World War I: Germans Launch Massive Offensive on the Western Front

March 21, 1918 - German troops begin their Spring Offensive by launching Operation Michael. Seeking to utilize German troops released from the Eastern Front before American forces could arrive in numbers, Gen. Erich von Ludendorff prepared a series of offensives to defeat the Allies in spring 1918. The first and largest of these, Operation Michael, was intended to penetrate the Allied lines in the Somme before turning northwest to cut off the British Expeditionary Force. Launched on March 21, the main thrust of Michael was centered on St. Quentin. Badly battering the British 5th Army, German troops were able to advance quickly in the battle's opening days. Conducting a fighting retreat, the 5th Army bled the Germans as they fell back. The German assault was finally halted at Villers-Bretonneux, near Amiens, on April 4/5. Though a 40-mile salient had been created in the British lines, Ludendorff's armies failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough.