was the battle of amiens the first battle with tanks

īy the end of April, the threat of Allied collapse had largely passed, while French-led counteroffensives on the Marne in July had finally and convincingly ended the German advance. Around 15 kilometres in front of Amiens, this position changed hands a number of times until a determined counter-attack by Australian units secured the line. German advances were alarmingly fast and allowed them to push beyond 60 kilometres in places however, on the Somme the offensive eventually stalled on the high ground at Villers Bretonneux.

The first of these German assaults pushed towards Amiens and fell upon the British Fifth Army, which was still in the process of completing its defences. Holding the main railway communications between the British base at Le Havre and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) front, as well as the direct routes between the northern ports and Paris, it was the hub through which flowed the means of feeding, arming and reinforcing Commonwealth and French soldiers. One significant objective had been Amiens.Īlthough militarily unimpressive and of little political significance, Amiens held strategic value as the principal rail hub of the Allied war effort. In an attempt to divide British and French forces, capture points of strategic importance and force a favourable peace, these German offensives marked a final effort to break Allied resolve. With manpower released from the Russian collapse on the Eastern Front in 1917, these were the last significant attacks made by the German armies in any theatre. This is the first of three blog posts covering that advance: the prelude, the battle and its consequences.ĭespite the confidence with which the battle was launched, and its ultimate success, its significance was born out of the first of the German spring offensives in March 1918. It marked the beginning of what has come to be known as the Hundred Days offensive, which saw the collapse of the German army on the Western Front. The British-led Battle of Amiens, fought between 8 and 12 August 1918, was a decisive Allied victory.

Was the battle of amiens the first battle with tanks