Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. The Battle of Amya started on August eighth,
Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen, or one hundred and eight years ago today.
Speaker 1: Our episode on that battle came out eight years ago
Speaker 1: on August eighth, twenty eighteen. For its one hundredth anniversary,
Speaker 1: we are bringing it out today as a Saturday Classic.
Speaker 1: Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. We are coming
Speaker 1: up on the hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Amion,
Speaker 1: which started what came to be known as one hundred
Speaker 1: Days Offensive. That was the ally's final push to win
Speaker 1: World War One, and this particular battle and the one
Speaker 1: hundred Days Offensive aren't really talked about as frequently as
Speaker 1: some of the other big moments in World War All
Speaker 1: of our other World War One related episodes are from
Speaker 1: much earlier in the war a lot of the time
Speaker 1: because it was the hundredth anniversary of that thing. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna set the stage a little bit in this
Speaker 1: episode before we get to the battle itself, especially with
Speaker 1: how events that played out in nineteen seventeen led to
Speaker 1: all of this and how the Battle of Ambian ultimately
Speaker 1: led to the end of the war. Also, World War
Speaker 1: One was massive. There was a lot going on in
Speaker 1: other parts of the world during the time period that
Speaker 1: we're talking about, So we are really just focused on
Speaker 1: Europe here, particularly the Western Front, with the key players
Speaker 1: being the British Empire, France, the United States, and Germany.
Speaker 1: It is much too large to also talk about all
Speaker 1: of the other battles going on in all of the
Speaker 1: other places, with all of the other countries in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventeen and nineteen eighteen. So World War One started, of
Speaker 1: course in nineteen fourteen. Although international tensions had been in
Speaker 1: Europe for years before this point, things shifted with the
Speaker 1: assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. They
Speaker 1: were shot to death in Sarajevo on June twenty eighth,
Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen, by Serbian nationalists Gavrilo Prinzip. The arch Duke
Speaker 1: had been the heir to the throne of the Austro
Speaker 1: Hungarian Empire. The Empire suspected that the Serbian government was
Speaker 1: involved in the assassination, so Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia,
Speaker 1: and soon much of Europe was involved in this conflict.
Speaker 1: Within two weeks, the Allies of Russia, Belgium, France, and
Speaker 1: Great Britain had all sided with Serbia. Germany had sided
Speaker 1: with the Austro Hungarian Empire as part of what would
Speaker 1: be called the Central Powers, and more declarations of war
Speaker 1: followed from there. This quickly became a war of attrition,
Speaker 1: with the war on land in Europe being fought primarily
Speaker 1: along the Eastern and Western fronts. Battles went on for months,
Speaker 1: with millions of casualties and catastrophic effects for the civilian population,
Speaker 1: including famines and food shortages all over Europe. For most
Speaker 1: of it, the situation between the Allies and the Central
Speaker 1: Powers was essentially a stalemate. This was especially true along
Speaker 1: the Western Front, which ran from the English Channel to Switzerland,
Speaker 1: primarily through France. Something started to shift at the end
Speaker 1: of nineteen seventeen, though Russian involvement in the war had
Speaker 1: never been popular there and the war had compounded ongoing
Speaker 1: economic problems and food shortages in Russia. The February Revolution
Speaker 1: started on March eighth of nineteen seventeen. It's called the
Speaker 1: February Revolution because Russia was still on the Julian calendar,
Speaker 1: so from the Russian point of view, that was February.
Speaker 1: The February Revolution started with strikes and riots, and it
Speaker 1: led to the abdication of Sir Nicholas. The Second Unrest
Speaker 1: continued after the February Revolution. The Bolshevik Revolution followed in
Speaker 1: November of nineteen seventeen, and that was followed by the
Speaker 1: Russian Civil War. With all of this going on, Russian
Speaker 1: involvement in World War I effectively ended, and Russia signed
Speaker 1: an armistice with the Central Powers in December of nineteen seventeen.
