured. Again on the 25th German machines appeared over London, killing seven and wounding twenty-six. On September 29, 1917, another raid killed eleven and wounded eighty-two; two of the attacking machines being brought down. The next night machines again were over England, killing nine persons.
One of the strongest air attacks was carried out on October 1, 1917. Four German squadrons attacked a number of coast towns, ten persons were killed and thirty-eight wounded. The next raid occurred on October 31, 1917. There were thirty German machines, but only three succeeded in reaching London. Eight persons were killed and twenty-one wounded.
Twenty-five German machines broke through the English air defenses and reached London on December 6, 1917. Two of them were brought down, not, however, until they had killed seven persons and injured twenty-one. Other raids occurred on December 18 and 21, 1917. Each time a number of the German machines were brought down. Ten persons were killed and seventy were injured.
Both on January 28 and 29, 1918, German squadrons attacked England, bombing the Kent and Essex coasts and London. A total of sixty-eight were killed and 183 were wounded. During the night of January 30-31, 1918, Paris experienced its first aerial attack since many a day. The casualties were forty-five killed and 207 wounded.
Besides these attacks by German machines against England and Paris, there were also incessant raids on French cities near the front. Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, Nancy, Belfort, and many other towns suffered especially.
On the other hand both the English and French air service were very active. Frequent attacks were made on French and Belgian cities held by the Germans, especially on Lille, Bruges, Ostende, and Zeebrugge. Some of the near-by German cities, such as Metz, too, were frequently attacked. German airdromes also were subjected to continuous attacks, hampering German operations to a considerable extent.
In retaliation for the German attacks on English cities, both French and British air squadrons made many successful raids on German inland cities. Few details are available regarding these raids, however, the German Government having adopted a policy of more or less silence concerning the results achieved. Amongst the German cities attacked were especially: Colmar, Frankfort-on-Main, Freiburg, Stuttgart, Tübingen, Saarbrücken, Lahr, Mannheim, Rastatt, Ludwigshafen, Thionville, Trèves, Pirmasens, Kaiserslautern, Karlsruhe.
On the Italian front, too, there was greater aerial activity than ever. Pola, the Austrian naval base in the Adriatic, south of Trieste, was the chief aim of the Italian attacks, in which British airmen, having come to the support of the Italians, frequently participated. It was visited many times and much damage was done, both to ships and naval establishments. Trieste, too, was bombarded a number of times with good results.
The Austro-German air services made a number of attacks against Italian cities back of the front. Venice was one of the chief sufferers. The first attack occurred on August 14, 1917. Unfortunately many of these raids on Italian cities resulted in serious damages to churches, palaces, and other monuments of historic fame and value. Another attack against Venice was made on September 7, 1917. Again on November 25, 1917, Austrian or German airplanes bombed the ancient city of the Doges.
In December, 1917, Padua, not very far from the New Austro-Italian front, was the principal recipient of Austrian attentions. It was bombed on December 28, 30, and 31, 1917. About twenty persons were killed and some seventy wounded. Considerable damage was done to the cathedral, many other churches and numerous houses.
During the first few days of January, 1918, Vicenza, Bassano, Treviso, and Padua were bombed, almost continuously. About fifteen persons were killed, and fifty wounded and great damage was done to some of the wonderful old churches and palaces in these towns. During the night of January 26, 1918, Treviso and Mestre were bombed. In the latter city two Americans, William Platt and R. C. Fairfield, attached to the American Red Cross, were killed.
Figures regarding losses of the various air services were growing continuously more scarce and unreliable, a considerable amount of secrecy being imposed on all sides for military reasons.
In August the Germans claimed that during July, 1917, they had brought down 213 Allied aeroplanes and twenty-four balloons, but had lost only sixty machines themselves. From this source it was claimed that during August, 1917, the Germans lost sixty-four against 295 Allied machines, and that during December, 1917, the corresponding figures were eighty-two and 119.
