Cerisy

At 4.20, as the artillery opened intense fire on the whole front of attack, the British infantry and tanks advanced to the assault. The tanks crashed into Cerisy knocking down buildings and opening fire on the German garrison. Three companies …

1918-04-08

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At 4.20, as the artillery opened intense fire on the whole front of attack, the British infantry and tanks advanced to the assault. The tanks crashed into Cerisy knocking down buildings and opening fire on the German garrison. Three companies of Aussies stormed in, taking several hundred prisoners from amongst the ruins. But on the far side of the village, German machine guns and mortars opened up on the tanks battering them with a hail of metal. Heavily armed German troops lined a bank on the eastern side of the ridge, machine guns were blocking the road. The tanks turned about unable to outflank the ridge but others began to scale its western side. Suddenly machine gun bullets streamed out from the far side. The tanks faltered then erupted in flames, the crews fleeing the wreckage or falling into the hands of German troops whose fear had turned to anger.

Cerisy, France

The German Spring Offensive, or Kaiserschlacht ("Kaiser's Battle"), also known as the Ludendorff offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during the First World War, beginning on 21 March 1918. The Germans had realised that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the United States could fully deploy its resources. The German Army had gained a temporary advantage in numbers as nearly 50 divisions had been freed by the Russian withdrawal from the war with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. There were four German offensives, codenamed Michael, Georgette, Gneisenau, and Blücher-Yorck. Michael was the main attack, which was intended to break through the Allied lines, outflank the British forces (which held the front from the Somme River to the English Channel) and defeat the British Army.

Wikipedia: German Spring Offensive

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