German Spring Offensive of 1918

Beginning with Operation Michael in March 1918, German armies used concentrated artillery and infiltration tactics to rupture the Allied front. British formations were driven back across ground that had been fought over for years.

The offensives gained territory and caused severe losses but failed to break Allied cohesion or secure a strategic decision. Their exhaustion helped create the conditions for the Allied counter-offensives later that year.

This context supports fiction about retreat, improvised defence, fractured units and the experience of soldiers during the final mobile phase of the Western Front.