The only official announcement regarding losses suffered by the German air services was made by the French authorities, who claimed that French airmen had accomplished the following results against the Germans:
| 1917 | Brought down in French lines | Brought down in German lines | Seriously damaged | |||
| August | 3 | 53 | 59 | |||
| September | 7 | 60 | 80 | |||
| October | 15 | 27 | 61 | |||
| November | 2 | 15 | 17 | |||
| December (1-15) | 16 | 21 | 28 | |||
| — | —— | —— | ||||
| 43 | 176 | 245 | ||||
For the period January to December 15, 1917, French airmen claimed the following figures, brought down in German and French lines: 586 machines; seriously damaged, 583. In practically the same period in 1916 (January-December 31) the corresponding figures had been only 417 and 185.
Some interesting figures also were published from combined English and French calculations regarding the strength of the German air service at the end of 1917. It was claimed that it consisted of more than 200 squadrons with a total of about 2,500 machines, divided as follows:
| Bombing squadrons | 23 |
| Chaser" | 40 |
| Protecting" | 30 |
| Patrol" | 80 |
| Artillery" | 100 |
There were also said to be numerous separate squadrons of aeroplanes and hydroplanes belonging to the German Navy, and about twelve squadrons each for garrison and training purposes.
Amongst other events in the various aerial services a number deserve especial mention. On September 7, 1917, German machines bombed a number of Allied hospitals on the French coast. As a result four Americans, belonging to a Harvard unit, were killed and ten wounded, and another American, a member of a St. Louis, Mo., unit, was killed.
On September 11, 1917, the famous French "ace," Captain Georges Guynemer, was killed in an air battle, after having brought down shortly before his 53d enemy plane.
On November 22, 1917, the British Admiralty announced that a successful air attack in the vicinity of Constantinople had been carried out by a large British bombing airplane, which flew from England to a British base in the Mediterranean in a series of eight flights. The stopping places included Lyons and Rome, and the total distance covered was nearly 2,000 miles. The machine was actually in the air thirty-one hours. This is believed to be a world's record for a cross-country journey and for the weight carried. During some parts of the flight strong winds and heavy rainstorms were experienced, and there was one stretch of 200 miles over a mountainous country where it would be impossible for any machine to land.
Another record long-distance flight was that made by Captain Laureati of the Italian air service in a S. T. A. machine with a 200 H. P. Fiat engine, from Turin to London, a distance of 650 miles. The distance was covered in seven hours, twenty-two minutes, and thirty seconds. No stops were made and one passenger, a mechanician, was carried.
In the latter part of January, 1918, the former German cruiser Goeben, then the Turkish Sultan Selim, having been beached after a fight with British naval forces at the entrance to the Dardanelles was bombed repeatedly by British naval aviators who also bombed Constantinople with success.
As a result of a raid, carried out during the latter part of August, 1917, a member of the famous Lafayette Squadron, Corporal H. B. Willis, Harvard '17, was captured by the Germans after his plane had been shot down behind the German lines.
Another member, Sergeant Douglas MacMonagle of San Francisco, who had joined the Lafayette Squadron in June, 1917, and had received the French war cross on August 9, 1917, was killed in a fight on September 24, 1917.
PART VIII—THE WESTERN FRONT
CHAPTER XXXVI
PREPARING FOR THE GREAT OFFENSIVE—THE ATTACK MARCH 21—FIRST PHASE OF THE BATTLE
With the coming of bright, springlike weather on the western front in the first weeks of February, 1918, the contending forces displayed a new activity. The sodden fields were drying out; the snow and mud which made roads impassable had disappeared. If the fine weather continued to hold, the much advertised German offensive could not be long delayed.
The Allies were constantly engaged in trench raids for the main purpose of gaining information from prisoners as to the movements of the enemy. It was learned that the Germans were making intense preparations for a big operation. Fresh troops and many guns were constantly arriving on the front. Certain back areas were being cleared for action. Every day large bodies of troops were practicing attacks under the tutelage of experts.
The Allies meanwhile awaited the promised blow hopefully if not calmly. As far as could be ascertained they had a preponderance of men and guns, and the most elaborate preparations had been made during the winter months for the anticipated offensive.
