The German offensive of 1918, 2

The German offensive of 1918, 2

BRITJSH ·AND GERMAN WOUNDED WAITING TO BE EVACUATED REFUGEES AN ADVANCED DRESSING STATION UNDER SHELL.FIRE BRITISH FIELD GUNS ON THE WAY TO THE FRONT https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-fighting-goes-in-our-favour-qp3vzlz8m?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_11.04.2018%20Offensive%202%20(1)&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_3144024_118 march 28, 1918 The fighting goes in our favour At Auchonvillers the Germans at one time got into our positions, and had held them long enough to bring in 11 machine-guns and put themselves in positions of defence. Nonetheless, we re-attacked with great dash, and recaptured the positions and took the machine-guns and some prisoners, among them certain officers who insist on wearing nice new yellow gloves, and generally bearing themselves in a thoroughly Prussian offensive way. Give-and-take fighting has been in progress in the area of Aveluy Wood and Mesnil, but at neither place in the end did the Germans win any ground. In the northern area the German shelling has been fairly heavy and sustained, especially heavy on places south of the river from gun positions on the north side. The nights nowadays are almost busier than the days, both sides doing much bombing, the Germans choosing towns with civilian populations rather than points of military importance, doubtless from a desire to cause panic among the French. The civilians, however, are being methodically evacuated from the most dangerous areas. The enemy has been bombing Amiens ruthlessly. One bomb missed the Cathedral by a very narrow margin. I have passed through Amiens twice today and seen most of the damage, and can testify to the completely reckless way in which bombs were dropped in all parts of the town. The fine weather continues, and even if it is in favour of the Germans from the military standpoint, one is glad of it for the sake of the refugees, who are passing in considerable numbers along the roads, offering the usual pathetic spectacles of aged men and girls wheeling all their possessions on perambulators, wheelbarrows, or handcarts, and invalid women borne on improvised stretchers of shutters or planks. Many of the poor family parties are accompanied by cows, donkeys, and goats, and all, it seems, by dogs, while the children carry cages with canaries in them. For their sake it is impossible not to rejoice that the weather is fair. In spite of some geographical gains on the enemy’s part, it has by no means been a day to reduce our confidence. Where we have fallen back, it has been done chiefly without any pressure. Where there has been fighting we have had the best of it in the majority of cases. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/250-000-rounds-from-the-air-jgpscptz6?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_11.04.2018%20Offensive%202%20(1)&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_3144024_118 march 29, 1918 250,000 rounds from the air Telegraphic dispatch from General Headquarters, France, March 28, 9.50pm: On the 27th inst low-flying was again carried out by large bodies of our aeroplanes, while our infantry machines continued reporting the position of our battle line. Over 30 tons of bombs were dropped, and a quarter of a million rounds of ammunition fired from a height that ensured accuracy on different targets. Severe casualties are known to have been inflicted on the enemy, and the bringing up of his troops and ammunition was delayed. Twenty-four German machines were brought down in air fighting, and seven others were driven down out of control. Two hostile observation balloons were also destroyed. Nineteen of our machines are at present missing, but a proportion of these are believed to have landed on our side of the line. Very heavy fire directed against our machines from the ground accounted for the greater portion of our casualties. During the night the bombing of Bapaume, Bray, and Peronne was continued with the utmost vigour. Over a thousand bombs were dropped, and thousands of rounds of ammunition were fired at targets which were plentiful and easy to see in the moonlight. Our pilots saw their bombs bursting in the middle of columns of troops and transport and on encampments. Four of the aeroplanes are missing. On the 27th inst the Sablon station at Metz was bombed. Well over a ton of bombs were dropped; good bursts were seen on the sidings and beside the railway. On the 28th instant our machines carried out a successful raid on the station at Luxemburg. Twenty-one heavy bombs were dropped, and several were seen to burst on the objectives. All our machines returned from both raids. ● Poison gas factory bombed French Air report, March 23-26: Our infantry aeroplanes, bombing and chasing crews, photographers and observers, distinguished themselves by their courage and endurance, both by day and night. Descending sometimes to a height of 60ft from the ground, our pilots attacked enemy contingents with their machine-guns and fired thousands of cartridges. On the night of March 23-24 one of our squadrons dropped 31 tons of explosives on the Badische Anilin factory of Ludwigshafen, the chief German factory for the production of poison gas. march 31, 1918 The thrust towards Amiens The fluctuations in the battle front notified yesterday were on the whole in favour of the Germans, and it is necessary to note the cumulative effect of their daily small advances. In the earlier stages of the offensive the principal progress was made in the centre, and at one time the enemy’s line clearly emphasized the thrust towards Amiens. More recently efforts have been made by the Germans to gain ground on the flanks of the battle, in order to correct the tendency towards a long, narrow, and possibly dangerous salient. They struck simultaneously at Montdidier and Arras, and were successful at Montdidier, though their left flank is now considerably exposed, a fact of which the French are taking advantage. In the centre they are slowly creeping a little nearer to Amiens, and south of the Somme they were yesterday within 11 miles of the city. The flower of the Crown Prince’s Army has been drawn into the furnace between the Somme and the Oise, and the battle has attracted German reserves from every part of the Western front. The heavy fighting on Thursday before Albert was not repeated yesterday. We are a little farther away from Albert, but on the whole the position immediately north of the Somme is hardly altered at all. The lull in this sector will probably be brief. The Germans are massing more troops between Albert and Bray and bringing up guns as fast as the weather will permit. Signs indicate that their celebration of Easter will take the form of a powerful thrust at Amiens by the shortest possible route. It is in the area below the Somme that the fluctuations have been greatest. We have lost another village or two, which is no great matter, but the enemy are a mile nearer Amiens than they have been in this offensive. Yet they have a tangle of streams and marshes still before them, and there are excellent defensive positions between our present line and the coveted city. On Thursday the powerful French reinforcements made a successful attack upon the enemy’s positions west of Montdidier. Our Allies are fighting hard all the way from Montdidier to Pont l’Eveque, and if they can only increase their pressure upon this very vulnerable part of the enemy’s front they may materially affect the enemy’s thrust at Amiens.