We have returned, Beasts of War history fans, to our continuing series on the 1918 campaigns of World War One. Specifically focusing on the spring and summer of 1918, my friend Sven Desmet (BoW @neves1789) is taking a wargaming look at the 100th anniversaries of these engagements, which in many ways changed the face of war.

Read The Series Here

In Part One last week, we introduced the project and summarized the Great War up to this point. We also looked at some of the “mechanics” of Great War combat (i.e. trenches, artillery, and machine guns, railroads), and took a first look at how these work on the tabletop (specifically, Flames of War “Great War”).

So now it’s time to “go over the top” and get started with the actual battles of 1918. We’ll start with the “St. Michael Offensive” of March and April 1918, looking how the Germans hoped to finally shift the war decisively in their favour. More importantly, we’ll look at how actions in this offensive can play out on the 15mm table.

The St. Michael Offensive

The Clock is Ticking …

The St. Michael Offensive - also called the Ludendorff Offensive or the “Kaiserschlacht” (Kaiser’s Battle) - was a massive German attack on the Western Front starting in March 1918. The goals and concept for the offensive become clear with a brief overview of Germany’s strategic imperatives in the fourth year of the Great War.

At the outset of 1918, Germany was faced with a “good news, bad news” situation. On the positive side, Russia had dropped out of the war after a string of cataclysmic defeats and the Bolshevik Revolution. The Germans had finally broken free of their classic strategic dilemma, the two-front war.

The Central Powers had also frustrated attempts by the Western Allies to start “second fronts” at places like Gallipoli and at least for the moment, Austria-Hungary was holding the Italians in the south. As 1918 opened, the Germans could focus solely on the Western Front, giving them a momentary numerical advantage over the British and French.

The bad news was that the Americans had entered the war in 1917. For now, it was taking the Yanks time to raise an army, ship it across the Atlantic, and integrate with British and French armies already in place. But later in 1918, the Germans knew they’d see the numerical balance shift irrevocably against them.

All these factors led the German Imperial Staff to an inescapable conclusion for early 1918. In order to get any kind of favourable result out of the war, the deadlock in the trenches would have to be broken now. The Western Allies had to be dealt a crippling blow before the Americans could tip the scales against Germany forever.

Named after Germany’s patron saint, the St. Michael Offensive launched on March 21st. For five hours, over 6,500 guns and 3,500 mortars plastered the sixty mile front of the British Third and Fifth Armies along the Somme. Then, sixty-five divisions of the German Second, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Armies shoved forward.

The British reeled back, their Fifth Army, in particular, taking hideous losses. At least for the moment, the Germans seemed to have finally broken the trench stalemate with the largest territorial gains since 1914. A big factor in this success was the use of new “stormtrooper” units and tactics, which Sven discusses in more detail below.

The German objective was a breakthrough at the city of Amiens. But they were finally halted just short of this target in a series of battles around the town of Villers-Bretonneaux, a landmark moment because it would see history’s first true “tank engagement” - with opposing tanks actually firing on each other in combat.

Yet despite desperate efforts, the Germans would fail to break through to Amiens. Thus, other offensives would have to be launched, covered in Parts Three and Four of this series.

Sven Gets Down To Details

Not Just A Military Necessity

As Jim has pointed out; this was the big one for the Germans and they knew it. This offensive had been planned not only to get a military victory but to end the war and dictate the peace. Or at least come to the negotiating table as equals...

The situation at the German home front had made it clear that the war could no longer go on, both politically and economically. The Social Democratic Party was gaining support against the war and gradually swaying public opinion against the military dictatorship of Ludendorff and Hindenburg.

Fuelling this growing feeling of dissent was the deteriorating economic situation. Since 1914 the British Navy had been blockading German ports and preventing foreign products, including food, from entering the country. By 1918 hundreds of thousands of civilians would have been starved to death.

Bewegungskrieg/War Of Movement

One of the defining aspects of the St. Michael Offensive would be the speed at which the Germans broke through the line. In 1806, The Prussians had learned what speed meant at the hand of Napoleon and had studied this aspect of war throughout the 19th Century.

Generals like Clausewitz, Moltke and Schlieffen had passed on their views on warfare to the World War One generation of Prussian officers. So really most German generals (disregarding Falkenhayn) had not forgotten that war was all about movement, it’s just that the stalemate got in their way.

For their last big strategic offensive, they would have to apply all the lessons from the previous years to force a decision. If there ever was a do or die moment for the Germans during World War One, then this was it.