But the much heralded "great push" did not start in February. The Germans were cautiously "feeling out" the ground, by means of trench raids and bombardments, and gathering information through their aerial observers regarding the disposition of the Allied forces, while the intense activity which prevailed within their own lines foreshadowed the nearness of a mighty attack, and what might prove to be the most sanguinary period of the war.
During the first days of March the Germans were engaged daily in raids all along the French and British fronts, but in every attempt they were repulsed with considerable losses. Determined efforts were made by the enemy to obtain possession of Fort La Pompelle to the southeast of Rheims, which would give them a dominating position from which to complete the destruction of that martyred city. Along a front of nearly ten miles extending from Loivre to Sillery the German infantry advanced from five different points. Some troops succeeded in reaching Alger Farm, a fortified position fronting on Fort La Pompelle, but none was able to enter the fort itself.
The French regiment holding the position in a spirited counterattack drove the Germans back, and regained every inch of ground, though bombarded by thousands of gas shells which filled the air with poisonous fumes. It was during this bombardment that a number of French prisoners escaped their captors and sought refuge in a shell crater where they discovered a large supply of hand grenades. With these they were able to hold off the enemy who tried to capture them and after killing a number succeeded in regaining their own lines.
On March 6, 1918, the Germans made a strong attack on Belgian positions in the flooded zone northwest of Dixmude. At daybreak Beverdyk and Reigersvliet were bombarded by explosives and gas shells and an infantry attack in force followed.
The Belgian artillery replied with a heavy barrage and the fine work of their gunners and riflemen checked the German advance at Beverdyk and eventually drove them back to their own lines. At Reigersvliet the Germans won a footing at several points owing to the fact that the floods in some places had largely subsided, and made an advance comparatively easy.
The German offensive from Arras to the Oise, March-June, 1918.
It was here that a Belgian commander with only nine men and a machine gun, and occupying a bridgehead, held back hundreds of Germans and twelve machine guns until a patrol arrived. With this slight reenforcement the Belgian officer took the offensive and by a dashing attack recaptured the position which the Germans had won in front of the bridgehead. Belgian chasseurs had meanwhile been organizing for a counterattack. To reach the German positions it was necessary to cross the flooded area by a single plank walk which was completely dominated by German artillery and machine-gun fire. But the Belgians went forward as coolly as if on parade amid a tempest of shells, and attacked the invaders with reckless bravery. Close and sanguinary fighting ensued, but by 1 o'clock in the afternoon the Belgians had succeeded in capturing the first of seven posts which lay in a semicircle in front of the bridgehead. For hours the fighting raged back and forth, but the stubborn German resistance broke down before the flaming fury of the Belgian spirit and late in the afternoon the last post was regained from the enemy. The German losses were heavy. Large numbers were found dead on the barbed wire. Belgian gunnery had been remarkably effective. The Germans lost as prisoners five officers, 111 men, and a dozen machine guns.
On March 8, 1918, after a bombardment that lasted all day, the Germans launched an attack on the British lines on a front of nearly a mile from south of the Menin road to north of the Polderhoek Château. The assault was vigorously pressed, aided by intense artillery fire, but the Germans were driven back at all points except in the neighborhood of Polderhoek, where they penetrated British advanced posts on a front of about 200 yards. Here the fighting continued for the greater part of the night, with the result that the British recaptured all the positions they had lost.
In the first ten days of March the Germans made twenty hard-driven raids along the French front, most of which were repulsed without difficulty. In the region of the Butte-du-Mesnil they regained some trenches which the French had won from them in February.
The British on their front continued to hold the initiative, carrying out successfully minor operations along the Ypres salient as well as at many points south.
The Germans continued to make swift dashes into the British lines at a number of points. As subsequently developed, the purpose of these continued raids was to search out the weak spots in the British defense. During two successive nights the Germans undertook no less than ten minor operations along the British front, some of which were of more importance than mere raids.
In the midst of this continued activity the great offensive was not forgotten. It was a period of great tension for the Allied forces, and more than once there were rumors that the great push had started, and no-man's-land was deluged with shells and the night was bright with star shells and illuminants, to be followed by comparative calm only broken by raids and minor operations.
As described in another place, the American troops took an active part in many of these minor engagements which tried their courage and served as excellent schooling in the art of active warfare.
