Northern France 1918: The Western Front

Referring to a frontier of land fought over during World War I by Germany to the East against the Allied armies of the West, The Western Front consisted of the line of trenches that stretched from the coast of the North Sea southwards to the Swiss border.

During the four years of bloody conflict, the battleplan remained as static as the Front itself: to try to break through the opposing lines of trenches and barbed wire entanglements, both sides employed huge artillery bombardments followed by attacks by tens of thousands of soldiers.

These battles could last for months and lead to casualties measured in hundreds of thousands for attacker and defender alike. After most of these attacks, only a short section of the Front would have moved and only by about a mile. Not a great result for such a colossal loss of life.

The direction of the War changed drastically when the United States entered joined in the fighting for the Allies in 1917 and by the summer of 1918 America had an army of around half a million men. However, that year Russia withdrew from the War on the Eastern Front, freeing up many German troops to be deployed into the West.

As a result Germany launched several Spring Offensives, which nearly drove the Allies apart as they advanced some 60 miles west. However the Americans had finally started playing their part in combat and from August 8th to November 11th the Allies launched the Hundred Days Offensive, securing German surrender and the end of World War One.