It was 1917, the soldiers could feel the rising
tension in the air. It was pitch dark, and everything was quiet
and still. Gunner JR Armitage and his mates were fascinated
by the spectacle surrounding them. Over 1,500 artillery pieces, 600 tanks, and
four infantry divisions had converged in Amiens near the frontline. The Germans had not spotted them. Armitage could hear the soldiers talking to
their horses and the monotonous steps of men marching as they prepared for the attack. The artillery was also ready to strike 530
German guns when zero hour came. Lastly, at 4:20am, the attack began, and Armitage
and his buddies went over the top to push the Germans back. As he later recalled: (QUOTE) “we could
feel that hundreds of groups of men were doing the same thing - preparing for the heaviest
barrage ever launched.” This was the beginning of the pivotal battle
of Amiens, a hard blow to German morale and a critical step towards the end of World War
1. Out of Stamina On April 6, 1917, the United States declared
war against the Prussian Empire. Realizing it was only a matter of months before
tens of thousands of US troops were sent to Europe to reinforce the Western Front, the
Prussian military began to prepare a series of breakthroughs to destroy the Anglo-French
defenses. If these troops were destroyed on time, Prussia
still had a chance of winning the war or at least negotiating better terms. But the ambitious operations dragged on, and
the enemy held the line. In March 1918, Germany launched the Kaiserschlacht,
the last Prussian offensive of the war. Generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff relocated
over 50 divisions from the Eastern Front and dispatched them to France after the Russian
withdrawal from the war. As part of Operation Michael, the German troops
advanced into the Marne River but failed to deal a decisive blow against the British Expeditionary
Force or BEF. Exhausted, demoralized, and starving, the
German operations quickly lost stamina, and neither Arras nor Amiens were captured after
stiff resistance from British and Australian soldiers. Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch ordered an
immediate counter-offensive against the underpowered Germans. The Second Battle of Marne resulted in a German
withdrawal and put the Anglo-French forces back on the offensive. Following the triumph at Soissons, General
Foch unveiled his plans to push the Germans out of the Saint-Mihiel salient and clear
the way for railway lines that ran through Amiens. With US troops under General John J. Pershing
already in France, Foch knew it was time to expel the Germans from France. The Hundred Days Offensive Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commander
of the BEF, agreed to attack the Germans from the Somme, east of Amiens, as it was already
the boundary between British and French forces. The BEF had plenty of seasoned troops from
the campaigns in the Middle East against the Turks and the Italian Front against the Austro-Hungarians. The Australian and Canadian Corps were contemplated
for the push towards Amiens. The strike on Amiens relied heavily on tank
warfare, employing large numbers to overwhelm the enemy. The Australians had successfully tested the
new tactic during the Battle of Hamel. They believed they could do it on a large
scale. Nevertheless, for the plan to succeed, total
secrecy was required to keep the element of surprise. Thus, it was decided that the advancing Canadian
and Australian infantry would not enjoy preliminary bombardments before the assault to soften
the German defenses. The artillery strikes would begin once the
combined force of tanks and soldiers launched the attack. The Canadian and Australian troops gathered
over 1,400 howitzers and 700 heavy artillery pieces to rain hell on the Germans. General Budworth from the Australian Corps
estimated the artillery would strike 504 out of 530 spotted German guns and emplacements
within the first seconds of zero hour. Over 580 Canadian and Australian tanks were
gathered for the assault. Each of the Commonwealth armies had a brigade
of four battalions. The vehicles and four infantry divisions were
discreetly transferred to Amiens without notice. On August 8, the transfer was complete, and
the Australian and Canadian forces were ready to launch the assault on the unsuspecting
Germans. Muttered Curses The mist hung heavy in the air on the morning
of August 8, 1918. As narrated by Gunner J.R. Armitage: (QUOTE) "It was utterly still. Vehicles made no sound on the marshy ground
... The silence played on our nerves a bit. As we got our guns into position you could
hear drivers whispering to their horses and men muttering curses under their breath, and
still the silence persisted, broken only by the whine of a stray rifle bullet or a long-range
shell passing high overhead..." It was the beginning of the Battle of Amiens. Unlike previous assaults, this attack would
not be heralded by a bombardment, allowing the Allies to maintain the element of surprise. Led by the intrepid General Henry Rawlinson,
the Fourth Army charged into Battle with the British III Corps attacking the north of the