Speaker 1: A lot of the fighting along the Eastern Front at
Speaker 1: this point had been between Russia and Germany, so with
Speaker 1: Russia out of the picture, German forces were freed up
Speaker 1: to move to the Western Front instead. More than forty
Speaker 1: divisions of German troops prepared to do exactly that. After
Speaker 1: Russia withdrew from the war. The United States had also
Speaker 1: declared war on Germany in April of nineteen seventeen. Although
Speaker 1: the US had avoided becoming directly involved in the war
Speaker 1: until that point, it had been providing supplies and other
Speaker 1: aid to the Allies for quite some time, so at first,
Speaker 1: the United States declaration of war didn't do much to
Speaker 1: shift the balance of power, but the US committed troops
Speaker 1: to the war effort as well, and those troops started
Speaker 1: arriving in June of nineteen seventeen and entered combat that October.
Speaker 1: Terms of actual troops, the American presence in the war
Speaker 1: was pretty small in nineteen seventeen. That first arrival of
Speaker 1: troops was only fourteen thousand men. By July of nineteen eighteen, though,
Speaker 1: there would be more than a million American troops in
Speaker 1: France alone, and unlike their counterparts who were already there,
Speaker 1: these American troops weren't necessarily experienced, but they were fresh.
Speaker 1: Most of the Allied troops who were already in Europe
Speaker 1: were exhausted after months or years of fighting. So in
Speaker 1: late nineteen seventeen, with Russia out of the war and
Speaker 1: the United States ramping up to join it, Germany recognized
Speaker 1: that it had a limited window of opportunity. The German
Speaker 1: military was running out of everything, including people, but with
Speaker 1: a quick decisive action, it might be able to force
Speaker 1: the Allies to negotiate for peace before so many American
Speaker 1: reinforcements arrived, or failing that, Germany might be able to
Speaker 1: level the playing field, putting it on more equal footing
Speaker 1: with the Allies during negotiations later on, rather than being
Speaker 1: at a clear disadvantage. The Allies also recognized that Germany
Speaker 1: had this one last opportunity to try to break out
Speaker 1: of the stalemate. So at the start of nineteen eighteen,
Speaker 1: Allied leaders were confident that a major German attack was
Speaker 1: on the way and soon, but they weren't really sure
Speaker 1: exactly when or where it came. On the first day
Speaker 1: of Spring, that was March twenty first, nineteen eighteen, German
Speaker 1: forces attacked a stretch of the Western Front south of
Speaker 1: the French city of Arras. This was at a point
Speaker 1: where French and British forces met on the Western Front,
Speaker 1: and it was the weakest point along that line. Part
Speaker 1: of the German objective was to cut these two forces
Speaker 1: off from one another and then at least in theory,
Speaker 1: Germany could fight French and British forces separately, overcoming both
Speaker 1: of them. The German attack incorporated air strikes, a massive
Speaker 1: artillery of bombardment and gas, including tear gas, chlorine and phosterene,
Speaker 1: and this attempt to break through the Allied line and
Speaker 1: they were immediately successful. The morning they attacked was foggy
Speaker 1: and the Allies were caught by surprise. The British third
Speaker 1: and fifth Armies were forced to retreat, and on March
Speaker 1: twenty first alone, the British military saw thirty eight thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred casualties that included twenty one thousand soldiers taken prisoner.
Speaker 1: Germany was able to advance about four miles or six
Speaker 1: and a half kilometers, reclaiming in one day all the
Speaker 1: ground that they had lost over the previous two years.
Speaker 1: This March twenty first assault was the start of what
Speaker 1: came to be known as the Spring Offensive or the
Speaker 1: Ludendorf Offensive, that was named after Quartermaster General Eric Ludendorf,
Speaker 1: who was leading the German military with Field Marshal Paul
Speaker 1: von Hindenberg. In Germany, it was called Kaiserschlacht or Kaiser's Battle,
Speaker 1: and the first phase was codenamed Operation Michael because it
Speaker 1: covered some of the same territory as the Battle of
Speaker 1: the Somme in nineteen sixteen. Sometimes it is also called
Speaker 1: the Set and Battle of the Somme. Operation Michael ended
Speaker 1: on April fifth, and by that point the German army
Speaker 1: had captured about twelve thousand square miles of territory It's
Speaker 1: about thirty one thousand square kilometers. This had come at
Speaker 1: a great cost, though, with about two hundred and forty
Speaker 1: thousand casualties that the German Army just had no good
Speaker 1: way to replace. Together, French and British forces, including those
Speaker 1: from Canada, Australia and other parts of the British Empire,
Speaker 1: had suffered nearly two hundred and fifty thousand casualties. Just
Speaker 1: to be clear, casualty numbers include everyone killed, wounded, or captured.
