The Second Battle of the Marne was a World War I battle fought from July 15 to August 5, 1918, between Germany and the Allied forces on the Western Front, in France. It began with a German assault at the Marne River that was followed by an Allied counter-attack and the Hundred Days Offensive which led to victory over Germany. So, the Second Battle of the Marne was a turning point in the Great War where fresh American troops and the new British and French tanks tipped the scales against Germany.
In May, 1918, during the Spring Offensive, the German Army had driven the French back across the Aisne and threatened to cross the Marne, but French and American defence stiffened and the German offensive had ground to a halt. Following the thwarted Spring Offensive to end the war, the German Commander-in-Chief, Erich Ludendorff, believed that a new attack through Flanders would give Germany a decisive victory over the British Expeditionary Force, the strongest Allied force on the Western Front at that time. To shield his intentions and draw Allied troops away from Belgium, Ludendorff planned for a massive diversionary assault along the Marne.
Hoping to split the French in two, the Second Battle of the Marne began on July 15, when 23 German divisions of the 1st and 3rd armies, led by General Bruno von Mudra and Karl von Einem, attacked the French 4th Army east of Reims. Meanwhile, 17 divisions of the German 7th Army, under Boehm, aided by the 9th Army under Eben, assaulted the French 6th Army west of Reims. The British XXII Corps and 85,000 American troops joined the French for the battle. The German attack to the east of Reims was halted on the first day, but the attack to the west broke through the French 6th Army, advancing nine miles and succeeding in crossing the Marne River before the French 9th Army held in reserve and helped by American, British, and Italian troops, stopped the advance on July 17.
The German failure to completely break through allowed the Allied Supreme Commander, French General Ferdinand Foch, to proceed with a major counter-offensive which had already been planned before the German attack. This counter-attack began on July 18 with 24 French divisions, joined by other Allied troops including 8 US divisions, and 350 tanks, attacking the recently formed German salient at the Marne. The French were entirely successful, with General Mangin’s 10th Army and Degoutte’s 6th Army advancing five miles on the first day alone, as Berthelot’s 5th Army and De Mitry’s 9th Army launched additional attacks in the west. The Germans ordered a retreat on July 20 and were forced all the way back to the positions where they had started their Spring Offensives earlier in the year. But well-entrenched German troops stalled the Allied counter-offensive on August 6, 1918. This German defeat led to the cancellation of Ludendorff’s planned invasion of Flanders and was the first step in a series of Allied victories that ended the war.
Dear sir/Mam
We wish to use the Image of Tank battle in second battle of marne for academic purpose at Delhi University. We need a copyright permission for this.
ILLL Delhi University
Delhi-110007
India.
Most of these black and white photographs come from public archives from governments authorized for public use. This one, however, was scanned from an old magazine about world war i and ii that came out with the sunday issue of the local newspaper of Tucuman, Argentina, eons ago. So, you can use it. I authorize you to use it for your interesting accademic site.