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.