Speaker 1: That initial goal of splitting the British and French troops
Speaker 1: didn't ultimately work out because Germany didn't have the manpower
Speaker 1: to really divide and fight against both armies. The Allies
Speaker 1: also quickly realized the threat and united the Allied troops
Speaker 1: under the command of French General Ferdinand Foche to better
Speaker 1: coordinate their efforts. So, rather than facing an army that
Speaker 1: was divided and left in chaos, Germany instead faced a
Speaker 1: force that was united under one command. The overall Spring
Speaker 1: Offensive ended on July fifteenth, nineteen eighteen, with the Second
Speaker 1: Battle of the Marne. General Ludendorff tried to capture the
Speaker 1: city of Rem, hoping to divide the French forces and
Speaker 1: set a stage for an assault on Flanders. But unlike
Speaker 1: on March twenty first, General Fouche anticipated this attack. He
Speaker 1: and the Allies mounted a counter attack, and by July eighteenth,
Speaker 1: German forces were retreating. Germany could not afford this loss,
Speaker 1: especially since American troops were now arriving in France at
Speaker 1: a rate of about three hundred thousand per month. The
Speaker 1: nineteen eighteen flu pandemic was also sweeping across the globe
Speaker 1: at this point, including through all of the armies involved
Speaker 1: in the war. But the war was not over yet,
Speaker 1: which brings us to Ammia, and we're first gonna pause
Speaker 1: and have a sponsor break before we dig into that.
Speaker 1: The Spring Offensive and the Allied counter attacks at the
Speaker 1: Second Battle of the Marn were a shift in how
Speaker 1: the war was being fought on the Western Front for
Speaker 1: years that had been defined by the trenches. Trenches had
Speaker 1: been used during battles in one way or another for centuries,
Speaker 1: and they continued to be a part of warfare after
Speaker 1: this point, but in World War One they were a
Speaker 1: side effect of evolving military technologies, specifically machine guns and
Speaker 1: artillery trenches were away for troops to gain some measure
Speaker 1: of protection from these devastating weapons, even though it meant
Speaker 1: that they couldn't really move once they were dug in.
Speaker 1: During those years of stalemate, an attack on the enemy's
Speaker 1: trench had usually combined a preliminary bombardment called a creeping
Speaker 1: barrage with an advancing infantry. The barrage was supposed to
Speaker 1: lay down artillery just ahead of the soldier's advance, providing
Speaker 1: cover and clearing out the opposition, but a lot of
Speaker 1: the time this did work. Barrages got too far ahead
Speaker 1: of the troops, effectively serving as an advance warning for
Speaker 1: the opposite side, or they tore up the terrain so
Speaker 1: much that the soldiers had trouble crossing to get to
Speaker 1: the enemy. Or barrages might move too slowly or fall short,
Speaker 1: and the advancing infantry were killed as a result. Regardless, though,
Speaker 1: armies wound up facing huge casualties in exchange for a
Speaker 1: few yards of territory or none at all. By the
Speaker 1: spring and summer of nineteen eighteen, though World War Ones,
Speaker 1: opposing armies were starting to make better use of all
Speaker 1: the available military technology to effectively assault the other side's trenches,
Speaker 1: and the ally's first truly effective use of all that
Speaker 1: technology was at the Battle of Homel, led by Australian
Speaker 1: Core commander Lieutenant General John Monash. Monash planned the early
Speaker 1: morning attack in absolute secrecy. He added smoke shells to
Speaker 1: the creeping barrage to obscure the battlefield. He also used tanks,
Speaker 1: which had been introduced in nineteen sixteen, to plow through
Speaker 1: the Germans barbed wire and fortifications and to deliver supplies
Speaker 1: from behind the infantry advance. Eighteen aircraft were involved as well,
Speaker 1: including some older ones specifically chosen because their engines were
Speaker 1: loud enough to cover up the sound of the tanks.
