Battle of Épehy
Western Front 1918
| date | September 18, 1918 |
|---|---|
| place | Epehy |
| output | German defeat |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 12 divisions 1488 guns 6,800 soldiers  |
.svg){kind=small} 6 divisions
|
| losses | |
|
|
|
The Battle of Épehy was part of the First World War and took place on September 18, 1918, with the participation of the British 4th Army against the German outposts of the Siegfriedstellung .
The battle
Field Marshal Douglas Haig originally did not want to have any further offensives carried out until the direct attack on the Siegfried position; the losses from the previous fighting were too high for him: 600,000 dead since March, 180,000 of them in the last six weeks. Only after the British troops had announced their victory in the Battle of Havrincourt did he change his mind and on September 13, 1918, approved the attack on the German outpost positions.
There were only a few tanks available, so the artillery with 1488 guns and 300 machine guns had to be used. This was intended to provide cover for the infantry through targeted barrages . The three corps of the 4th Army were flanked to the left by the British V Corps, while the right wing was to be taken over by the 1st French Army . They wanted to indent the German front by 5 km over a length of about 30 km. The German 2nd Army and the German 18th Army defended this position.
The attack began on September 18 at 5:20 am under cover of the fog. However, there was no French support on the right wing: the left wing also had considerable difficulties because several fortifications there were resolutely defended by the German troops . In the middle, two Australian divisions (approx. 6,800 soldiers) brought in 4,243 prisoners, 76 artillery pieces, 300 machine guns and 30 mine throwers as booty during the day. On the Australian side, 265 soldiers were killed, 1,057 wounded and 2 captured.
This attack led to mutiny among Australian troops. 119 soldiers refused to carry out the attack.
Although the success was limited, it was clear that the German armed forces had lost their will to resist. Henry Rawlinson told Haig that many captured officers openly admitted that many of their men were demoralized and "no longer wanted to face Australian soldiers." This led the Allies to rush into the battle of the Saint-Quentin Canal .
Trivia
British composer Ernest Farrar fell in battle.
literature
- Jean-Jacques Becker, Gerd Krumeich : The Great War. Germany and France in the First World War 1914–1918 . Klartext Verlag , Essen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8375-0171-1 .
- Susanne Brandt: From the theater of war to the memory room. The Western Front 1914–1940 . Nomos , Baden-Baden 2000, ISBN 3-7890-6758-X .
- Dieter Storz: The Western Front 1918 . In military history. Issue 3, 2008, ISSN 0940-4163 , pp. 4–7, online (PDF; 8.54 MB).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The Long, Long Trail - The Battles of the Hindenburg Line. In: 1914-1918.net. Retrieved July 6, 2011 .
- ↑ CEW Bean: The Australian Imperial Force in France during the Allied offensive in 1918 . In: Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 . 1st edition. Volume VI, 1942, pp. 905, 928 ( Online - The source only lists the German divisions that faced III Army and the Australian Corps. It does not include the forces that fought against the British V Corps, British IX Corps, or French troops .).
- ^ A b AG Butler: Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services 1914-1918 . 1940, p. 723 .
- ↑ Les Carlyon: The Great War . 2006, ISBN 978-1-4050-3761-7 , pp. 699 .