At 8 a. m. on March 21, 1918, the Germans launched the great offensive on a front of over fifty miles extending from the river Oise in the neighborhood of La Fère to the Sensée River about Croisilles. When the attack was made the position of the Allied armies was as follows: The British Fifth Army under General Sir Hubert Gough held the front from the Oise at La Fère to a point north of the Omignon River, where the defense line was taken up by the Third Army under General Sir Julian Byng, whose left rested on the Scarpe River, joining here the First Army under General Sir Henry Horne. Sixteen divisions held this line of about 100,000 yards, which gave to each division (9,000 rifles) about 6,000 yards.
Facing the British were three German armies. The Seventh, under General Otto von Below, on the right held the front from north of the Scarpe to the Scheldt at Cambrai where General von der Marwitz with the Second Army prolonged the line down to north of St. Quentin. General von Hutier, commanding the Eighth Army, held the line on Marwitz's left between Omignon River and the Oise, where an army under General Böhm faced the Third French Army under General Humbert.
The German offensive had been prepared with the greatest care; every division had rehearsed the part it was to play when the hour of attack should come. Before the push the British lines were deluged with shells, and this was followed by showers of projectiles that liberated poisonous gases. The infantry now went forward in waves following each other closely. The first wave of troops would be swept almost away by the British gun and rifle fire, but those that remained alive hung on until joined by more waves of men, when using flame projectors they proceeded to drive the British out of the trenches.
The Germans were prodigal in the waste of man power, counting on weight of numbers to crush their opponents. After they had captured the first British line, the rear lines were deluged with fire from the machine guns, rifles, and every form of small artillery. This overpowering avalanche of death-dealing projectiles prevented the British in the rear from coming to the rescue of their fellow soldiers in the first line. Under the protection of this storm of bullets the Germans advancing in waves penetrated the British second line. After they had gone some distance the first ranks of infantry lay down, and permitted other waves of men to pass through their ranks. Great numbers of three-inch guns and small cannon on low carriages that could be swiftly moved were now brought up behind the infantry and the attack went on.
The German attack was directed against the center of the Allies' position. Their aim was to drive a great salient on a front of fifty or sixty miles through the occupied lines which would divide the French and British, after which they were to be dealt with separately.
The German objective was Amiens, which, situated astride the Somme, is on the main trunk-line railroad from Paris to the Channel ports of Boulogne and Calais, the most important strategical point in northern France.
If the Germans succeeded in gaining their objective, Sir Douglas Haig's troops separated from their French allies would be penned up in a northwestern corner of France with their backs to the sea, or they would be forced to retreat behind the lower Somme in order to cover their communications with Havre.
The Germans began their great offensive by an intense bombardment of both high explosives and gas shells, while a powerful infantry attack was launched on a front extending from Croisilles to La Fère. The misty weather that prevailed in the morning of March 21, 1918, was favorable for an assault, and the Germans were close to the British lines before they were discovered. In the course of the first onrush they broke through all the British outpost trenches and south of Cambrai penetrated some battle positions.
Forty German divisions were identified by the British as taking part in the first day's attack, but it was believed that at least fifty in all entered the battle before the day closed. At several points the British were heavily outnumbered. Nine German divisions were hurled against three British at one part of the line and eight against two at another.
The German storming troops, including the Guards, made a brave appearance in new uniforms. They advanced in solid ranks until their formation was broken by the intense British machine-gun fire.
Over the dead and wounded the supporting troops swept in countless waves and there was no faltering as the hurricanes of shells swept through their ranks. As hundreds fell others closed in and filled the gaps and the human tide rolled relentlessly on.
The Germans were exceedingly strong in guns. At some points in the line they had one to every twelve or fifteen yards. No less than a thousand confronted three British divisions. With heavy long-range guns they were also well provided and back areas to a distance of twenty-five miles and more were under shell fire.
Among the places against which the Germans first directed their efforts were Bullecourt, Lagnecourt, and Noreuil west of Cambrai, the St. Quentin Ridge on the right of the Cambrai salient, and Ronssoy and Hargicourt south of the Cambrai salient.
