![]() ![]() Stonehenge, Avebury and the Magna Carta.Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Day Tour from London.Hughenden Manor – Stately home of PM Benjamin Disraeli.Historic Portsmouth Dockyard and HMS Victory.Highclere Castle – Home of TV’s Downton Abbey.Cotswold Village of Lacock and Lacock Abbey.Contact us for an inquiry or booking request.Tips for Green Tourism (Especially in London!).My Freelance Writing and other corporate services (Hire Me).£xcluded Voices: True stories of social injustice during COVID-19.V1 Vixen (A Vigilante Pulp Noir Thriller).The Promise – Book 1 of the Timeless Trilogy.The Messenger – Book 2 of the Timeless Trilogy.Lest We Forget: A Concise History of WW1.Forever and Until – Book 3 of the Timeless Trilogy.Having lost about 12 miles of territory, the Germans withdrew from many of the positions they won in the spring offensive. It created a 15 mile gap in the German lines south of the Somme and German General Ludendorff labelled it the “Black Day of the German Army” due to 30,000 being killed and 17,000 being taken prisoner not to mention all of the heavy equipment that was captured by the Allies. Having achieved complete surprise, the British Fourth Army broke through the German lines with tanks reaching even their rear positions. The Battle of Amiens on the 8th August involved 10 divisions of troops supported with 500 tanks. Some of the German positions had been weakened even more by the Australian tactic of “Peaceful Penetration” wherein they would raid across no-mans land and capture German outposts, taking the German soldiers prisoners. Using new tactics and weaponry in August 1918, the Allies began what is known as the Hundred Day Offensive when the Allies repeatedly pushed the Germans back all the way out of France. The Germans had captured large amounts of tactically worthless land and suffered so many casualties that it wouldn’t be easy for them to hold it in the event of a counter-attack. The Germans made such progress that they had problems supplying their advancing army and their storm- troopers who for the sake of mobility could only carry a few days supplies and so couldn’t sustain themselves resulting in the advances faltering. The Germans made some major advances as the British concentrated their forces around vital areas such as the Channel Ports and Amiens leaving other areas lightly defended. On 21st March 1918, Germany opened Operation Michael. It was known on both sides that having secured American entry into the war, once their large and fresh forces arrived that Germany may still not lose the war, they would never be able to win. ![]() The hope was that Germany could overwhelm the Allies before their reinforcements arrived from across the Atlantic and involved outflanking the British and defeating them before forcing France to sue for peace. More importantly advances in technology, especially the invention of the tank made things a lot more flexible during 1917 and with the imminent arrival of the Americans, Kaiser Wilhelm decided to make a big push in the spring of 1918 utilising the almost 50 additional divisions freed up by the treaty with Russia. However, the generals on both sides did eventually adapt to the times. The Western Front is often categorised as being a static war with little or no progress made by either side despite major attempts costing too many lives. This week marks the centenary of one of the pivotal but less known battle of the Western Front in WW1, Amiens and the more broadly labelled 100 Days Offensive. ![]()
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