ne, the farther the
Germans pushed through, the closer the Allies came to total disaster and
defeat. Germany, therefore, selected the British front for attack and
took up the task of destroying the British army.

[Sidenote: The main blow is to fall along the Oise.]

[Sidenote: Plan to drive through Amiens.]

[Sidenote: High ground near Lens and Ypres to be retaken.]

The German plan of campaign was simple in its essence, although
involving great numbers of men and an inconceivable mass of material. It
was to strike the main blow along the Oise on the front between St.
Quentin and La Fere, while a subsidiary attack was to be simultaneously
delivered on the northern side of the Cambrai salient between Cambrai
and Arras. This subsidiary attack was designed to break the salient and
destroy the danger of a flank attack against the movement to the south.
In the main attack, delivered with 15,000 men to the mile of front, it
was intended to break the connection between the British and the French
along the Oise, push a great wedge through at the point of rupture, and
then roll the British line back to the north, leaving the French to be
taken care of later. Failing in this (and Germany had taken into account
the possibility of failure), the British were to be forced back through
Amiens to the sea, and the split in the armies accomplished by
interposing between the parts a section of the seacoast. This operation
would automatically flank the positions held by the British at Arras,
force the British to fall back from Vimy Ridge, and from Lens toward St.
Pol, and, as they retreated, to uncover the Ypres salient and the
positions held in the high ground to the east and south of Ypres--that
is, the Messines and the Passchendaele ridges.

[Sidenote: The Germans use eighty divisions the first day.]

[Sidenote: The Allies retreat.]

After a brief but very intense bombardment the German infantry went
forward on March 21, 1918. They were favored by a heavy mist which
concealed their movements until they were within fifty yards of the
British trenches, between La Fere and St. Quentin. By sheer weight of
numbers these trenches were overrun and the German infantry poured
through the gap. The line to the north was at once affected by the break
in the southern line, and taken in flank, was also forced to fall back.
But a few hours after the attack was launched, the entire fifty miles of
line north of La Fere was ablaze and the British