920 Ch. 22 • The Great War
his troops remain independent, fearing that French and British generals
would lead them to slaughter.
Emboldened by the withdrawal of revolutionary Russia from the war,
Ludendorff decided on a massive German assault along the Somme River,
thereby avoiding the mud of Flanders and the hills and forts of eastern
France around Verdun. On March 21, 1918, after a brief bombardment of
five hours to maintain some element of surprise, 1.6 million men attacked
the Allied defenses in five separate offensives over a front of forty miles
(see Map 22.7). When the weather cleared at noon, British pilots observed
that the Germans had succeeded in breaking through the Allied lines. Five
days later, some German units had pushed forward thirty-six miles. The
Germans now advanced in Flanders, moving forward with relative ease
against troops from Portugal, which had recently entered the war on the