Posted on Apr 6, 2017
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During World War I, the Second Battle of the Somme, the first major German offensive in more than a year, ends on the western front.
On March 21, 1918, a major offensive against Allied positions in the Somme River region of France began with five hours of bombardment from more than 9,000 pieces of German artillery. The poorly prepared British Fifth Army was rapidly overwhelmed and forced into retreat. For a week, the Germans pushed toward Paris, shelling the city from a distance of 80 miles with their “Big Bertha” cannons. However, the poorly supplied German troops soon became exhausted, and the Allies halted the German advance as French artillery knocked out the German guns besieging Paris. On April 2, U.S. General John J. Pershing sent American troops down into the trenches to help defend Paris and repulse the German offensive. It was the first major deployment of U.S. troops in World War I. Several thousand American troops fought alongside the British and French in the Second Battle of Somme.
By the time the Somme offensive ended on April 4, the Germans had advanced almost 40 miles, inflicted some 200,000 casualties, and captured 70,000 prisoners and more than 1,000 Allied guns. However, the Germans suffered nearly as many casualties as their enemies and lacked the fresh reserves and supply boost the Allies enjoyed following the American entrance into the fighting.
On March 21, 1918, a major offensive against Allied positions in the Somme River region of France began with five hours of bombardment from more than 9,000 pieces of German artillery. The poorly prepared British Fifth Army was rapidly overwhelmed and forced into retreat. For a week, the Germans pushed toward Paris, shelling the city from a distance of 80 miles with their “Big Bertha” cannons. However, the poorly supplied German troops soon became exhausted, and the Allies halted the German advance as French artillery knocked out the German guns besieging Paris. On April 2, U.S. General John J. Pershing sent American troops down into the trenches to help defend Paris and repulse the German offensive. It was the first major deployment of U.S. troops in World War I. Several thousand American troops fought alongside the British and French in the Second Battle of Somme.
By the time the Somme offensive ended on April 4, the Germans had advanced almost 40 miles, inflicted some 200,000 casualties, and captured 70,000 prisoners and more than 1,000 Allied guns. However, the Germans suffered nearly as many casualties as their enemies and lacked the fresh reserves and supply boost the Allies enjoyed following the American entrance into the fighting.
Second Battle of the Somme ends - Apr 04, 1918 - HISTORY.com
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Thanks for reminding us TSgt Joe C. that on April 4, 1918 the second battle of the Somme River ended. My paternal grandfather served as a British Army Lance Corporal in France and Belgium where he was wounded. The records for enlisted men were largely destroyed by German bombing in the Battle of Britain so we don't have a copy of his service record.
Here are some images: 1918 Tommies of the 58th Division, north bank of the Somme, Second Battle of Amiens; 1918 New Zealand soldiers on the Somme; 1918 Somme map; 1918-03-22 Wounded British and German troops in the streets of St Quentin, France, after the Second Battle of the Somme"
Below is a Battle Summary of the New Zealand Division
"The German Offensive and Second Battle of the Somme (1918)
The collapse of Russia and the release of masses of men and artillery meant Germany now had numerical supremacy over the Allies. This would not last though, as the submarine campaign no longer restricted the crossing of American reinforcements, so Germany was presented with a "golden opportunity" to make a decisive blow.
The German plan, however, was more ambitious than their opponents believed. Its aim was final and decisive success by complete defeat of the Allied Armies. The attack was designed first to separate them by an overwhelming blow at this very point of junction in the, which in February 1918 was 30 miles further south of Cambrai than in December, then to roll the British Army right back on the coast and immobilise it there, and finally to turn on the French. Before America could put her levies in the field the Germans hoped that the catastrophes of the Armies and the demoralisation of the civil populations would compel the Allied Governments to accept a strong peace.
The German March Offensive – ‘Operation Michael’ and the first Battles of the Somme occurred between 21 March – 5 April 1918 and after a major rebuff at Arras on 28 March, was redirected towards the secondary goal of Amiens.
