Offensive in the West

On 27 May 1918, during a major offensive in Picardy, the German army reaches the area between Soissons and Reims on the Chemin des Dames, a strategically important mountain range between Aisne and Ailette. The Supreme Military Command (OHL) was still able to mobilise 38 divisions for the attack. After drum fire and the use of poison gas it is possible to take the Chemin des Dames.

© Bac The township of Craonnelle (Aisne) on the ridge of mountains called Chemin des Dames

The French are shocked: Paris had no longer been so immediately threatened since the Battle of the Marne in 1914. Panic breaks out. The French government leaves the capital city. Only the allied commander-in-chief, General Ferdinand Foch, is convinced that the German offensive will fizzle out. He will be proved right: Because of a lack of reserves, the German advance comes to a standstill. Berlin’s hopes for a decisive rebound on the Western Front are disappointed.