Grand Offensive

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Grand Offensive
partof=the First World War
date=September 26 – November 11, 1918
place=France and Belgium
result=Allied Victory
combatant1=flagicon|UK British Empire

*
*
*
*
*flagicon|France France
flagcountry|United States|1912
combatant2=flagcountry|German Empire
commander1=Ferdinand Foch
commander2=Paul von Hindenburg
Erich Ludendorff
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=

The Grand Offensive is a common, if informal, term for the series of attacks by the Allies and Associated Powers on the Western Front, commencing on September 26, 1918. Allied attacks between mid-July and mid-September had been conducted sequentially, and Germany was able to resist them by shifting reserves from other parts of the Front. Foch's intention was to deprive Germany of the chance to shift their reserves by launching a number of simultaneous attacks, in the hope that at least one would result in a breakthrough. In the event, there were no breakthroughs, but the operations were generally successful, and resulted in Germany suing for terms.

The Grand Offensive includes the following separate battles:
*Meuse-Argonne Offensive launched by the American Expeditionary Force on September 26
*Operations in Champagne by the French IV Army from the same date
*Battle of the Canal du Nord by the BEF's 1st and 3rd Armies from September 27
*Battle of St. Quentin Canal by the BEF's 4th Army from September 29
*Fourth Battle of Ypres by the BEF's 2nd Army, French and Belgian forces from September 28

With the Allies attacking at four separate points, a conference was held at Spa on September 29. At this conference, Ludendorff advised Kaiser Wilhelm II that an armistice should be sought, as German defeat was now inevitable. Foreign Secretary Hintze went further by suggesting that in view of the situation on the Western Front, revolution would break out if Germany did not reform her constitutional systems. The result of this conference would be the Kaiser's abdication on November 9.

ee also

*List of Canadian battles during World War I

References

*"To Win a War", John Terraine, 2000, Sterling Publishing, ISBN 0-304-35321-3
*"Imperial War Museum Book of 1918: Year of Victory", Malcolm Brown, 1998, Sidgwick and Jackson, ISBN 0-283-06307-6
*"Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War", Robert Doughty, 2005, Harvard University Press, ISBN 067401880X