BALANCE OF FORCES ‘CHANGED FOR GOOD’

Blame the ‘Pacifists and Shirkers.’

Special to The Great War Project.

(18 June) On the Western Front a century ago, the tide is beginning to turn – away from Germany and in favor of the Allies – France, Britain, and now most importantly the United States.

So writes one German officer in his diary: “The threat of an American army gathers like a thunder cloud,” and every week brings that threat closer, according to historian Adam Hochschild.

He adds, “The brief window of opportunity for a decisive German victory was starting to close.”

As the Germans probe deeper into France, the very speed of their advance, writes Hochschild, “had caused a problem commanders had not anticipated. Short of food for months, consuming a diet heavy of turnips and horse meat, exhausted German troops kept halting against orders, to gorge on tempting supplies of captured French wine, British rum, canned beef, bread, jam, and biscuits left by the retreating Allies.”

“It was a bad blow to German morale to see how well fed the Allies were – especially after soldiers had been repeatedly told that the U-boat campaign had left the enemy starving.”

The fight for Belleau Wood is a victory for the Allies in one of the first large scale battles for the Americans, who now number hundreds of thousands of fresh deployed troops in northern France.

“The balance of forces on the Western Front was now changed for good.”

In early June, writes historian Martin Gilbert, French codebreakers did just that – they broke the German codes and thus became aware of imminent German plans to launch an attack on the French sector of the Western Front. When the German offensive comes, the French are prepared.

“This precious intelligence,” reports Gilbert, “enabled the French to make diligent preparations.”

German troops were once more only forty-five miles from Paris. On July 6^th a century ago, “the day before the new German assault, British forces surprised the Germans in an effective assault.”

Including the massive use of aircraft. Gilbert writes: “Above the warring armies a thousand British and French aircraft were in continuous fierce conflict.”

At midnight on July 7^th the Germans unleash their offensive with a massive artillery bombardment, with a million rounds of mustard gas, 15,000 tons of gas shells. At first it does not look good for the French — General Pershing tells the French prime minister so. “But,” Pershing adds, “it may not look encouraging just now, but we are certain to win in the end.”

A fascinating story from later that summer illustrates just how weary the Germans have become. A joint French-American attack “pushed the Germans back in a series of battles,” writes historian Adam Hochschild.

“During one, a Corporal Adolf Hitler got into a fist fight with a newly arrived soldier who insisted it was foolish to keep fighting.

“According to a man in his unit, Hitler became furious and shouted in a terrible voice that pacifists and shirkers were losing the war.”

Just a glimpse into how one war begets another.