Second Battle of the Marne

Second Battle of the Marne Part of the Western Frontof World War IDate July 6– August 18, 1918Location Marne Rivernear Paris, FranceResult Decisive Allied victory

Belligerents France
United Kingdom
United States German Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch,
Paul André Maistre,
Antoine de Mitry,
Marie Émile Fayolle,
Charles Mangin,
Alexander Godley Erich Ludendorff,
Karl von Einem,
Bruno von Mudra,
Max von Boehn Strength 44 French divisions,
4 American divisions,
4 British divisions,
2 Italian divisions,
408 heavy guns,
360 field batteries 52 divisions,
609 heavy guns,
1,047 field batteries Casualties and losses 95,165 French dead or wounded,
16,552 British dead or wounded,
12,000 American dead or wounded 139,000 dead or wounded,
29,367 captured,
793 guns lost v • d • e Western Front Frontiers– Liège– Antwerp– Great Retreat– Race to the Sea– Neuve Chapelle– 2nd Ypres– 2nd Artois– Hill 70– 3rd Artois– Loos– Verdun– Hulluch– Mont Sorrel– Somme– Arras– Vimy Ridge– 2nd Aisne– Messines– Passchendaele– Cambrai– Michael– Lys– 3rd Aisne– Belleau Wood– 2nd Marne – Château-Thierry– Hamel– Hundred Days

The Second Battle of the Marne, or Battle of Reims (July 15 to August 5, 1918) was the last major German offensive on the Western Front. It failed when an Allied counterattack led by French forces overwhelmed the Germans, inflicting severe casualties.

Following the failures of the Spring Offensive to end the war, Erich Ludendorff, Chief Quartermaster-General and virtual military ruler of Germany, believed that an attack through Flanders would give Germany a decisive victory over the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), the most potent Allied force on the Western Front at that time. To shield his intentions and draw Allied troops away from Belgium, Ludendorff planned for a large diversionary attack along the Marne.

The battle began on 15 July when 23 German divisions of the First and Third armies, led by Mudra and Karl von Einem, assaulted the French Fourth Army under General Gouraud east of Reims. Meanwhile, 17 divisions of the German Seventh Army, under Boehm, aided by the Ninth Army under Eben, attacked the French Sixth Army led by Degoutte to the west of Reims. Ludendorff hoped to split the French in two.

The British XXII Corps and 85,000 American troops joined the French for the battle. The German attack to the east of Reims was stopped on the first day, but the attack to the west broke through the French Sixth Army and advanced nine miles before the French Ninth Army, helped by American, British, and Italian troops, stalled the advance on July 17.

The German failure to break through prompted Ferdinand Foch, the Allied Supreme Commander, to authorize a major counter-offensive on 18 July; 24 French divisions, joined by other Allied troops including 8 large US divisions, and 350 tanks attacked the recently formed German salient. The French were entirely successful, with Mangin's Tenth Army and Degoutte's Sixth Army advancing five miles on the first day alone. Berthelot's Fifth Army and Eben's Ninth Army launched additional attacks in the west. The Germans ordered a retreat on July 20 and were forced all the way back to the positions where they had started their Spring Offensives earlier in the year. The Allied counter-attack petered out on 6 August when well-entrenched German troops ground it to a halt.

The disastrous German defeat led to the cancellation of Ludendorff's planned invasion of Flanders and was the first step in a series of Allied victories that ended the war.