The
big picture again. This time, having failed to push the British into
the sea, the Germans turned their attention to the region where British
forces and French forces met, with a diversionary drive on Paris. This
"third German drive" was as successful in terms of gaining ground as the
first German drive was, and it threatened Paris even as a diversion.
On May 27, 1918, after two full months since the spring offensive first began, the Germans launched Operation Blücher-Yorck
against the French near the River Aisne. It became a straight drive
towards Paris designed to split the French and British forces from each
other and cause the British to divert forces to save the French
capitol. The offensive used the same set of assumptions that the
Germans had about their enemies earlier in the spring, namely that the
British were the real threat. The attack, therefore, was a large scale
diversion. While designed to put pressure on the French, in reality the
main blow fell against British units that had been in the line in this
relatively more quiet sector. French failures to design a realistic
defense lead to initial German success.
The Germans did
in fact break through at the gap between French and British forces and
their drive towards Paris was remarkably successful. The Germans in
fact continued to advance up until March 6. During this phase of the
Spring Offensive American troops began to be deployed against the
Germans in strength and in fact the US 1st Division launched its own
offensive on May 28 at Cantigny. This signaled the beginning of the
large-scale use of American troops in the war. Losses on each side were
again roughly equal, with the Allies loosing 137,000 men and the
Germans 160,000.
Of course, at this point the Germans didn't really have the men to loose. But given the commitment they had made and the state of the war, they no longer really had an option. . . other than trying to come to the table.
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