Black Day of the German Army 8 August 1918

On 8 August 8 1918, British, Canadian and Australian forces, using a combination of tanks, aircraft, artillery and infantry launched a surprise attack on the German Army at Amiens in northwestern France. On day 1, they succeeded in advancing 8 miles (13 km), clearing German machine gun positions, taking prisoners and destroying the lines of communication. It is thought that new tactics, including simultaneous use of tanks and aerial bombardment, destroyed any gains the Germans had made in their spring offensives and enabled the Allies to tear holes through once impenetrable trench positions. After 8 August the Allies’ pace slowed down and many soldiers fell victim to artillery fire. However, German morale was so weakened that the German general, Eric Ludendorff called 8 August ‘the black day of the German army’ and believed that it was the day Germany began to lose the war.