Battle of Amiens (1918)
Map of the battle
| date | August 8. bis 11. August 1918 |
|---|---|
| place | east of Amiens , France |
| output | Allied victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| approx. 29 divisions | approx. 15 divisions |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
at least 30,000 |
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
The Battle of Amiens took place in August 1918 during the First World War . It followed the Second Battle of the Marne and initiated the Allied Hundred Days Offensive .
prehistory
The first of the German spring offensives in 1918 on the Somme ( "Operation Michael" ) came to a standstill in April before Arras as well as at Albert and Villers-Bretonneux , without reaching the destination Amiens . Other German offensives such as the Fourth Battle of Flanders had also gained territories, but did not bring any decisive successes. In the Second Battle of the Marne from mid-July to early August, the French and allied troops had stopped a German attack near Reims and went over to the counter-offensive.
The initial plan of the British Field Marshal Douglas Haig for the offensive at Amiens was for the attack of the British 4th Army under General Henry Rawlinson on both sides of the Somme . The Allied Commander-in-Chief Marshal Ferdinand Foch ensured that the French 1st Army under Marie-Eugène Debeney also took part in the offensive in the Moreuil area . The attack was to follow the pattern of surprising and coordinated action by infantry and tanks, of which about 580 were standing by, successfully tested by the Australians under General John Monash on July 4 at the Battle of Hamel .
In addition, the troops deployed in the German 2nd Army were worn out. The trench strength of the infantry battalions had dropped to less than 300 in some cases, for example to 255 rifles in the 18th Infantry Regiment ( 41st Division ). The German positions in this sector were also not fully developed. The success of the plan depended on the surprise effect; the enemy was not warned of the imminent offensive by the usual preparatory artillery fire. Instead, a fire roller was used in front of the advancing troops.
March
On the Allied side, 29 divisions took part in the offensive; in contrast, 10 German divisions were in the first place and 5 intervention divisions behind them.
- North of the Somme between Dernancourt and Sailly, the British III. Corps under Richard Butler the 47th ( Gorringe ), 12th ( Higginson ), 18th ( Lee ) and 58th Divisions ( Ramsay ). The 10th Tank Battalion provided 36 Mark V tanks.
- The cavalry corps under General Kavanagh served as a reserve and had to follow up with its three divisions after a successful breakthrough. The Army Reserve formed the 17th, 32nd and 63rd Divisions and the 3rd Tank Brigade with 72 smaller Whippet tanks .
- In the main attack area south of the Somme, the Australian Corps ( Monash ) and the Australian 3rd ( Gellibrand ) and 2nd Divisions ( Sinclair-Maclagan ) on the line Corbie - Hamel - Villers-Bretonneux (inclusive). In this section the 5th Tank Brigade with 108 Mark V and the 15th Tank Battalion with 36 Mark V were assigned to break through. The Australian 1st, 4th and 5th as well as an American division were provided behind it as a reserve.
- South from Villers-Bretonneux to the Luce , the Canadian corps under Arthur Currie was deployed from north to south with the Canadian 2nd ( Burstall ), 1st ( Macdonell ) and 3rd ( Lipsett ) divisions. Behind them the 4th Division ( Watson ) was ready in reserve. The 4th Tank Brigade attacked 144 Mark V here.
- Two corps of the French 1st Army carried out their attack between the Lucebach and Montdidier. The French XXXI. Army corps under General Toulorge deployed the 42nd, 37th and 66th Divisions in the first meeting between Berteaucourt and Morisel from north to south, followed by the 126th and 153rd Divisions in the second meeting to break through north of Moreuil . The French sent about 200 tanks into battle, including many Renault FT . To the south of it the French IX. Army corps under General Garnier-Duplessis with the 15th Colonial Division and the 3rd Division crossed the battle front to Montdidier.
The battle
.jpg)
The attack began on August 8 at 5:20 am local time.
North of the Somme, General Command 54 (General Larisch ) was able to successfully defend the group section against the attacks of the British III. Defend Corps. During this defensive battle the 233rd Division was in Albert , further south along the Ancre the 54th Reserve Division at Dernancourt and the strongest by the British III. Corps attacked 27th Division from Morlancourt to the Somme at Cerisy.
South of the Somme was the German General Command 51 under General von Hofacker together with the XI. Army Corps under General Kühne in the main field of attack of the British 4th Army. While the south wing of General Command 51 still held out against the French at Moreuil , the northern section, the 192nd Division and the 14th Bavarian Division collapsed.
By 11 a.m. in the Canadian and Australian sectors, over a width of more than 20 kilometers, a dip of 5 kilometers depth had been achieved, which increased to an average of 10 kilometers by the evening. The breakthrough was achieved by the Australians and Canadians on the front of the 13th , 41st , 117th and 225th Divisions on both sides of Villers-Bretonneux . The Australian 5th Division under General Hobbs , which followed behind the 2nd Division, was pulled forward and forced the capture of Harbonnières .
The German casualties on August 8th amounted to around 30,000 men, about half of them prisoners. The first quartermaster general of the German OHL Erich Ludendorff described this day later as " Black Day of the German Army ".
The offensive continued on the following three days, but brought only limited success due to the lack of support from artillery and tanks. On August 21, the 3rd British Army began a similar attack between Albert and Arras, which was also successful.
The Australian Monash was knighted by King George V on the battlefield for his success in the battle of August 12th .
losses
The German losses are only available in detail for the 2nd Army, but not for the 18th Army. According to the medical report on the German army, the losses of the 2nd Army for the period from August 1 to August 20, 1918 are given as follows:
- Sick: 20,065
- Wounded: 14,533
- Liked: 2,596
- Missing: 26,492
This results in a total of 63,686 (43,621 without taking into account the sick). 28 divisions with an average actual strength of 316,756 men were involved in the battle.
The British War Department reports 22,122 prisoners for the period July 30 to August 19, 1918, including 19,533 prisoners from August 6 to 12, 1918. These figures show that the majority of the casualties of the 2nd Army during the period Performed August 8-11.
consequences
Thanks to the successful offensive, the Allies were able to take the initiative in this section of the front and subsequently on the entire front. At the end of August and beginning of September, the German troops were pushed back to their starting positions before the spring offensive ( Hindenburg line ) around St. Quentin in the summer section . At the end of September, initiated by the American Meuse-Argonne offensive , the attack on this last German line of defense began, with the fall of which in October the war for Germany was lost.
literature
- James L. McWilliams, R. James Steel: Amiens 1918: The Last Great Battle. Tempus, 2007. ISBN 0-7524-4426-3 .
Web links
- Battle of Amiens on the side of the Australian War Memorial
- Hindenburg on the Battle of Amiens
- Philip Gibbs on the Battle of Amiens
Individual evidence
- ^ Reichsarchiv, Battles of the World War , Volume 36, Stalling, Oldenburg i. O. / Berlin, 1930, p. 28.
- ^ Reichsarchiv , Battles of the World War , Volume 36, Stalling, Oldenburg i. O. / Berlin, 1930, p. 21.
- ^ Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, (MUP), 1986
- ^ Medical report on the German army in the world wars 1914/1918, III. Volume, Berlin 1934, p. 60
- ^ The War Office: Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire During the Great War 1914-1920, London March, 1922, p. 632.