Welcome back to the deep dive. Whether you're
catching up on early 20th century military history
or you know you just have a really deep curiosity
about the pivotal events that shaped our modern
world. You are in the right place. You absolutely
are. Today, we are looking at a monumental shift
in global history. We're drawing from a really
comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing the
Second Battle of the Marne. Right, specifically
focusing on that really intense window from July
15th through the 18th, 1918. Exactly. And our
mission for this deep dive is to explore how
a battle that was originally intended to be a
mere diversion. Basically a massive bloody fake
out. Yeah. a total fake out, how that ended up
turning into the absolute last major German offensive
on the Western Front. I mean, it is the clash
that ultimately kicks off the final 100 days
of World War I. It really is the turning point.
OK, let's unpack this, because we aren't just
looking at dates on a calendar today. No, definitely
not. We are exploring the wild tactical innovations,
the desperate espionage, and the very real human
stories hiding inside this source material. It's
a phenomenal topic to explore. And to really
understand the sheer scale of what happens on
the Marne River, we have to establish the strategic
backdrop first. Right. Set the stage. Yeah. We
have to look at the German Chief Quartermaster
General, Erich Ludendorff. And the fascinating
thing about the Second Battle of the Marne is
that Ludendorff did not actually want to fight
it. Which sounds crazy given how massive it was.
I know. But his primary goal, his grand strategy
following the failure of the earlier German Spring
Offensive, was to launch a devastating attack
much further north, up through Flanders and Belgium.
Okay, so way off to the north. Right. He believed
that an offensive up there would finally crush
the British Expeditionary Force, give Germany
a decisive victory to just end the war. But the
Marne is much further south. It's closer to Paris.
Exactly. The Marne was, in his mind at least,
supposed to be a massive decoy. The entire point
was to launch a diversionary attack along the
river to draw allied troops away from Belgium.
Leaving the British completely exposed up in
Flanders. You got it. So it's essentially a geopolitical
sleight of hand. You make a massive noise over
here, force the allies to deal with this immediate
threat to Paris while you're getting ready to
throw the real knockout punch up north. That
was the plan, yeah. But that slighted hand gets
completely turned around on them. While the overarching
strategy is fascinating, the tactical execution
on the ground is where the story really begins.
Oh, absolutely. Let's look at the clash east
of the city of Reims. The source notes that 23
German divisions. That's from the first and third
armies. Right. They assaulted the French Fourth
Army, which actually had the U .S. 42nd Division
attached to it. Now the French defense in this
sector was highly unorthodox for the time. Very.
They utilized a concept called defense in depth.
The brilliance of this French strategy under
the command of Henri Gouraud, it just cannot
be overstated. Traditionally, military doctrine
often dictated putting all of your strength right
up front. Crowding the front line. Right, crowding
the front to stop an enemy advance dead in its
tracks. But Gereau did the exact opposite. He
left his front line very lightly manned. Which
seems so counterintuitive. It does. But instead,
the French set up their main line of resistance
four to five kilometers back from the front.
And crucially, they dug this continuous trench
line on a reverse slope. A reverse slope, meaning
they positioned their main forces on the backside
of a hill. Exactly, facing away from the enemy's
approach. So because they were on that reverse
slope, the German artillery observers who were
scouting on the ground, they couldn't visually
target the main French resistance. They couldn't
see what they were shooting at. Nope. Between
that mostly empty front line and the hidden main
line, the French just scattered a few heavily
fortified strong points. But wait, if the front
line was virtually empty, wouldn't the German
scouts or the advancing infantry notice that
something was incredibly wrong before they launched
their main attack? You would think so. I mean,
a quiet trench seems like a massive red flag.
They absolutely would have noticed, which is
why the French engaged in a brilliant bit of
theatrical deception. A fake out of their own.
Right. They kept the gun line behind that empty
front, firing constantly. They maintained a normal
rate of artillery fire so the Germans wouldn't
detect the weakness from a sudden drop in noise.
That is so smart. Because the German offensive
tactics heavily relied on the element of surprise,
right? Very much so. They wanted to catch the
French off guard with the sudden over But the
Germans didn't realize they had completely lost
the element of surprise. The source mentions
French aerial observation had already picked
up massive troop movements. Yes, they could see
them massing. And then the French pull off this
incredible intelligence coup. French forces conduct
a daring trench raid and manage to capture 27
German prisoners. And those prisoners broke under
interrogation. They spilled the exact start time
of the impending German attack. So the French
knew precisely when the hammer was going to fall.
And what's fascinating here is the psychological
impact of what happens next, specifically regarding
the artillery duel. Walk us through that. So
the German forces were scheduled to begin their
massive preliminary bombardment at 12 .10. But
because the French had that perfectly timed intelligence
from the trench raid, the French artillery opened
fire on the crowded German assault trenches at
11 .30. 40 minutes before the Germans were even
supposed to start. Yes. Imagine the sheer psychological
shock to the German attackers. I can't even.
They are waiting in their trenches, heavily packed
in, preparing to launch this huge surprise attack.
only to be suddenly pounded by a massive French
artillery barrage. It's insane. Furthermore,
when the Germans finally did open fire at 12
10s, they engaged in what he's called counter
battery fire, meaning they were trying to hit
the French artillery gun to neutralize them.
Exactly. But because the French had set up that
defense in depth, the German counter battery
fire was mostly striking vacated gun pits. They
were shooting at nothing. Their artillery was
effectively chewing up empty dirt. The choreography
of the German battle plan was instantly ruined.
So when the German infantry finally advanced,
they moved through that first empty French line
pretty easily. But their rolling artillery barrage,
that's the wall of explosions meant to shield
their advance. Right. That barrage kept moving
forward at a set pace. It completely outpaced
the infantry because the foot soldiers were getting
tangled up by those scattered hidden strong points.
The French. left behind it is like planning an
elaborate ambush you know waiting in the bushes
and suddenly the person you were trying to ambush
taps you on the shoulder and attacks you first.
It was devastating. By the time the German infantry
finally reached the main French line on that
reverse slope, they were exhausted. They were
bleeding and utterly disorganized. The attack
just fell apart. It really did. They actually
had to be ordered to rest, regroup, and wait
for their own field guns to be dragged forward
into range. They didn't attack that main line
until 8 30 the following morning, a full hour
later than they originally planned. And when
they did, they were stopped cold by bulk of the
French artillery. So the French 4th Army's defense
in depth worked perfectly. So perfectly that
they were actually able to start sending reinforcements
to their neighbors across the river. Who were
facing a much dire situation. Oh the nightmare
scenario. Let's shift over there. While the French
defense in depth was holding the line brilliantly
in the east, the situation across the river to
the west of Reims was brutal. Completely different
story. Here, 17 divisions of the German 7th Army,
aided by the 9th Army, attacked the French 6th
Army. And the source material paints a truly
hellish picture of the conditions on the south
bank of the Marne River. The defenders there
had to endure an intense three -hour preliminary
bombardment. And this wasn't just high explosives.
The Germans utilized a massive amount of gas
shells, choking the riverbanks in toxic clouds.
Just horrific. And under the cover of that gas
and artillery, German stormtroopers began their
assault. Now, when we say stormtroopers in the
context of World War One, we are talking about
specialized infantry utilizing infiltration tactics.
Not the guys in white armor from the movies.
Right. Definitely not. Instead of advancing in
a long, slow line, these highly trained, heavily
armed units would rush forward in small groups.
Bypassing heavily defended strong points. Exactly.
To strike deep into the enemy's rear communication
and supply lines. And to cross the Marne, they
were using every sort of transport imaginable.
Most notably, these 30 -man canvas boats and
rafts. 30 men huddled in a canvas boat, paddling
across a river, choked with poison gas while
actively being shot at by artillery and machine
guns. It's terrifying. The sheer terror of that
crossing is almost unimaginable for you or me
sitting here today. Oh, absolutely. And the resistance
to this crossing was fierce. The French launched
a massive aerial intervention to try and stop
the swarm of boats. They sent up planes. 225
bombers dropping 44 tons of bombs directly onto
the river. Wow. And hitting the makeshift skeleton
bridges the Germans were frantically trying to
construct under fire. And yet, despite the bombs
raining from the sky, the German engineers managed
to erect bridges at 12 different points. It's
a testament to their engineering for sure. Amidst
all this mechanized slaughter, we get some incredible
stories of human endurance. Our source highlights
Colonel Ulysses G. McAlexander and the 38th Infantry
Regiment of the American 3rd Infantry Division.
Their stand is one of the most remarkable of
the battle. Tell us about it. Despite the gas,
the relentless artillery and the swarms of elite
German stormtroopers crossing the river, the
38th Infantry refused to yield. They were surrounded
on three sides at one point. Take facts. Yeah.
But they held their ground. Some units even launched
counter -attacks straight into the teeth of the
German advance. That is incredible. Their absolute
refusal to break during this crossing earned
the regiment a legendary nickname that persists
to this day, the Rock of the Marne. The Rock
of the Marne. That's powerful. But despite the
incredible bravery of units like that, and despite
the bombers destroying several of those bridges,
the sheer numbers of the German assault eventually
pushed through the lines. They did. By the evening
of that first day, the Germans had captured a
substantial bridgehead on either side of a commune
called Dormans, which was a critical crossing
point on the river. And how big was this bridgehead?