Speaker 1: The planes dropped bombs and flares, providing covering fire, and
Speaker 1: reported back with information about the Germans positions. The plan
Speaker 1: also included faking troop movements in using dummy installations to
Speaker 1: further disguise what they were doing, and sending messages back
Speaker 1: and forth by pigeon. This battle was an enormous success
Speaker 1: for the Allies. The Allied troops, including American and Australian forces,
Speaker 1: attacked early in the morning on July fourth. Within two hours,
Speaker 1: they had obtained all of their objectives. This was really
Speaker 1: the first time that all of the available military technology
Speaker 1: had been put into use at once in such a
Speaker 1: coordinated way. It was so effective that all of the
Speaker 1: commanders of the British Expeditionary Force got a report about
Speaker 1: it detailing what had gone so well after the battle
Speaker 1: was over. The Battle of Amia built off these same
Speaker 1: strategies that Monash had put into place at Homel. The
Speaker 1: city of Amia was a major junction for railroads and communications,
Speaker 1: and Germany had repeatedly tried to take it during the
Speaker 1: Spring offensive. Germany had not succeeded, but it had stretched
Speaker 1: out its line in the attempt, creating a bulge that
Speaker 1: it didn't have the manpower to thoroughly defend. The Allies
Speaker 1: attack on the salient was as before planned in total secrecy.
Speaker 1: Before it started, they used fake radio transmissions and phony
Speaker 1: troop movements to disguise their activity during the day, while
Speaker 1: putting the men into their real positions at night. The
Speaker 1: assault combined air support, artillery, tanks, and infantry. In terms
Speaker 1: of numbers, the Allies had seventy five thousand men, more
Speaker 1: than five hundred tanks, and nearly two two thousand aircraft
Speaker 1: that troops included British, Canadian, Australian and French infantry, tank brigades,
Speaker 1: British cavalry divisions, the Royal Air Force and American troops
Speaker 1: that were held in reserve. Australian and Canadian troops formed
Speaker 1: the spearhead of the infantry attack at Amia. By this point,
Speaker 1: Australia's military had distinguished itself as part of the Australian
Speaker 1: and New Zealand Army Corps that's ANZAC in the Gallipoli Campaign,
Speaker 1: and the Canadian units had developed a reputation as the
Speaker 1: British Empire's shock troops. Germany was out everything in this battle.
Speaker 1: Exact numbers are in dispute. It is difficult to track
Speaker 1: down precise numbers in a conflict like this, but they
Speaker 1: had a much smaller fighting force, with only about five
Speaker 1: hundred thirty guns and three hundred and seventy aircraft. They
Speaker 1: had three lines of trenches, but these trenches weren't well
Speaker 1: fortified and the communication networks among them were really spotty.
Speaker 1: When the attack started at four twenty in the morning
Speaker 1: on August eighth, nineteen eighteen, it came as a total surprise.
Speaker 1: Fighting at the Battle of Amia went on for three days.
Speaker 1: By that point, the Allies had advanced eight miles it's
Speaker 1: about thirteen kilometers. They had liberated more than one hundred
Speaker 1: towns and villages from the Germans. They'd also captured a
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty millimeter or eleven inch Krupp naval
Speaker 1: gun that had been used to shell Amia from about
Speaker 1: twenty five kilometers or that's sixteen miles away. This gun
Speaker 1: had been mounted on a railway carriage, and the Australian
Speaker 1: thirty first Battalion, fifth Division captured it by commandeering the
Speaker 1: carriage and driving it back into Allied territory. They're very
Speaker 1: proud of capturing this gun. I mean, it's not surprising
Speaker 1: that they were, but it comes up a lot in
Speaker 1: accounts of this day. After this hugely effective first day,
Speaker 1: the Allied advance slowed over August ninth through eleventh. The
Speaker 1: German forces started to regroup and offer a stronger resistance,
Speaker 1: and on the eleventh, Sir Arthur Curry of the Canadian
Speaker 1: Corps con General Sir Henley Rowlinson of the British Fourth
Speaker 1: Army that they should consolidate their gains instead of continuing
Speaker 1: to try to push ahead against increasingly tougher resistance. But
Speaker 1: before that decision, the battle had devastated the German army.
