Thursday March 21st, 1918
Nothing to enter diary.
Germany’s Spring Offensive Kicks Off
Channels of communications are such that no-one in Salonika will know yet of Germany’s offensive, launched today over a breadth of 50 miles, under cover of thick fog. Questions will be asked in the House of Commons this evening and newspapers in the UK will start reporting on it tomorrow.
‘Sir Douglas Haig’s Reports’, reproduced in tomorrow’s ‘The Guardian’ and presumably an extract, could now be regarded as being ‘economical with the truth’ as he writes: ‘In the course of the fighting the enemy broke through our outpost positions and succeeded in penetrating into our battle positions in certain parts of the front. The attacks were delivered in large masses, and have been extremely costly to the hostile troops engaged, whose losses have been exceptionally heavy.’
Similarly Andrew Bonar-Law (1858-1923), then Chancellor of the Exchequer, is bullish in his address to Parliament, referring indirectly to the Defence by Depth strategy mentioned in yesterday’s post. Under the title ‘The Biggest Attack, but Expected’ The Guardian reported his speech:
‘This is, I may tell the House, an attack on a larger scale than anything that has been made at any previous stage of the war at any part of the front.’
‘I may say that we know that on part of the front our outpost troops, where the line is very lightly held, have withdrawn to the battle zone. But that was exactly not only what was expected but what the intentions were in the event of such an attack, …….. and a week or two ago I pointed out that it was certain that, if an attack of this kind did take place, the attacking party would gain a certain amount of ground, and our information so far does not lead us to suppose that anything beyond that has happened.’
‘But I do feel justified in saying that , at it has not come as a surprise, and as those responsible for our forces have foreseen and have throughout believed that if such an attack came we should be well able to meet it, nothing that has happened gives us in this country any cause whatever for additional anxiety. (Cheers.)’¹
Within a few months, the Spring Offensive is going to have profound consequences for Frank and the 13th Battalion.
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 21st March 1918 – No 1 Sector, Olasli
Training.
References & Further Reading
¹ Various articles including ‘The German Attack’, ‘Sir Douglas Haig’s Reports’ and ‘The Biggest Attack but Expected’ in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper March 22, 1918
‘Spring Offensive‘ in Wikipedia
‘Second Battle of the Somme‘ in a HistoryofWar.org
Andrew Bonar Law on Biography.com