It was four miles deep and nine miles wide. Okay,
so that is a significant penetration into the
Allied lines. Definitely. And Ludendorff certainly
viewed it as a massive triumph. Our source notes
that Ludendorff prematurely celebrated this crossing.
He called the advance the very pinnacle. of military
victory. Which is quite a statement, and this
raises an important question. Which is? How quickly
can the so -called pinnacle of military victory
collapse when the enemy already knows your grand
strategy? And when your forces are stretched
incredibly thin across a river, having exhausted
themselves on what was supposed to be a decoy
attack. Here's where it gets really interesting.
Yeah. Because that pinnacle collapses incredibly
fast. Almost overnight. The German advance stalls
out entirely by July 17th. They hit a brick wall
consisting of reinforcements from the British
Exe Secor and 85 ,000 fresh American troops.
Fresh being the key word there. Right. But the
Allies didn't just halt the German war machine.
They had a devastating counterpunch prepared.
They really did. And the way they ensured this
counterpunch landed involves one of the most
cinematic espionage ruses of the entire war.
It sounds like something out of a spy novel.
The Allied preparation for their counteroffensive
was meticulous. Because of their intelligence
gathering, they had a nearly complete picture
of the German intentions. They knew exactly where
they were. Right. But to guarantee their massive
counter -attack succeeded, they needed the Germans
to commit their defenses to the wrong sector.
They needed to create a phantom threat. Exactly.
According to a widely circulated account that
our source notes is historically compelling,
two officers devised a macabre deception. Captain
Hunter Grant, an engineer, and Captain Page,
an engagement coordinator. They procured a briefcase
and filled it with completely fabricating plans
detailing a massive fictitious American counter
attack. A completely fake attack. And then they
took those fake plans and handcuffed the briefcase
to the wrist of a man who had recently died of
pneumonia. They took this deceased man, dressed
him as an allied courier, and staged a vehicle
crash. Unbelievable. They placed the body in
a car and meticulously arranged the scene to
look as though the vehicle had run off the road
right near a German -controlled bridge. That
is incredibly risky. I mean, if the Germans suspected
it was a plant, the entire allied counteroffensive
could be compromised. The stakes couldn't be
higher. But a German patrol found the crashed
car. They found the dead messenger prior to...
the briefcase and believed they had just stumbled
into the intelligence score of the century. They
bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. The German
command completely fell for the fake plans. They
rapidly adjusted their entire defensive line
to thwart this imaginary American attack detailed
in the briefcase. By shifting their forces to
block an attack that didn't exist, the Germans
stretched their lines even further into what
military strategists call a salient. Yes. For
those who don't know, a salient is essentially
a bulge in the military line where an army has
pushed forward into enemy territory. Leaving
them surrounded on three sides. Right. And highly
vulnerable on their flanks. By adjusting their
defenses based on the fake briefcase plans, the
Germans left the actual targets of the allied
counteroffensive completely exposed. They moved
their shield to block a phantom punch. Leaving
their flanks wide open for the real one. And
the real punch? unleashed on July 18th by Allied
Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch was gargantuan.
It was massive. We are talking 24 French divisions,
which notably included the American 92nd and
93rd Infantry Divisions operating under French
command. Right. They were joined by eight large
American divisions operating under American command,
plus British and Italian troops. And perhaps
most terrifying for the German infantry stuck
in that salient. The tanks. Yes. The assault
included 350 Renault FT tanks rolling across
the battlefield. The physical scale of that counteroffensive
is just staggering. But the logistical and political
nightmare that Ferdinand Foch navigated to make
it happen is equally impressive. Because he's
dealing with a coalition. Exactly. Back in May,
Foch had spotted the strategic flaws in the German
offensives, noticing how they continually overextended
their supply lines. But coordinating a unified
response was immensely difficult. Why was it
so hard for him specifically? Well, as supreme
commander, Foch did not have direct unilateral
authority to simply issue orders to the different
national armies. So he couldn't just say, do
this? No. He had to work with four distinct national
commanders, French, American, British and Italian.
He had to persuade and coordinate a coalition
force overcoming massive hurdles like different
languages, different languages, entirely different
military cultures, opposing tactical doctrines,
conflicting fighting styles. Keeping that coalition
unified during a massive counteroffensive was
a monumental feat of leadership. A huge part
of the success of that coalition, according to
the sources, was the infusion of those fresh
American troops we mentioned earlier. It changed
the dynamic completely. These were soldiers who
hadn't been ground down by four years of brutal,
stagnant trench warfare. They brought a raw aggression
to the line that shocked the exhausted German
defenders. They really did. There is a deeply
moving quote from war correspondent Floyd Givens
in our source material describing the American
troops during this push. He wrote, I never saw
men charged to their death with finer spirit.