Somme, the Australian Corps positioned in the center, and the Canadian Corps took up
the south. A Royal Air Force squadron laid smoke screens
over the battlefield, obscuring the attacking Canadians, while a heavy mist enveloped no
man's land, concealing the impending attack. At the stroke of 4:20am, 900 Allied guns opened
fire, and the infantry surged towards the German lines. Tanks roared across the battlefield, and aircraft
buzzed overhead while the French 1st Army launched its preliminary bombardment. The Germans were caught off guard. Due to their recent incursion on the 6th,
they had not expected such a coordinated and lightning-fast Allied assault. Winners And Losers By 7:30am, the Allies had captured the first
German position and had advanced 3.7 kilometers. Stunned by the ferocity and speed of the attack,
the Germans were unprepared for the scale of the Allied offensive. Many surrendered at the first chance, and
Allied soldiers fought their way through the woods to clear German machine-gun positions
and take prisoners. The tanks, struggling through boggy terrain
and thick fog, lagged behind, but Canadian forces pressed forward, capturing several
key targets. Infantry-carrying Mark V tanks entered the
fray, but the Allies had already penetrated deep into the German defenses, and cavalry
continued the advance. Aircraft fire from the newly formed RAF and
armored cars kept the retreating Germans from rallying. In parallel, the Allies achieved a significant
victory. For months, they had tried to destroy a powerful
German weapon known as the Amiens Gun to no avail. Through the summer, the enemy had used it
to fire on the city from 25 kilometers away. But that day, the Allies successfully bombed
the train carrying the weapon, and the Germans had to flee the scene just as the advancing
Australians arrived to claim the abandoned site. By 11:00am, the Canadians and Australians
in the center had pushed the line 4.8 kilometers forward from its starting point. North of the river, where the terrain was
rougher, the British were less successful, but they still made significant gains. The British Fourth Army captured 13,000 prisoners,
and the French captured a further 3,000. In total, German losses reached 30,000. Down To Hell General Erich Ludendorff described the first
day of Amiens as: (QUOTE) "the black day of the German Army in the history of this war… Everything I had feared, and of which I had
so often given warning, had here, in one place, become a reality." It wasn't the lost ground, it was the pummeled
morale of the Germans that was: (QUOTE) "depressed down to Hell." Nevertheless, Allied forces had pushed, on
average, 11 kilometers into enemy territory. All in a single day. But the Battle was only getting started. The Allies pressed forward through fields
thick with tangles of barbed wire, abandoned trenches, and shell holes. The advance continued, though the second day
lacked the spectacular results of the first. But the Battle raged on, and the northern
and southern flanks of the initial attack widened. The French forces engaged in the southern
part of the Battle, later known as the Battle of Montdidier, fought fiercely alongside their
allies. The infantry pushed forward relentlessly,
outrunning the supporting artillery and rendering the once mighty force of over 500 tanks to
a mere six. Then, the Canadian front came across challenges,
with congested roads and communication problems delaying the advance of the British 32nd Division. Meanwhile, the Chipilly Spur remained in the
hands of the enemy. German forces stationed on the ridge unleashed
a hail of machine gun and artillery fire that pinned down the Australian Corps. Thus, the task of taking Chipilly Ridge fell
to the Americans, who pressed forward against all odds. The fearless Corporal Jake Allex, a Serbian
immigrant, led his platoon in a heroic charge, personally taking down five enemy soldiers
and capturing fifteen prisoners. By August 10, it was clear that the Germans
were withdrawing. The next day, the Battle of Amiens was over. A Dim Hope The Battle marked Germany's worst defeat in
the war. German Kaiser Wilhelm II subsequently reckoned:
(QUOTE) "We have reached the limits of our capacity. The war must be terminated." The Battle of Amiens marked a significant
turning point in World War 1, bringing about a shift in the momentum of the conflict. The initial German strategy had been thwarted,
leading to the establishment of entrenched positions on the Western Front. The Canadian Corps demonstrated immense bravery
and resilience, earning over 3,000 decorations for their efforts, including multiple Victoria
Crosses. Furthermore, the encounter served as a catalyst
for the Hundred Days campaign, a concerted Allied effort that ultimately culminated in
the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918. As Philip Gibbs, a British war correspondent,
put it: (QUOTE) "the change has been greater in the minds of men than in the taking of
territory. The Germans no longer have even a dim hope
of victory on this western front. All they hope for now is to defend themselves
long enough to gain peace by negotiation."
