the battle of armies is notorious for its strong and morale crushing advance by the allies especially australian canadian and british troops also showcasing all aspects of modernized land warfare the advance at amiens was to push the germans in an effort to flatten the curve that was the saint michiel salient which would see combat in the september battle of the saint michiel salient and to free armian's railway lines from fire the advance was the beginning of the allies 100 days offensive which was in response to the earlier german spring offensive beginning in march of the same year the hundred days offensive would lead to the submission of the germans in november 1918. the battle took place in pickety france and was the third in a series of battles to take place in the relative area therefore it was also called the third battle of piketty those being the first battle of piketty in 1914 and operation michael part of the german spring offensive or the second battle of piketty in early 1918. prior to the august state advance at amiens the german man reams operation beginning in july was met with a successful allied counter-offensive securing allied victory at the second battle of demand and subsequently fosha's promotion to martial of france fast pace and irregular tactics including firing artillery only at the moment that the infantry charged and surprised rather than dense waves of troops were successfully used by the australians at the battle of hermel on the deeply dug in germans with a wide range of fire on july 4 and would be utilized again at amiens similar to that of the battle of hamel that 1918 advance at amiens was a shift from static trench warfare to mobile warfare which could speed the time frame of battles on the front from months to within days amiens was also one of the first battles in which a large number of tanks could be utilized approximately 580 were used in the whole battle british major c.e.d budworth devised the firing plan using advanced sound ranging technology to accurately hit and take out the german artillery which would be fired simultaneously with the troops charging over the top to maintain secrecy the advance was titled as another raid rather than an operation the allied forces consisted of three main armies being the british fourth army comprising the australian corps training with the 33rd u.s division british third corps british cavalry corps canadian corps reserves and additional raf air support the french first army comprising the 31st core ninth corps 10th call 35th call and the second cavalry call and french third army comprising the 15th corps 34th corps and air support in their southern position for the first time in the entire war the australians had linked up all of their infantry divisions by may 30. both the australian and canadian corps who were known for their aggressive and regular success over the past two years on the western front would fight together for the first time in the war the british fourth army and its contingents comprised 1 386 field guns and howitzers and 684 heavy artillery guns forming 27 medium artillery batteries and 13 heavy batteries and divisional infantry artillery the axis powers consisted of two defending armies being the german second army comprising the 51st corps 54th call 11th call and luftstrikecraft air support and german 18th army comprising the first bavarian corps third call ninth corps first reserve corps 26th reserve corps 17th reserve corps and another luftstrike craft air support unit the germans had made territorial gains during the spring offensive which was to end in mid-july although americans arriving to the western front and british home army troops to sinai increased allied density on all fronts the german commanders and generals did not expect army ends to become a large-scale attacking point but rather east of reams or flanders where the canadian corps would successfully divert the germans attention to while attacking on the unexpected front army ends the plans for the advance were finalized by rawlinson and his company including butler monash sir arthur curry and lieutenant general charles cavanaugh on july 21st the german second army under general georg von der marwitz formed a new front as they withdrew marginally east of army ends a german trooping unit of the 27th division attacked and penetrated little over 700 metres north of the somme on august 6. two days prior to the allied advance on army ends concerning the allies as it called for change in the advance fortunately for the allies the germans withdrew to their previous lines on the morning of august 7 requiring only small adjustments in the allied plan a brigade comprising four battalions in both the australian and canadian corps were allocated 140 tanks each including 24 to transport ammunition and supplies to the front the british third corps received a battalion of mach 5 tanks the cavalry received two battalions of 48 medium mark a whippet tanks each two handily page o 400 bombers were to fly over the german lines continuously to mask the sound of the approaching allied tanks already emerging in the dense fog captain gordon f and captain william p from number 207 squadron raf volunteered after the original pilots from number two squadron regarded the fog too dangerous to fly in both captains were given the distinguished flying cross the four infantry divisions of canadian troops moved forward to armies without being detected by the germans reflecting well on the canadian troops two canadian infantry battalions a wireless communications unit and the casualty clearing station were dispatched to the front near ipa as a distraction to convince the germans that the corps was advancing north towards flanders the germans fell for the bluff and concentrated fire on the diversion increasing the element of surprise for the true advance at 4 20 am on august 8 british 3rd course 18th and 58th supported by the us's 33rd infantry division of the army national guard attack north of the somme the australian caused second and third divisions attacked south of the somme positioned in the fourth