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    On 21 March 1918, The German Army Launched Its Spring Offensive With Operation Michael. Here Are Nine Things You Need To Know About The Attack

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    Rossanna Vilardo
    Operation Michael was a German offensive launched against the British Army on the Western Front in March 1918. It began with the most intense bombardment of the war, with over 6,600 German artillery guns firing more than 3.5 million shells at 46 miles of British lines. On the first day, the British suffered 38,500 casualties including 21,000 soldiers taken prisoner, their second worst single day of the war. Within 16 days, the Germans advanced over 1,200 square miles and captured several important towns, but both sides suffered heavy losses of over 240,000 for Germany and 250,000 combined for Britain and France before the offensive ended.

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    On 21 March 1918, The German Army Launched Its Spring Offensive With Operation Michael. Here Are Nine Things You Need To Know About The Attack

    Uploaded by

    Rossanna Vilardo
    26 views1 page
    Operation Michael was a German offensive launched against the British Army on the Western Front in March 1918. It began with the most intense bombardment of the war, with over 6,600 German artillery guns firing more than 3.5 million shells at 46 miles of British lines. On the first day, the British suffered 38,500 casualties including 21,000 soldiers taken prisoner, their second worst single day of the war. Within 16 days, the Germans advanced over 1,200 square miles and captured several important towns, but both sides suffered heavy losses of over 240,000 for Germany and 250,000 combined for Britain and France before the offensive ended.

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    9-FACTS-ABOUT-OPERATION-MICHAEL.214391888

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    Operation Michael was a German offensive launched against the British Army on the Western Front in March 1918. It began with the most intense bombardment of the war, with over 6,600 German artillery guns firing more than 3.5 million shells at 46 miles of British lines. On the first day, the British suffered 38,500 casualties including 21,000 soldiers taken prisoner, their second worst single day of the war. Within 16 days, the Germans advanced over 1,200 square miles and captured several important towns, but both sides suffered heavy losses of over 240,000 for Germany and 250,000 combined for Britain and France before the offensive ended.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    26 views1 page

    On 21 March 1918, The German Army Launched Its Spring Offensive With Operation Michael. Here Are Nine Things You Need To Know About The Attack

    Uploaded by

    Rossanna Vilardo
    Operation Michael was a German offensive launched against the British Army on the Western Front in March 1918. It began with the most intense bombardment of the war, with over 6,600 German artillery guns firing more than 3.5 million shells at 46 miles of British lines. On the first day, the British suffered 38,500 casualties including 21,000 soldiers taken prisoner, their second worst single day of the war. Within 16 days, the Germans advanced over 1,200 square miles and captured several important towns, but both sides suffered heavy losses of over 240,000 for Germany and 250,000 combined for Britain and France before the offensive ended.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    9 FACTS ABOUT OPERATION MICHAEL

    On 21 March 1918, the German Army launched its spring offensive with Operation
    Michael. Here are nine things you need to know about the attack.

     
    German storm troopers advancing through
    clouds of smoke towards enemy positions.

    1. Operation Michael was a German


    attack against the British Army on the
    Western Front in France. It was the
    first German offensive against the
    British Army in France and Belgium
    since 1915.
    2. When the offensive began at 4.40am on 21 March 1918, the battlefield was
    blanketed in thick mist which covered the advance of German soldiers through no-
    man’s land.
    3. The attack began with one of the most intense bombardments of the war thus far.
    More than 6,600 German artillery guns bombarded 46 miles of British front for
    five hours, firing more than 3.5 million shells.
    4. The British were heavily outnumbered at first ─ 65 German divisions took part in
    the initial attacks against just 26 British divisions.
    5. On 21 March 1918 British casualties numbered 38,500, including almost 21,000
    soldiers taken prisoner. It was the second worst day for the British Army during
    the First World War, surpassed only by the number of casualties on the first day of
    the Battle of the Somme.
    6. The offensive lasted only 16 days. The Germans took 1,200 square miles of ground
    and captured several important French towns including Bapaume, Albert and
    Pèronne.
    7. Both sides suffered terrible losses. German casualties numbered 240,000 killed,
    wounded and captured while combined British and French casualties were
    250,000 killed, wounded and captured.
    8. The Commission commemorates almost 37,000 service personnel who died in
    France during Operation Michael. More than 23,000 have no known grave and are
    commemorated on CWGC memorials to the missing.
    9. This was only the first German offensive of spring 1918 – on 9 April the Germans
    launched Operation Georgette, which fell on the British lines to the south of the
    Belgian town of Ypres.

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