Innovation

In Part One we saw how trench warfare had been around for centuries and how industrialised warfare had led to a stalemate. The operational and tactical advantage had shifted to the defender. The many failed offensives of both sides had shown how costly in lives that could be.

Before we dive into the actual offensive, we’ll take a look at the innovations that the Germans had developed throughout the war. Ludendorff himself had already published writings on both defensive and offensive tactics in positional warfare in 1917-18 and had these taught to his subordinates, sometimes down to company level.

One of the bigger innovations came from the artillery officer Georg Bruchmüller. He had successfully commanded large artillery formations on the Eastern Front during the Russian Brusilov and Kerensky Offensives in 1916 and 1917. Unlike the Allies, who favoured long artillery barrages, Bruchmüller advocated short intense barrages. He would eventually be known as Durbruchmüller; Durchbruch meaning breakthrough in German.

These were less aimed at destroying the entire frontline and causing mass casualties but trying to disrupt the enemy as much as possible. His barrages would only last five hours and used three phases. First, attack the enemy troops with gas. Then hit their guns with a mix of gas and high explosives, and lastly a creeping barrage of high explosives to screen the German infantry attack.

The other German innovator was Oskar von Hutier; a German general who had served in the west and east since 1914. He had studied enemy tactics like the successful Russian Brusilov offensive of 1916 where the Russians had penetrated the Austrian line at their weakest points using smaller, specialised units. Von Hutier would take this approach and formed the now famous Stoßtruppen or stormtroopers.

One of the main tactics employed by the Stoßtruppen was infiltration. They would follow the creeping barrage into the enemy trenches and push beyond, ignoring strongpoints to isolate and surround them. Reserves would push into these breaches instead of onto the strongpoints as had been the case in earlier battles like at Ypres or Verdun.

The close combat power of the Stoßtruppen was also increased through the use of the lighter MG-08/15 machine gun and the famous submachine gun, the MP-18. However, most Stoßtruppen were equipped with pistols, hand grenades and close combat weapons like knives and spades...all intended to maximise shock upon the enemy and keep the offensive going.

Putting It Into Practice

All these theories culminated on March 21st, 1918 with the start of Operation Michael. Ludendorff put the centre of his offensive on the Somme at the point where the French and British armies met and tried to drive a wedge between the Allies. The German Eighteenth Army under von Hutier pushed southwest to drive the French from the Aisne and threaten Paris for the first time since 1914.

Meanwhile, the German Seventeenth and Second Armies pushed the British Fifth Army back from the Somme and aimed at the important rail hub at Amiens. Capturing this town would severely hinder the Allies lines of communication and might even see the British thrown out of the continent.

Indeed the British suffered heavy casualties as the new German tactics wreaked havoc on the regular British soldiers.

In fourteen days the German Stoßtruppen had broken past the trenches, pushing sixty-five kilometres (forty miles) into the open fields beyond, an astronomical distance by Western Front standards. Allied resistance, however, had not completely crumbled and all these gains did not come without a cost. Many of the best trained and experienced German troops had now been killed or wounded or were simply exhausted.

When after two weeks, the offensive came to a halt, the Germans found themselves in an overextended salient with the Allies recovering and reinforcing. The offensive had failed to reach its strategic goal and stalemate had returned. They would, however, keep up the offensives as we’ll see in Parts Three and Four.

In Flames Of War: Great War

Flames of War Great War brings the Stoßtruppen to life through a number of special rules and equipment that reflect their character and allows players to recreate the St. Michael Offensive. A Stoßkompanie or assault company is equipped with pistol and MG teams and the odd SMG and flamethrower.

They give the player the option to perform a night attack, making everything harder to see and hit. They can also use the spearhead rule, allowing them to deploy further into No Man’s Land. Combined with a “Fearless Veteran” rating, the best in both skill and morale, it makes these guys tough as nails on the tabletop.

The scenarios covered in the book perfectly suit the St. Michael Offensive, going from a standard trench attack through to a more mobile battle for the second line and then eventually the green fields beyond. This also works great as a mini-campaign like my Great War opponent (@Erik101) and myself have been playing.

In Part Three we’ll be taking a look at how the Allies countered these tactics and how artillery and tanks played a role both in real life and on the tabletop. The last big German strategic offensive had failed, yet it still had not brought an end to the war...

Oriskany’s Debrief

We hope you’ve enjoyed this second look at centennial gaming in the Great War. Have you tried any “storm trooper” tactics of your own? How would you handle a trench breakthrough in your wargaming?

Post your questions, feedback, and comments below, and keep the conversation going!