Speaker 1: Ludendorf called August eighth the black day of the German
Speaker 1: Army in the history of the war. He also said
Speaker 1: that it quote put the decline of that fighting power
Speaker 1: beyond all doubt, and in such a situation as regards reserves,
Speaker 1: I had no hope of finding a strategic expedient whereby
Speaker 1: to turn the situation to our advantage. This wasn't just
Speaker 1: because of the tens of thousands of casualties that the
Speaker 1: German army saw that day. It was also that it
Speaker 1: revealed the terrifically terrible morale among the German troops. At
Speaker 1: least twelve thousand of them were taken prisoner, with huge
Speaker 1: numbers of soldiers surrendering at once. There were even stories
Speaker 1: of whole groups of Germans surrendering to a single Allied soldier,
Speaker 1: or surrendering even when they they had the Allies in
Speaker 1: that particular spot vastly outnumbered. Altogether, this was the worst
Speaker 1: German defeat since the start of the war. Until this point,
Speaker 1: Allied leaders had thought the war would last at least
Speaker 1: until nineteen nineteen but this was the start of the
Speaker 1: final one hundred days offensive that finally ended it, and
Speaker 1: we're going to talk more about that after we pause
Speaker 1: for a little sponsor break. After the Battle of Amion,
Speaker 1: both General Eric Ludendorf and Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, the
Speaker 1: Emperor of Germany, agreed that there was no way for
Speaker 1: the German army to recover. Their goal became to avoid
Speaker 1: an outright surrender, and the German army continued to fight
Speaker 1: even as it fell back toward Germany. The Allied forces
Speaker 1: continued to press ahead in this final push to bring
Speaker 1: the war to an end. The last major objective to
Speaker 1: this end was the Hindenburg Line, which was Germany's last
Speaker 1: large scale fortification. The Hindenburg Line was a set of
Speaker 1: three well defended trenches that had been established in nineteen seventeen.
Speaker 1: The Allies planned their assault on the Hindenburg Line for
Speaker 1: a full month before actually attacking its forward outposts near Fe,
Speaker 1: France on September eighteenth, nineteen eighteen. The Allied forces finally
Speaker 1: breached the Hendenburg Line on September twenty ninth, after four
Speaker 1: days of heavy fighting, including firing nearly a million artillery
Speaker 1: shells and At that point, Paul von Hendenberg and Eric
Speaker 1: Ludendorf told Kaiservilhelm that the war was lost. On October first,
Speaker 1: at a meeting of representatives of all the major German
Speaker 1: political parties, Ludendorf and Hendenberg told the assembled group the
Speaker 1: reality of the situation. A lot of them were shocked
Speaker 1: to learn that things were going so badly for Germany.
Speaker 1: Germany requested peace negotiations on October third. Ludendorf revised his
Speaker 1: opinion a little later in October, as Allied attack slowed
Speaker 1: down to allow the supply lines to catch up to
Speaker 1: the troops advance. But by that point word of the
Speaker 1: dire condition of the German military had spread through its
Speaker 1: civilian population. Like much of the rest of Europe, German
Speaker 1: civilians had faced extreme hardship during the war, including near
Speaker 1: starvation conditions thanks to an Allied blockade. In the face
Speaker 1: of such grim news, the war just no longer had
Speaker 1: the support of the German people, especially once he heard
Speaker 1: the terms of the armistice, which involved making Germany completely
Speaker 1: unable to renew hostilities. Ludendorff wanted to renew the fight,
Speaker 1: but on October twenty sixth he was forced to resign.