That aggressive spirit, combined with the mechanized
terror of the tanks and the element of surprise
secured by the dead man's briefcase, it shattered
the German lines. It broke them. This engagement
forced a German withdrawal that was never effectively
reversed. It was the beginning of the end. But
as we discuss the brilliance of the strategy
and the turning of the tide, we have to slow
down and honor the grim reality of this victory.
Always. The cost was absolute devastation. The
source gives us specific casualty numbers that
are difficult to even comprehend. For example,
during a vicious German assault on July 19th,
the Italian Corps successfully held their sector
and stopped the German advance. But the price
was horrifying. They lost 9 ,334 officers and
men out of a total fighting strength of about
24 ,000. Nearly 40 percent of an entire fighting
force wiped out in a single desperate action
just to hold a patch of ground. It's a staggering
sacrifice. The desperation during those days
of the counteroffensive was palpable everywhere.
The fighting was so intense in a critical geographical
corridor called the Ardre Valley, which was a
direct route leading toward Paris. Right. It
was so intense there that French General Henri
Mathias Berthelot had to take two newly arrived
British infantry divisions, the 54th Highland
and the 62nd West Riding and rushed them straight
from their transport trains into a massive attack
down the valley. Just off the train and into
the fire. Just to keep the pressure on the retreating
Germans. It was a relentless meat grinder. But
the pressure ultimately achieved its objective.
By July 20th, the German High Command realized
their position in the salient was untenable.
They had to get out. They were forced to order
a massive retreat, pulling their battered forces
back to the exact positions from which they had
started their spring offensive months earlier.
Basically back to square one. And the Allies
relentlessly pursued them. Costly grinding assaults
continued for minimal geographical gains. But
by early August, the massive bulge in the line
had been reduced. The salient was gone. Let's
look at the final statistics of this battle because
they truly contextualize the horrific scale of
the First World War. The Allies took 29 ,367
Jurgen prisoners. Just massive numbers. They
captured 793 heavy guns and 3 ,000 machine guns.
In total, they inflicted a staggering 168 ,000
casualties on on the German army. And the cost
of that victory for the Allies was equally catastrophic.
The Allies suffered roughly 133 ,000 casualties
combined. 300 ,000 casualties across both sides.
Yeah. We are talking about over 300 ,000 human
beings killed, wounded, or captured in a matter
of a few weeks along a single river valley. It
is a profound amount of suffering to secure a
shift in the front line. It really is. But if
we connect this to the bigger picture, the sheer
material loss in guns and manpower was something
the German army could no longer replace. They're
all capped out. Completely. But the primary lasting
importance of the Second Battle of the Marne
was morale. For Ferdinand Foch, orchestrating
this massive coalition victory earned him the
prestigious baton of a Marshal of France. A massive
honor. But for the war as a whole, the strategic
shift on the Marne decisively ended the long,
terrifying string of German victories. It broke
their momentum permanently. It forced them onto
the defensive. Exactly. and sparked a relentless
series of allied advances. It is the definitive
turning point that would ultimately force an
armistice and end the war approximately 100 days
later. So what does this all mean? We started
out looking at a battle that was meant to be
a simple decoy. A distraction. A massive bloody
distraction to pave the way for a decisive strike
in Flanders. But through a combination of brilliant
unorthodox strategy like the reverse slope defense,
the raw endurance of units fighting off canvas
boats and rivers choked with poison gas, and
the sheer audacity of staging a dead man with
a briefcase full of fake plans. The Allies turned
a decoy into the decisive turning point of the
First World War. They flipped the script completely.
It is a powerful reminder that history is rarely
a list of inevitable outcomes. It is forged by
human stories, fragile moments of luck, and incredible
endurance in the face of absolute horror. It
truly is. And as we consider the specific events
of this battle, it leaves me with a lingering
thought for you to ponder long after you finish
listening. What's that? Well, the massive tide
turning allied counterattack we discussed was
heavily aided by the successful deception of
a dead man in a crashed car. The Germans fell
for the fake plans, altered their lines, and
exposed themselves to defeat. It makes you wonder
how much of recorded history and grand military
strategy hinges not on tactical genius, but on
bizarre, highly risky parlor tricks that just
happened to work. That's a great point. What
other massive shifts in history might have been
decided by a simple macabre bluff? That is a
deeply unsettling and profound thought to leave
off on. We want to thank you so much for joining
us on this deep dive into the Second Battle of
the Marne. We hope it sparked some new questions,
gave you some fresh perspectives on the events
that shaped our world, and as always, we encourage
you to stay curious. See you next time.