Trench Warfare: The Second Battle Of Marne

The Second Battle of Marne is important because it was the first Allied offensive victory of 1918, and became the first of many battles won by the Allied forces. The battle began on July 15th, and ended on August 6, 1918. The Germans began the battle with 3 ½ armies, and the Allied armies were comprised of mostly French, Italian and American military. The Marne between the Chalons and Epernay had been the German’s first objective. The Germans had been advised by prisoners that the attack would last 3 hours and 40 minutes and begin at 12:10AM, so began counter-preparation a half hour early. However, the bombardment caused chaos and heavy casualties to the Germans. When the Germans began their advance, the found that the French had set up false trenches. The counter attack by the Allies came on July 18th which ultimately led to the end of the battle, and a victory for the Allies. …show more content…
On April 4th and 5th the Germans made their final attempt to reach Amiens. On August 8th the Allies finally launched a series of surprise offensive attacks against Germans that were posted on the Western Front, with Henry Rawlinson’s British Fourth Army taking the lead. The Germans were at a severe disadvantage to begin with, however, because of the combined effort brought against them by the Australian, British, American, French and Canadian military. This disadvantage led the Allies advancing over 11 km on just the first day, which happened to be one of the greatest during World War I. The Allies managed to create a gap around the 15 miles long, and caused 12,000 of the 27,000 total casualties to surrender. It was such a significant defeat for the Germans that Ludendorff called this day “the black day of the German