27/5/1918 Blücher-Yorck: German stormtroopers smash the French #1918Live

The first two phases of Ludendorff‘s spring offensives (codenamed Michael and Georgette) saw the Germans make considerable initial gains against the British only for momentum to be lost as reinforcements, particularly French reinforcements, were rushed in to aid the defenders. This has engendered a certain complacency on the part of the French, a feeling that they do not have too much to fear from the German stormtroopers.

That complacency is shattered today when the Germans unleash their Blücher-Yorck offensive against the mainly French defenders of the Aisne river in the Chemin des Dames sector. The Allies had not expected an attack here on what had until now been a quiet sector (so much so that some battered British units have been sent to the Aisne to recuperate) and the German juggernaut takes them by surprise. First German guns stun the defenders with a bombardment of unprecedented scale, then…