After the German offensives
The spring attacks exhausted Germany’s best units without achieving a decision. The Allies can finally launch their own series of attacks.
Battle
Amiens
8 — 12 August 1918
Combined-arms surprise restores mobility to the Western Front.
Military history
How did an Allied offensive turn firepower into sustained movement after four years of stalemate?
Amiens was not simply a tank victory. The Allies organized an attack in which secrecy, artillery preparation, armor, and infantry performed complementary roles. A breakthrough became possible because the German defense no longer had time to rebuild its system.
Surprise as a resource
The absence of a prolonged preliminary bombardment reduces the warning signs of an imminent offensive. It also limits the German artillery’s reaction time.
The problem of reconstitution
The German defense remains capable of local resistance. The Allied challenge is to maintain enough momentum to reach the railways before the reserves arrive.
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Chronological dossier
VerdunThe German concentration opens the right bank but does not take Verdun; reliefs, artillery and the Sacred Way stabilise both banks, then the October and December offensives recapture Douaumont, Vaux and most of the eastern gains.CaporettoThree coordinated penetrations through Plezzo, the Isonzo valley and the ridges shatter the IV and XXVII Corps, then the pursuit drives the Italian army back to the Piave.MegiddoAllenby pins the Ottomans in the east, breaks through near the coast and sends cavalry into the rear of the Eighth Army.TannenbergThe Germans strip the north, strike Samsonov's two wings separately, then close the roads through Neidenburg, Passenheim and Willenberg around his centre.Gallipoli CampaignMines halt the naval gamble; separate landings remain contained below the ridges, then deception enables the evacuation of Anzac, Suvla and Helles.Battle of the SommeThe bombardment produces opposite results in different sectors; gains in the south and at Bazentin run into strongpoints and reserves, then four months of adaptation push the front back without opening it.Brusilov OffensiveFour armies prepare several sectors and open the Austro-Hungarian front together; when reserves belatedly concentrate towards Kovel, the Stokhid, German reinforcements and lengthening supply lines exhaust the exploitation.Battle of JutlandHipper draws Beatty towards Scheer, then Beatty leads the pursuit back onto Jellicoe; two unfavourable deployments force Scheer to disengage through battle turns, smoke and torpedoes, before a night escape saves his fleet without loosening the blockade.
Military history
Sources
Contemporary sourceBritish Official History of the Great War, Military Operations France and Belgium 1918
Volume IV, 8 août–26 septembre 1918, chapitres consacrés à l’offensive d’Amiens
Orders of battle, chronology, and Allied movements.
View ↗Modern studyRobin Prior et Trevor Wilson, Command on the Western Front: The Military Career of Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1914–1918
Partie consacrée au commandement de Rawlinson en 1918 et à Amiens
Fourth Army planning, combined-arms coordination, and the limits of exploitation.
View ↗Museum and historical overviewImperial War Museums, Battle of Amiens 1918
Page consacrée au 8 août et à l’offensive des Cent Jours
Significance of the victory and its combined-arms character.
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