The New Zealand Division was to close the gap of about three miles between the right of the 62nd Division and the left of the 12th Division on the line from Hamel, a small hamlet on the Ancre due south of Beaumont Hamel, to Serre north of the latter about 1½ miles. The centre of the New Zealand line would be Beaumont Hamel with Hamel to the south and Serre to the north of our front, which was to face almost due east on high ground overlooking the Ancre Valley.
In barring the German advance the Division had paid an inevitable price, but by no means an unduly heavy one, 30 officers and 500 men had given their lives, 100 officers and 1,700 men had been wounded, and some 60 were missing; 127 machine guns, 5 trench mortars and much other booty had been taken, and 429 prisoners had been captured.
After the pointer of the German offensive had swung northwards to the Lys, on 25 April the Division side-stepped northwards from near Serre, occupying now a somewhat longer front from One Tree Hill to the east of Hebuterne and onward to capture a wider observation over the Puisieux valley."
http://newzealanddivision.org/page/the-second-battle-of-the-somme-1918
LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown CW5 (Join to see) CW5 Charlie Poulton SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSgt (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric EscasioSrA Christopher Wright
Here are some images: 1918 Tommies of the 58th Division, north bank of the Somme, Second Battle of Amiens; 1918 New Zealand soldiers on the Somme; 1918 Somme map; 1918-03-22 Wounded British and German troops in the streets of St Quentin, France, after the Second Battle of the Somme"
Below is a Battle Summary of the New Zealand Division
"The German Offensive and Second Battle of the Somme (1918)
The collapse of Russia and the release of masses of men and artillery meant Germany now had numerical supremacy over the Allies. This would not last though, as the submarine campaign no longer restricted the crossing of American reinforcements, so Germany was presented with a "golden opportunity" to make a decisive blow.
The German plan, however, was more ambitious than their opponents believed. Its aim was final and decisive success by complete defeat of the Allied Armies. The attack was designed first to separate them by an overwhelming blow at this very point of junction in the, which in February 1918 was 30 miles further south of Cambrai than in December, then to roll the British Army right back on the coast and immobilise it there, and finally to turn on the French. Before America could put her levies in the field the Germans hoped that the catastrophes of the Armies and the demoralisation of the civil populations would compel the Allied Governments to accept a strong peace.
The German March Offensive – ‘Operation Michael’ and the first Battles of the Somme occurred between 21 March – 5 April 1918 and after a major rebuff at Arras on 28 March, was redirected towards the secondary goal of Amiens.
The New Zealand Division was to close the gap of about three miles between the right of the 62nd Division and the left of the 12th Division on the line from Hamel, a small hamlet on the Ancre due south of Beaumont Hamel, to Serre north of the latter about 1½ miles. The centre of the New Zealand line would be Beaumont Hamel with Hamel to the south and Serre to the north of our front, which was to face almost due east on high ground overlooking the Ancre Valley.
In barring the German advance the Division had paid an inevitable price, but by no means an unduly heavy one, 30 officers and 500 men had given their lives, 100 officers and 1,700 men had been wounded, and some 60 were missing; 127 machine guns, 5 trench mortars and much other booty had been taken, and 429 prisoners had been captured.
After the pointer of the German offensive had swung northwards to the Lys, on 25 April the Division side-stepped northwards from near Serre, occupying now a somewhat longer front from One Tree Hill to the east of Hebuterne and onward to capture a wider observation over the Puisieux valley."
http://newzealanddivision.org/page/the-second-battle-of-the-somme-1918
LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown CW5 (Join to see) CW5 Charlie Poulton SGM David W. Carr LOM, DMSM MP SGT SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx SSG James J. Palmer IV aka "JP4" SSgt (Join to see) SGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski SPC (Join to see) SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric EscasioSrA Christopher Wright
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TSgt Joe C. thanks for the history share, always great to know:
During World War I, the Second Battle of the Somme, the first major German offensive in more than a year, ends on the western front.
During World War I, the Second Battle of the Somme, the first major German offensive in more than a year, ends on the western front.
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