The Germans reported that they had captured the British first line between Arras and La Fère and 16,000 prisoners and 200 guns.
On the following day (March 22, 1918,) the fighting reached the greatest intensity in two sectors—one north of Cambrai and the other southwest. The fighting on the northern front was about Bullecourt, while Hargicourt was the southern center. Before attacking the sector between the Canal du Nord and Croisilles the Germans for four hours deluged the British with every kind of projectile and high explosive that a gun could throw.
The British were compelled to fight for hours with their gas masks on, but despite this drawback they were in high spirits because they were able to create such havoc when the Germans advanced in massed formation.
Around Mory on the northern end of the battle field the Germans attacked with superior numbers and the fighting was especially fierce. The British held on during the day, but toward evening the Germans gained a foothold in the village after close fighting that lasted some hours. The Germans advanced for this attack from Croisilles and for a long time were held back by a company of British gunners who were stationed on high ground, from which point of vantage they mowed down the enemy with a grilling fire.
The most critical period for the Allies since the offensive was launched was in the afternoon and the night of March 22-23, 1918, when the British lost important positions one after another as German divisions in successive masses carried everything before them, regardless of losses. General Gough's Fifth Army especially suffered, being hit by Von der Marwitz on the north, and Von Hutier on the east. Under these sustained hammer blows the entire front gave way and the British were forced to retire across the Somme, pursued by Generals Lüttwitz and Öttingen. Lower down Generals Webern and Von Conta, with troops of the Seventh Army under Von Gayl, captured Ham, and forced the French who had crossed the Oise back to Chauny.
This was the blackest hour for the Allies. Von Hutier had rolled up the British right wing. The road to Paris down the Oise was no longer a doubtful adventure. Unless the broken link between the French and British could be restored the Germans had accomplished what they set out to do.
In this crucial hour for the Allies, when the demoralization of the Fifth British Army was complete, General Carey with a scratch division kept it in touch with General Byng's Third Army on the north over an eight-mile gap, and the French General Fayolle saved it in the south over a thirty-mile gap between it and the Sixth French Army.
As the result of the first two days' fighting the Germans claimed to have captured 25,000 prisoners, 400 guns, and 300 machine guns. It was also claimed that between Fontaine-les-Croisilles and Mœuvers German forces had penetrated into the second British positions and captured Vaulx-Vraucourt and Morches, the former being about three and a half miles, and the latter two and a half miles, behind the former British front. It was further claimed by the Germans that the British after evacuating their positions in the bend southwest of Cambrai were pursued through Demicourt, Flesquières and Ribecourt. Between Gonnelieu and the Omignon stream the first two British positions were penetrated and the heights west of Gouzeaucourt, Heudicourt, and Villers-Faucon were captured.
The German official report stated that the battle of attack against the British front was under command of the kaiser.
The Germans sprung a new form of frightfulness on the Allies when at 8 o'clock in the morning of March 23, 1918, they bombarded Paris with long-range guns. At intervals of about twenty minutes shells of 240 millimeters (about 9.5 inches) reached the capital, killing ten persons and wounding others. The shortest distance from Paris to the front was over sixty-two miles. The first daylight aeroplane raid followed this bombardment, but did little damage. Public interest was centered on the mysterious gun that could drop shells on the city from such a great distance. Pieces of shells examined were found to bear rifling marks showing that they had not been dropped, but were fired from some kind of gun. Later the French located several of these "mystery guns," and some were destroyed. The only purpose they could serve was to terrify the people of Paris, otherwise they were of no military importance.
While the British front was being overrun by the German hordes the French front was subjected to violent artillery fire, especially south of the Oise in the Rheims region, in Lorraine, between Harracourt and the Vosges mountains and the heights of Alsace. The Germans made only one attack on the French lines in the region of Blemeray, where they were dispersed with considerable losses in dead and prisoners.
South and north of Péronne the Germans renewed their attacks on the British front throughout the day of March 24, 1918. South of the city they succeeded after heavy fighting in crossing the Somme at some points.
