…On May 26th the Germans began a typical Firewall bombardment against Entente troops near the Aisne River. For the first time in the spring the German Offensive, codenamed Blücher-Yorck after two famous Prussian Generals of the Napoleonic Wars, was aimed at the French. Among the defenders however was a corps of the BEF, refitting after taking heavy losses during Michael. The German goal was to draw off the remaining Entente reserves so that the planned Hagen offensive could shatter the BEF in Flanders.
18 Stormtrooper divisions launched an assault following a bombardment by 4,000 guns and a gas attack. Within 6 hours the Germans smashed 10 Entente divisions and tore a 30 mile hole in the Entente lines. By the end of the day the Germans had crossed the River Vesle, penetrated 12 miles into the Entente Rear and captured 50,000 men and 800 guns.
The first of five available American divisions went into action two days later as part of the deployment of reserves to stop the German offensive. The American deployment at Cantigny was successful in reducing a small German salient and holding position until the disintegration of French forces on their flanks forced a withdrawal. The success of the Americans increased French morale and proved to Entente high command that the Americans could stand in line.
After 4 days of smashing success Ludendorff changed the objective of the attack, rather than draw off enemy reserves from Flanders for Hagen, he felt that the offensive could decisively beat the French Army in front of Paris. Admittedly with the Germans within 35 miles of Paris that seemed like a real possibility, certainly the populace of the city believed so and began fleeing en masse. The Entente high command was concerned enough about the possibility to conduct a withdrawal between the new salient and the one created during Michael to free up more troops for a reserve. In accordance with this he postponed Hagen indefinitely to continue the assault.
However the Germans were in a poor position to continue the offensive, they had outrun their supply lines, their troops were fatigued, their lead divisions had suffered heavily and most of the reserves in that sector of the front had been deployed. Despite this he pressed onward.
For five days the Germans continued to attack, pushing exhausted French and British reserves to the breaking and forcing the deployment of all five available American divisions to halt the tide. However the Germans were running into increasingly high casualties to push onwards and making less and less progress. Furthermore the deployment of five American divisions, which at this point in the war were double strength compared to anyone else’s came as a surprise, as no more than three were expected to be ready by the Germans. After the fifth day Ludendorff called the offensive off, wary of the casualties and the possibility of more American troops.
The Germans had taken 130,000 casualties. In exchange they had captured 80,000 enemy troops, 1100 guns, and inflicted 120,000 further casualties on the Enemy, including 15,000 on the newly arrived Americans. They had reached within 30 miles of Paris, captured more territory than any Western front offensive since 1914 and caused a panic in Entente high command, forcing the deployment of most of the available Entente reserves. However they had not achieved Ludendorff’s additional objective of destroying the French Army. The French had been near the breaking point in front of Paris, but they had not broken. In exchange Ludendorff had delayed Hagen by at least one week, if not by several, giving the British more time to fortify Flanders against the coming attack.
Ludendorff for his part saw the initial success of the operation and wanted to try hitting the French again. He planned an assault south of the previous one to shatter the French lines and either destroy the French Army, or strip the Entente reserves for Hagen…
…The Third Battle of the Aisne proved the American Expeditionary Force’s true baptism of fire. The presence of the AEF proved possibly the decisive factor in halting the German offensive, both its unexpected size and its high morale. The AEF still believed almost to a man that the war could be won, where the British or French would rout or surrender the AEF would fight on, confident in their eventual victory. This willingness to fight proved critical in preventing the lines from breaking during the 3rd German Offensive…
-Excerpt from The Loss of Innocence: America in the Great War, Harper & Brothers, New York 2014
Okay it has been a couple weeks, update is short I know, but it is the busy season at work. To be honest I am thinking of ending this at part II and working on a less ambitious second TL, it isn't inspiring me as much anymore