army's front with the canadian first second and third core further south general de bene's french first army being the southernmost unit began its bombardment at the same time and launched its troops 45 minutes later supported by a battalion of 72 british whippet tanks 900 guns fired simultaneously with the troops advance over the top taking out 504 out of an initial 530 german heavy guns with the help of sound ranging technology the ground shook as one gunner jr armitage of the aif commented the germans knew of the allies trench whereabouts but did not expect the advance that they were met with or the density of troops that morning to the advantage of the allies a mist grew along the ground further increasing the element of surprise because of the underestimated attack the majority of the german lines took approximately four minutes to arm and take fire at the enemy german command also denied using large gas bombardments as the position of the enemy was not well enough known to accurately fire at 7 10 a.m the australians were the first to reach their objectives after 3.7 kilometers at approximately 7 30 a.m the first german positions were captured a further 3.2 kilometers was the second objective which the leading forces support units captured at 8 20 am the australian fourth and fifth divisions and the canadian fourth division supporting the rear of the leaders passed through the german turned allied lines which the leading units had done nearly an hour earlier at this point in the attack being the third phase mach 5 tanks carrying infantry was supposed to penetrate deeper into german lines but this was done without the aid of the tanks an australian brigade and two canadian cavalry divisions had continued past the germans rear the australians and canadians in the centre of the offensive line had broken through 4.8 kilometers from the initial allied line by 11 am they advanced so quickly that they caught german officers and divisional staff eating breakfast fire from aircraft of the newly formed raf and armoured vehicles prevented the withdrawing germans from regrouping in just over three hours the battle had been secured by the allies and by the end of the first day a 24 kilometer gap between german trenches had been achieved and secured south of the somme less success was found north of the somme where terrain was rougher and the british third core was held short of a 75-foot high oxbow bend in the somme near the village of chapilli named chapili ridge the us 33rd division would later successfully capture chebele ridge the canadians gained 13 kilometers the australians 11 kilometers the french 8 kilometers and the struggling british only 3.2 kilometers the british fourth army took thirteen thousand prisoners and the french are further three thousand the germans sustained thirty thousand losses on the first day the combined british fourth army's forces had reached eight 000 casualties not including armored and air personnel commonwealth casualties reached approximately 20 000 french losses were similarly high around 22 000 29 144 prisoners and 338 guns were captured by the allies with 116 towns and villagers liberated eric ludendorff called august 8 1918 schwarzer tag deduction here's meaning the black day of the german army mainly referring to the crushed morale of the german soldiers whom he previously referred to as depressed as hell by the allied advance rather than the lost land shortly after the battle esteemed general john monash received his nightship from king george v becoming sir john monash each sector of the front was widened on august 9 with the french in the south participating in what became the battle of monstidio the french first army surrounded and captured mont didier on august 10 their main objective south of the somme during the advance after the capture they started to move to lassigne the initial force of 500 tanks had been cut down to less than 10 battle ready tanks the germans on chapelli ridge or chapilli spur held a wide field of machine gun and artillery fire similar to that which pinned the australians down at hamel three battalions of doughboys from the 33rd u.s infantry division were signed with taken back to pilli ridge the attack was said to have taken place at 17 30 hours during which they were unable to be driven back by heavy german fire the determined u.s soldiers relentlessly pressed on until they reached graziere wood by the end of the next day the american doughboys had obtained 700 german prisoners 30 artillery pieces one aircraft and over 100 machine guns at some point during the assault all the officers of the platoon had been killed a serbian migrant from kosovo corporal jake alex took the lead of the platoon and rushed to german machine gun nest killing five german soldiers and capturing 15 more for his actions corporal alex was the second soldier during the war to be awarded the congressional medal of honor by august 10 the germans had begun pulling out of the saint michiel salien which they had acquired during operation michael four months earlier the british managed to drive 19 kilometers into german territory by august 13. the advance ceased not out of failure or completion but rather was halted by field marshal hague who initiated a new offensive by bing's third army between ankara and scarp in the north by august 27 the allied troops had captured 50 000 german soldiers and 500 artillery and infantry guns the battle of armies had achieved the breakthrough of once impregnable lines and the changed tempo of war which would change modern warfare and mobilize troops during the advance a british sopwith camel fighter fired upon and shelled the 45-ton crop naval gun nicknamed the armian's gun for its bombing of the town during the summer forcing the germans to evacuate but leaving the gun in good condition although abandoned due to british fire the australian 31st battalion of the fifth division were the first infantry to reach and capture the 280 millimeter armies gun in the advance the naval gun was driven back to british lines upon the train it was stationed on [Music] hmm [Music] you