North of Péronne violent attacks were directed against the line of the Tortille River (a tributary of the Somme), where the British were finally forced to withdraw to new positions. Although fighting continued at different points during the night, the situation had not changed. British troops held the line of the Somme River to Péronne. German troops that attempted to cross the river at Pargny were driven back. The British right was now in touch with the French, and continued to hold their positions to the north of the Somme at Péronne after beating off a number of attacks made by the Germans on this front during the early hours of the night.
The Allies, despite considerable losses and the yielding of some miles of territory, were undismayed. The Germans had not attained their objectives at any point. Hard fighting was still in progress, but the British were holding strongly the whole front line to which they had withdrawn. The British had used only a few troops besides those that held the front lines. The brave defense maintained by these shock troops enabled the British main body to fall back on the positions they had established a long time before the German offensive was started.
The range of the German 80-mile gun.
Owing to the German methods of advancing in dense masses their losses had been terrific. The British identified fifty German divisions that had been hurled into the sea of fire made by the Allied artillery, machine guns, and rifles. The British losses were considerable, but principally in prisoners. They also lost a number of guns, but very few pieces of artillery were captured by the Germans after the first day of the offensive.
The hardest fighting on March 25, 1918, was around Bapaume. The British artillery on the heights west of the town broke up every attack which the Germans launched. Later in the day the British were forced to withdraw to the west, leaving the town in enemy hands. On the following day the Germans renewed their attacks, but by afternoon these had ceased, and the British took advantage of the comparative calm to retire in good order to their old positions behind the Ancre which they held in July, 1916, when the battle of the Somme began.
The Germans began their attacks on the Allied front south of the Somme early in the morning of March 26, 1918, and about 10.30 had captured Roye. West of this place and Noyon the British, French, and American troops held the enemy in check. Fresh German divisions brought forward pressed the attack all along the Somme. The assaults around Chaulnes and on the front northward from there to Bray were especially violent. The German troops displayed a reckless bravery in these attacks and were heavily punished. Their losses were so considerable that reenforcements were brought up from all parts of the western front. It was established by the British that more than seventy divisions (about 840,000) men were engaged.
The net results to the Germans during the seven days' fighting may be briefly summed up as follows: They had won back most of the line they lost when retreating from the Somme line of 1916 on the fifty-mile front between the Oise and the Scarpe and this stretch of territory is from twenty to twenty-five miles wide along about forty miles of front. Though the Germans had failed to gain all their objectives and the offensive had not proved as successful as they hoped for, the Allies were not disposed to minimize the seriousness of the situation. They found comfort in the fact that in the seven days' fighting the British who had borne the brunt of the blows had lost in killed, wounded, and missing not more than 100,000 men while the German losses were nearly 600,000. It was also believed that at least one half of the remaining German troops had reached such a point of exhaustion that they could no longer do effective fighting. At the close of the seven days' struggle the battle line took in Fenchy, Boyelles, Hebuterne, Albert, Chapilly, Bray-sur-Somme, Avre, and Noyon.
After an all-day battle north and south of the Somme, with Arras as the chief center, the British forces beat off the Germans, inflicting heavy losses. The attack on this new sector, delivered on a wide front north and south of the river Scarpe, was opened with an intense bombardment, and under cover of smoke clouds. The Germans were unable to break or even bend the British front and they lost a large number in killed and prisoners. South of the Somme, the British, subjected to fierce assaults, maintained their positions throughout the day, but the Germans brought forward fresh troops, and by sheer weight of numbers forced the British about nightfall to fall back on Chapilly. North of the Somme the British maintained their line intact.
On the same day the French made substantial gains on the front from Lassigny to Noyon, advancing their line about ten kilometers (6.21 miles) to a depth of about a mile and a quarter. During the entire morning the Germans pressed vigorous assaults in the region of Montdidier in attempts to enlarge their gains west and south of the town. The French troops in spirited counterattacks drove the Germans out of the village of Courtemanche, Mesnil-St. Georges, and Assainvillers, and proceeded to occupy these places solidly.
