alternatehistory.com

…Unlike the preceding German offensives Hagen did not achieve strategic surprise. The British had determined from aerial reconnaissance, intelligence from German deserters and the surging of German airpower to the region that the next German offensive would be in Flanders, North of Amiens.

Knowing how close the previous offensives had come to success the British pulled out all the stops in preparing for Hagen. A new defensive paradigm was created, rather than try to meet the attack head on a three-mile outpost zone was created, lightly manned but liberally scattered with strong points it was meant to slow and channel the German assault before the main line of resistance three miles back would stop it. Artillery would be kept in reserve to deal with German artillery, with more artillery in deep reserve to counter German attempts at counter battery fire. Airpower was surged to the region to deny the Germans aerial reconnaissance and close air support. Finally Haig grabbed every tank he could get as an armored fist to deal with any breakthroughs.

On July 20th the Germans launched Hagen. 25 divisions attacked on a 14-mile front centered on Doullens. The Firewall bombardment and gas attacks proved ineffective against the outpost zone. The creeping barrage meant to keep the British heads down as the Germans advanced became separated, passing ahead as the German stormtroopers and infantry were slowed by the British outposts. Worse German artillery, stymied by lack of aerial reconnaissance due to a loss of air superiority, could not adequately suppress the British field guns, leading to heavy casualties.

Despite this the Germans reached the British mainline by noon. A few breaches were made by the end of the day, but for the most part the Germans were ordered to wait for field artillery to be brought up throughout the afternoon and night. The next morning the Germans attempted to expand their lodgments, however the British had brought up reinforcements. A vicious attrition battle ensued that resulted in that resulted in most of the German breakthroughs being contained by the end of the day.

Two were not, one reaching 6 miles past the start line and one five, to the east and west of Doullens respectively. Vicious fighting continued over the next three days as the Germans gradually expanded their lodgments, with Ludendorff pouring ever more reserves into the fighting. Then on July 25th Haig unleashed his armored fist on the eastern salient, with 200 tanks of various types attacking supported by an infantry corps. The Germans were not equipped to stop that much armor and by the end of the day were forced behind the original British mainline of resistance. However the attack had cost the British heavily in lost or crippled tanks, they could not repeat the performance any time soon.

Ludendorff was seemingly unphased and continued to pour resources into the battle, slowly expanding the western salient, confident he was inflicting casualties faster than he was taking them. However for the first time of the year British and German casualties were roughly equal and the British had more reserves in Flanders than he did.

On August 2nd three things happened to shake him. Firstly he had almost exhausted the reserves available in Flanders, more were available farther south but the local reserves were exhausted by the fierce fighting. Secondly the British launched a small-scale armored counterattack in front Amiens, taking several exposed German positions and pushing the front back two miles. Thirdly the Americans launched a Corps level assault on exposed German positions on the Marne, the unprepared Americans took unnecessarily heavy casualties but were able to force the Germans back almost a mile. Ludendorff after a day of stunned thinking concluded that he could no longer achieve Hagen’s objectives and declined to divert reserves to Flanders.

In doing so he threw away his last chance to win the war. Early August was the last time the Germans had a measurable numerical superiority on the Western Front, by the month the Entente would have parity and from then on superiority. His reserves when taken as a whole exceeded that of the Entente at this time, at the current rate of loss Haig would have run out of reserves within another week and been forced to give ground he could not afford to lose. The chance to cause a British collapse and withdrawal was still a real possibility.

After the battle that possibility went away. Never again would the Germans have even parity in the skies, their airforce running low on fuel and machines. The stormtrooper units were worse than decimated and regular infantry were having to take up more of the slack and suffering heavily without the proper training. Finally Entente morale had with the victory began to recover, no more would they be as ready to surrender or rout, a belief that the war could be won was starting to return and the troops were willing to see it through to the end in a way they weren’t before.

In the end the Germans lost 105,00 men and inflicted 110,000 casualties on the Entente. At their greatest they penetrated 10 miles into British lines and seized 90 square miles of territory. By the end of September most of that had been retaken by small scale British counterattacks.

Ludendorff of course was not aware of all of these factors. Despite what he would later claim he still believed that he had a chance of winning the war. A “Friedensturm”, or “Peace Offensive” was planned. The French had been far more willing to rout and surrender than the Germans, one final push and they would break and the war would be won…

-Excerpt from The Loss of Innocence: America in the Great War, Harper & Brothers, New York 2014



Okay still not happy with this, wanted it to be more epic, but what happened happened. But at least I am finally done with school until January