1918 THE SPRING OFFENSIVE PART III

As summer passed on the Western Front, fortunes were to change. The blows that had been raining on the British and French fronts since March were weakening, while Allied resources were growing. Prompted to accelerate the dispatch of men to Europe as the military crisis escalated, American forces were now gathering in large numbers and starting to enter the battle. The numerical advantage the Germans had enjoyed in the spring after their peace with Bolshevik Russia had disappeared, and their troops were tiring after four months of hard fighting.

Although French and British troops were also tired, they had grown in confidence. They had held the enemy onslaught, and the active defence Foch conducted had shown them that they were quite capable of halting the Germans and striking strong blows in their turn. Foch always had in mind a bigger counterattack, one that would exploit the inherent weaknesses in Ludendorff’s flailing blows to reverse the fortunes of war. The Second Battle of the Marne in late July would prove there was more fight left in the enemy, which Ludendorff claimed was about to break.

Above: British soldiers using a captured German machine gun during the Second battle of the Marne

“THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE MARNE IN LATE JULY WOULD PROVE THERE WAS MORE FIGHT LEFT IN THE ENEMY, WHICH