On the following day fresh German troops were thrown against the French Army maintaining the junction between the French and British lines. The French made a determined stand, but the German pressure forced them to retire toward the west. The Germans broke through at Montdidier and occupied that place. In order to keep in touch with the British the French were pushing northward to relieve part of the line of their ally which had been thrown back. At the same time the Germans made a demonstration at the point where the British and French lines joined. Employing large forces, they were able to make a breach in the British line, but the French sent forward cavalry and infantry into the gap and closed it.
The salient which the Germans had now been pushing westward since the beginning of the offensive was now forty miles long at its farthest point, from Vimy Ridge, three miles south of Arras, to two miles south of Lassigny. Its greatest width was thirty miles, from the old line west of La Fère westward to Montdidier, the junction of the new western and southern fronts. On the north the territory was flanked by a semicircular ridge lying north and northeast of Arras, beginning with Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, six miles southwest of Lens, and ending at the much-fought-over Vimy Ridge.
The base of the German salient ran from Montdidier east and a little south, by way of Noyon, and linked up with the old line between St. Gobain and Anizy-le-Château, nine miles west of Laon, a distance of thirty-two miles in all. Just as the northern extremity of the German salient was flanked by the Arras ridges, so the southern extremity of thirty-two miles was flanked in the east by the watershed of the Oise and the Aisne, and eastward from the valley of the Oise, where it is joined by the ridge lying parallel to the Chiry-Lassigny highway.
The Allies holding the ridges north and south of the German salient were in a favorable position, and it seemed unlikely that the Germans would attempt to push farther westward without trying to capture the high approaches on their flanks.
It was known to the Allies through their aerial observers that the German armies, reenforced by new divisions that had been brought from Russia, were massing for another powerful attack.
On March 28, 1918, strong German forces drove back the British line south of the Somme to a line running west of Hamel, Marcelcave, and Demuin in the direction of Amiens. On the same date the Germans launched a terrific drive in the Scarpe sector with the purpose of capturing Arras and Vimy Ridge. Six German divisions were flung against the British positions, while four were held in reserve, but they failed to break through. To the south between Boiry and Serre eleven divisions attacked the British positions, but were forced back.
On the same date, in the Montdidier region, the French under Pétain not only held their ground but made gains. In the course of the evening and part of the night the Germans made violent attacks in the endeavor to eject the French from the villages of Courtemanche, Mesnil-St. Georges, and Assainvillers, which were won the day before, but in every instance were driven back with heavy losses. The French followed up their success by driving the enemy out of Monchel, which they occupied.
To the north of Montdidier Franco-British troops continued to hold the Germans on the Avre River and in front of Neuville, Mezières, Marcelcave, and Hamel.
It was evident that the great German offensive was losing force. The fighting was still intense at some points, but no operations were attempted on such a colossal scale as marked the fighting in the first week of the battle. At many places along the front of attack the Germans were being driven back and at others French and British were holding their positions firmly. Artillery battles had now taken the place of infantry fighting to a great extent, a sure sign that the German armies were in an exhausted condition and needed time to re-form and recuperate. As the Germans had been unable to drag much artillery with them during their advance the French had the advantage.
On March 28, 1918, the news that General Ferdinand Foch, chief of the French General Staff had been made generalissimo of all the Allied forces in the western theater of war was received with general satisfaction by the Allied nations. The Allies had long suffered from lack of coordination, while the Germans had not only profited by their own united direction, but were also advantaged by the frequently unrelated efforts of their enemies. General Foch, who was born in 1851, began mastering the strategy of war in 1870. He had studied German mentality. He counted on their repeating in future conflicts the maneuvers that had succeeded, and also expected them to make some of the old mistakes. Foch led the Ninth French Army at the Battle of the Marne, where, according to some military critics, he won first honors. In the spring of 1915 he led his army in the offensive between Armentières and Arras. After these operations he was surpassed in public opinion of the French army chiefs by Generals Pétain and Nivelle, whose wonderful leadership before Verdun made them famous throughout the world. When General Pétain succeeded Nivelle in May, 1917, as commander in chief in the field, General Foch took his place as chief of staff in Paris. President Wilson, who had been urging unify of command ever since the inter-Ally war conference at Paris in the winter of 1917, was among the first to congratulate General Foch on his appointment as generalissimo of all the Allied forces on the western front.