Speaker 1: By this point, there were rampant desertions going on all
Speaker 1: over the German military. A massive mutiny also swept through
Speaker 1: the Navy in late October and early November over orders
Speaker 1: that they stayed an attack on the Royal Navy in
Speaker 1: an attempt to derail the armistice negotiations. The art Armistice
Speaker 1: was finally signed on November eleventh, nineteen eighteen, at five am,
Speaker 1: and the war ended at eleven am that same day.
Speaker 1: The Canadian Corps also liberated the city of malt France
Speaker 1: that day, which was where the last shot of the
Speaker 1: war was fired. It was also the site of one
Speaker 1: of the war's earliest battles, and there's actually an episode
Speaker 1: about that battle in our archive. By this point, Kaiservillhelm
Speaker 1: the Second had been forced to abdicate and had gone
Speaker 1: into exile, and German Chancellor Friedrich Ebert had started to
Speaker 1: form a provisional government. During the last hundred days of
Speaker 1: the war, French forces saw five hundred and thirty thousand casualties.
Speaker 1: There were more than four hundred thousand casualties among the
Speaker 1: British troops, including the troops from the rest of the
Speaker 1: British Empire. That's not just from the UK. American forces
Speaker 1: saw one hundred and twenty seven thousand casualties, and there
Speaker 1: were seven hundred and eighty five thousand casualties just among
Speaker 1: the Germans, with three hundred and sixty eight thousand taken prisoner.
Speaker 1: The German army was also very clearly defeated after that
Speaker 1: initial rally in the Spring Offensive, the tide of the
Speaker 1: war had turned hard against it, and with millions of
Speaker 1: American troops on the ground in Europe dramatically increasing the
Speaker 1: ALLIS numbers, there was just no way that Germany could
Speaker 1: have turned that around. But the false idea spread through
Speaker 1: the German military that Germany had not been defeated. Instead,
Speaker 1: this idea took route, didn't take root, as though it
Speaker 1: came out of nowhere, like it was intentionally spread that
Speaker 1: the German Army had been stabbed in the back by
Speaker 1: civilian leaders who negotiated and signed the Armisis. According to
Speaker 1: this mindset, which was spread by Ludendorf and other high
Speaker 1: ranking officers intentionally, the officials who signed the armistice were traders.
Speaker 1: Adolf Hitler would later brand them the November criminals. This
Speaker 1: led to a whole conspiracy theory about a betrayal of
Speaker 1: the German military at the hands of Jews, which became
Speaker 1: part of Nazi propaganda the years after the war. The
Speaker 1: terms of the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles that
Speaker 1: ended the war also contributed to the run up to
Speaker 1: World War II. Under that armistice, Germany had to surrender
Speaker 1: territory and war materials, including thousands of pieces of artillery, guns, trains, aircraft, battleships, submarines, destroyers,
Speaker 1: and other naval vessels. Germany was also to surrender its
Speaker 1: prisoners of war immediately, but there were no reciprocal terms
Speaker 1: for the other nations to return German prisoners. Under the
Speaker 1: Treaty of Versailles, Germany was prohibited from joining the League
Speaker 1: of Nations until nineteen twenty six. The treaty also drew
Speaker 1: new borders that gave territory to Germany's neighbors, stripped Germany
Speaker 1: of its colonies, and required Germany to pay reparations that
Speaker 1: were economically disastrous. All of this ultimately contributed to Hitler's
Speaker 1: rise of power, which we talk about in our episode
Speaker 1: On the Night of the Long Knives is a really
Speaker 1: bummer place to end an episode so if you were
Speaker 1: listening to this and you were like, this reminds me
Speaker 1: of Wonder Woman. Yes, obviously, Ludendorf in Wonder Woman is
Speaker 1: a fictionalized version of this guy who we talked about
Speaker 1: in this show. Thanks so much for joining us on
Speaker 1: this Saturday. If you'd like to send us a note,
Speaker 1: our email addresses History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and
Speaker 1: you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.