Second Battle of the Marne
The Second Battle of the Marne was a decisive battle on the Western Front of World War I and took place from 15 July to 6 August 1918. A German offensive on both sides of Reims was repulsed with heavy losses and set back the German troops on the line before the spring offensive.
Prehistory
During the Third Battle of the Aisne the German army had created a large salient in June 1918 between Reims and Soissons and ( after 1914 ) reached the Marne again. The German High Command under Erich Ludendorff was planning an attack with the objective to include the heavily fortified city of Reims and the French army at this point to tie. Dropping troops should then allow a re-recording of the offensive against the British in Flanders. At the same time, the Allied Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch planned a counter-offensive of four armies against the German salient.
Course
On July 15, the assault of 23 divisions of the 1st and 3rd army against the French 4th Army east of Reims and of 17 divisions of the 7th and 9th Army against the French 6th Army began west of the city. While the advance was stopped east of Reims quickly, could on the west side captured a bridgehead across the Marne and temporary bridges to be built. On July 17, the advance was contained here through the intervention of British and American troops.
After the German offensive had bogged down to the Allies began on July 18, its already pre-planned counter-attack on the French 24, and several British, American and Italian divisions were involved. It came to the battle of Château- Thierry. For this purpose, several hundred Renault FT -17 tanks had been unnoticed contracted by the Germans in the forest of Villers -Cotterets. The main impact on the west side of the German front projection led the French 10 ( Mangin ) and the 6th Army ( Degoutte ), which were supported from the south through the 5th ( Berthelot ) and 9th Army ( De Mitry ). On July 20, Ludendorff decided to withdraw from the front edge. On August 2, Soissons was liberated on August 3, German troops moved into their old positions along the Aisne and Vesle, which could keep them from further Allied attacks. On 6 August, the Allied counter-offensive was adjusted.
Follow
The German losses during the battle were an estimated 168,000 men, including 29,000 prisoners. The losses of the allies amounted to 95,000 French, 16,500 British, 12,000 Americans and 10,700 Italians. The failure of this last German offensive, which began on August 8, Battle of Amiens mark the final transition of the initiative to the Allies.