This offensive became a massive problem for the allies, they were unable to hold the line and were being forced back great distances. The allies came to the conclusion that to be able to better resist the Germans better they would have to act as one unit rather than separate ones. A Frenchman Ferdinand Foch was employed to take control of all the armies, now they were acting as one, they would be able to fight and resist the Germans advance more effectively.
The Germans continued to advance pushing the allies right back, by July they had advanced 65km reaching the river Marne. The attack was going very well, for the second time in the war it looked as though Paris would fall. However source B comes from a British officer, who was in the battles, he says how “the Germans never really broke through” and how they “were forced back in stages. This could lead us to believe that the allies had everything under control and knew exactly what they were doing, but we must not forget that this source will most probably be biased towards the allies.
By the time of the Ludendorff offensive the Americans were already in the war and were able to bring up to 50,000 men a week into the battle fields. This is a reason for why Germany had little chance of success because they would not have been able to resist this many men.
Eventually the Ludendorff offensive became too successful for its own good; they had advanced to far too quickly. Making it hard for reinforcements and supplies to reach the front line, the army was getting tired. Also the advance had created a massive salient 130kms long and 65kms wide, this left them vulnerable to attack on three fronts. And sure enough it was not long until they were pushed right back to the Hindenberg line.
In conclusion I agree very much with the statement. Ludendorff’s offensive was a wasted attack causing heavy natural wastage. Germanys defeat was inevitable before the Ludendorff offensive had begun. Eventually, with the amount of men the Americans could bring into the war, the allies were going to defeat Germany. All that the Ludendorff offensive would ever achieve was a delay into the defeat of Germany.
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