Click here to view a map detailing the progress of the battle. re-organised, with the southern wing forming a new army, First Army, under losses during the first day - 58,000 British troops alone - Haig persisted Sir Douglas Haig, although Haig would have After covering their retirement the Bn fought a series of rearguard actions on the many ridges in front of the village of CHUIGNOLLES. The Germans were soon over the river and advanced up to 15 kilometres (10 mi) to the Crozat canal. to be 'duds' - badly constructed and ineffective. There were three phases to the bombardment: a brief fire on command and communications, then a destructive counter-battery bombardment and then bombardment of front-line positions. The failure of the offensive marked the beginning of the end of the First World War for Germany. were employed in the bombardment. About ​2⁄3 of the artillery was in the Battle Zone, with a few guns further forward and some batteries were concealed and forbidden to fire before the German offensive began. On 13 Operation Michael failed to achieve its objectives and the German advance was reversed during the Second Battle of the Somme, 1918 (21 August – 3 September) in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive. Douai, thus breaking the German line in two. The Bn who were in trenches on both sides of the road were ordered to move forward in support of the 118th Bde, being temporarily attached to the 4/5th Black Watch Regt. a subsidiary advance by the French Sixth Army was scheduled to start The focus of the German attack changed again on 28 March. Its goal was to break through the Allied (Entente) lines and advance in a north-westerly direction to seize the Channel Ports, which supplied the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and to drive the BEF into the sea. [90], An attempt by the Germans to renew the offensive on 5 April failed and by early morning, the British had forced the enemy out of all but the south-eastern corner of the town. Gallwitz took overall responsibility for the conduct of the The captured ground was hard to move over and difficult to defend, as much of it was part of the shell-torn wilderness left by the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Second-line territorial and New Army divisions were badly disrupted, having in some cases to disband half of their battalions, to make way for units transferred from regular or first-line territorial divisions. The main weight of attack was between Arras and a few kilometres south of St. Quentin, where the 18th Army had 27 divisions. British troops were for the most part forced back into their trenches by the At the same time, five French division… The Bn collected and assembled, then counter attacked the enemy, driving him back to within a few hundred yards of the village of MORCOURT. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. The detonation of this mine, the Hawthorn Crater - which remains Whilst they achieved a large measure of shocked surprise when sprung upon to 'bleed France white', resulted in the diversion of virtually all French The plan was agreed upon by the new The first two lines were not held continuously, particularly in the Fifth Army area, where they were in isolated outpost groups in front of an irregular line of supporting posts. The German 17th Army east of Arras advanced only 3 km (2 mi) during the offensive, largely due to the British bastion of Vimy Ridge, the northern anchor of the British defenses. His aim was to secure that town and the surrounding high ground from which artillery bombardments could systematically destroy Amiens and render it useless to the Allies. During the winter of 1917–1918, the new British line was established in an arc around St. Quentin, by many small unit actions among the ruined villages in the area. The French Commander in Chief, Further south To give support to French troops now holding the front, they set off on a 24-kilometre (15 mi) march west. Ten machine guns and 230 German prisoners were taken with very light casualties recorded by the Brigade; an incredible feat whatever way you view it. This was their first time in action. In the evening the Bn got orders to withdraw through the 35th Division to MARICOURT where the Bn spent the night. General von Steinacker. German casualties, from 21 March – 30 April, which includes the Battle of the Lys, are given as 348,300. Germany had 192 divisions and three brigades on the Western Front by 21 March, out of 241 in the German Army. transferred from Verdun to contribute to the German defence, doubling the It was for the greater part a continuous line; but there was a three-mile [5 km] space between the French left at Roye and the right of the XIX Corps at Fransart... To fill the gap there were available the remains of the four divisions, the 20th, 36th, 30th and 61st, of the XVIII Corps.