File:The causes and meaning of the great war (1919) (14594923700).jpg

Identifier: causesmeaningofg00gord (find matches)
Title: The causes and meaning of the great war
Year: 1919 (1910s)
Authors: Gordy, Wilbur Fisk, 1854-1929
Subjects: World War, 1914-1918
Publisher: New York, Boston, Scribner
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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-up in Russia, as a result of the revolu-tion there, had released so many German troopsthat Ludendorffs armies now outnumbered thoseof the Allies by more than forty divisions, prob-ably not far from 600,000 men. He was there-fore confident of success. His great offensive,stretching over a period of nearly four months,consisted of five Titanic drives, or assaults, withthe purpose of breaking through the allied line,separating the British and French armies, andcapturing the Channel ports in the North, or Parisin the South. 144. The First of the German Drives Launchedon March 21.—The first of these drives waslaunched on March 21, when Ludendorff sent1,700,000 men in a giant assault upon the Britisharmy at the point where it touched the Frenchlines. One of the British corps, being greatly out-numbered, was routed; and but for the unrivalledvalor and self-sacrificing devotion of a small num-ber of neighboring troops, with a host of civilianengineers, transport, and ambulance men, and the
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GENERAL VON LUDENDORFF 118 THE CAUSES AND MEANING GeneralFoch insupremecommand N like, who rushed into the gap between the twoarmies of the Allies and stayed the on-rushingGermans until reserve forces could save the situ-ation, the Allies might have met with supremedisaster. For if LudendorfFs men had separatedthe French from the English, he might perhaps havecrushed each army in turn, captured Paris, andmost likely one or more of the Channel ports.With the military mastery of the Continent, hecould then have devoted his entire attention toEngland. 145. Darkest Days of the War; Two Results of theBitter Experience.—The days following this firstGerman drive of 1918 were the darkest of the warfor the Allies. But the bitter experience had two re-sults, which conjointly were destined to beat Ger-many to her knees. The first was the putting of asingle head—it was General Foch, the brilliantFrench leader—in supreme command of the alliedarmies. The second was the marvellous rapiditywith

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