The Spring Offensive, or “Kaiserschlacht” (“Kaiser’s battle”), was the German military’s series of attacks beginning in late March 1918, to push further west before the US military could make a difference for the Allies on the Western Front. The Germans also took advantage of Russia’s withdrawal from the war, after its Revolution, by transferring forty eight divisions to defeat the British military west of the Somme River, and then pressure the French to seek an armistice. In early successes, the Germans captured nearly 2,000 miles of territory and 90,000 prisoners, and advanced toward Paris, despite high casualty rates. After a long period of stagnation on the front, the Spring Offensive employed elite stormtrooper units, who used maneuver warfare tactics to penetrate and disrupt enemy. Led by General Erich F. W. Ludendorff, Operation Michael began with stormtrooper assaults that pierced the lines, allowing larger forces to follow. While stormtrooper attacks were immediately effective, the tactic put the German military’s best units at the front of assaults, incurring heavy casualties and leaving inexperienced and untrained units behind to defend large areas of land acquired in the offensive. The German armies fast movement and relentless pace caused their supply lines to be drawn out, and strained efforts to resupply the men at the front. Thus, the Germans reoccupied land, but were forced to spread their defenses thin, and unable to resupply or support their best-trained troops who were becoming less effective due to exhaustion and casualties. By July, the Allies, reinforced with a growing number of American troops, launched counteroffensives against the fatigued German enemy, quickly reclaiming territory the Germans had captured and ending the Spring Offensive. The Allies then transitioned into an attack of their own, launching the Hundred Days Offensive. Beginning in August at the Battle of Amiens, the Allied offensive continued to push the Germans back until the end of the war on November 11, 1918.
Watson, Alexander. “German Spring Offensives 1918.” 1914-1918 Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Accessed November 5, 2019, https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/german_spring_offensives_1918.
“German Spring Offensive.” Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Accessed November 5, 2019, https://www.cwgc.org/history-and-archives/first-world-war/campaigns/western-front/german-spring-offensive.