WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.020 Welcome back to the deep dive. Whether you're 00:00:03.020 --> 00:00:06.059 catching up on early 20th century military history 00:00:06.059 --> 00:00:09.140 or you know you just have a really deep curiosity 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:11.400 about the pivotal events that shaped our modern 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:14.560 world. You are in the right place. You absolutely 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:17.019 are. Today, we are looking at a monumental shift 00:00:17.019 --> 00:00:19.539 in global history. We're drawing from a really 00:00:19.539 --> 00:00:22.600 comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing the 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:25.260 Second Battle of the Marne. Right, specifically 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:28.280 focusing on that really intense window from July 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:32.159 15th through the 18th, 1918. Exactly. And our 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:34.200 mission for this deep dive is to explore how 00:00:34.200 --> 00:00:36.500 a battle that was originally intended to be a 00:00:36.500 --> 00:00:39.240 mere diversion. Basically a massive bloody fake 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:41.729 out. Yeah. a total fake out, how that ended up 00:00:41.729 --> 00:00:44.929 turning into the absolute last major German offensive 00:00:44.929 --> 00:00:46.929 on the Western Front. I mean, it is the clash 00:00:46.929 --> 00:00:49.030 that ultimately kicks off the final 100 days 00:00:49.030 --> 00:00:51.109 of World War I. It really is the turning point. 00:00:51.369 --> 00:00:53.289 OK, let's unpack this, because we aren't just 00:00:53.289 --> 00:00:55.670 looking at dates on a calendar today. No, definitely 00:00:55.670 --> 00:00:59.030 not. We are exploring the wild tactical innovations, 00:00:59.689 --> 00:01:04.049 the desperate espionage, and the very real human 00:01:04.049 --> 00:01:06.640 stories hiding inside this source material. It's 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.319 a phenomenal topic to explore. And to really 00:01:09.319 --> 00:01:12.019 understand the sheer scale of what happens on 00:01:12.019 --> 00:01:14.579 the Marne River, we have to establish the strategic 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:16.980 backdrop first. Right. Set the stage. Yeah. We 00:01:16.980 --> 00:01:19.079 have to look at the German Chief Quartermaster 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:21.920 General, Erich Ludendorff. And the fascinating 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:23.900 thing about the Second Battle of the Marne is 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:26.620 that Ludendorff did not actually want to fight 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:29.760 it. Which sounds crazy given how massive it was. 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.719 I know. But his primary goal, his grand strategy 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:35.260 following the failure of the earlier German Spring 00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:37.959 Offensive, was to launch a devastating attack 00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:40.939 much further north, up through Flanders and Belgium. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:43.620 Okay, so way off to the north. Right. He believed 00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:46.120 that an offensive up there would finally crush 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:48.900 the British Expeditionary Force, give Germany 00:01:48.900 --> 00:01:51.959 a decisive victory to just end the war. But the 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:54.640 Marne is much further south. It's closer to Paris. 00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:57.799 Exactly. The Marne was, in his mind at least, 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:00.939 supposed to be a massive decoy. The entire point 00:02:00.939 --> 00:02:03.359 was to launch a diversionary attack along the 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:06.000 river to draw allied troops away from Belgium. 00:02:06.099 --> 00:02:08.319 Leaving the British completely exposed up in 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:11.080 Flanders. You got it. So it's essentially a geopolitical 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:13.599 sleight of hand. You make a massive noise over 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:16.780 here, force the allies to deal with this immediate 00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:19.199 threat to Paris while you're getting ready to 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:21.699 throw the real knockout punch up north. That 00:02:21.699 --> 00:02:24.360 was the plan, yeah. But that slighted hand gets 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:27.639 completely turned around on them. While the overarching 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:30.780 strategy is fascinating, the tactical execution 00:02:30.780 --> 00:02:33.139 on the ground is where the story really begins. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:35.400 Oh, absolutely. Let's look at the clash east 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:38.500 of the city of Reims. The source notes that 23 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:41.060 German divisions. That's from the first and third 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:43.960 armies. Right. They assaulted the French Fourth 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:46.800 Army, which actually had the U .S. 42nd Division 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:49.400 attached to it. Now the French defense in this 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:52.080 sector was highly unorthodox for the time. Very. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.740 They utilized a concept called defense in depth. 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:58.180 The brilliance of this French strategy under 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:00.740 the command of Henri Gouraud, it just cannot 00:03:00.740 --> 00:03:03.680 be overstated. Traditionally, military doctrine 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.139 often dictated putting all of your strength right 00:03:06.139 --> 00:03:09.229 up front. Crowding the front line. Right, crowding 00:03:09.229 --> 00:03:11.930 the front to stop an enemy advance dead in its 00:03:11.930 --> 00:03:15.729 tracks. But Gereau did the exact opposite. He 00:03:15.729 --> 00:03:18.710 left his front line very lightly manned. Which 00:03:18.710 --> 00:03:22.490 seems so counterintuitive. It does. But instead, 00:03:22.710 --> 00:03:25.189 the French set up their main line of resistance 00:03:25.189 --> 00:03:28.090 four to five kilometers back from the front. 00:03:28.789 --> 00:03:31.889 And crucially, they dug this continuous trench 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:34.810 line on a reverse slope. A reverse slope, meaning 00:03:34.810 --> 00:03:36.849 they positioned their main forces on the backside 00:03:36.849 --> 00:03:39.639 of a hill. Exactly, facing away from the enemy's 00:03:39.639 --> 00:03:41.879 approach. So because they were on that reverse 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:44.139 slope, the German artillery observers who were 00:03:44.139 --> 00:03:46.659 scouting on the ground, they couldn't visually 00:03:46.659 --> 00:03:48.919 target the main French resistance. They couldn't 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:50.889 see what they were shooting at. Nope. Between 00:03:50.889 --> 00:03:53.009 that mostly empty front line and the hidden main 00:03:53.009 --> 00:03:55.590 line, the French just scattered a few heavily 00:03:55.590 --> 00:03:58.389 fortified strong points. But wait, if the front 00:03:58.389 --> 00:04:00.610 line was virtually empty, wouldn't the German 00:04:00.610 --> 00:04:02.770 scouts or the advancing infantry notice that 00:04:02.770 --> 00:04:05.069 something was incredibly wrong before they launched 00:04:05.069 --> 00:04:07.229 their main attack? You would think so. I mean, 00:04:07.449 --> 00:04:09.770 a quiet trench seems like a massive red flag. 00:04:09.930 --> 00:04:12.270 They absolutely would have noticed, which is 00:04:12.270 --> 00:04:15.009 why the French engaged in a brilliant bit of 00:04:15.009 --> 00:04:17.149 theatrical deception. A fake out of their own. 00:04:17.310 --> 00:04:20.189 Right. They kept the gun line behind that empty 00:04:20.189 --> 00:04:23.430 front, firing constantly. They maintained a normal 00:04:23.430 --> 00:04:25.709 rate of artillery fire so the Germans wouldn't 00:04:25.709 --> 00:04:28.790 detect the weakness from a sudden drop in noise. 00:04:29.050 --> 00:04:32.009 That is so smart. Because the German offensive 00:04:32.009 --> 00:04:34.850 tactics heavily relied on the element of surprise, 00:04:34.990 --> 00:04:37.269 right? Very much so. They wanted to catch the 00:04:37.269 --> 00:04:40.920 French off guard with the sudden over But the 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:42.959 Germans didn't realize they had completely lost 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:46.279 the element of surprise. The source mentions 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:48.579 French aerial observation had already picked 00:04:48.579 --> 00:04:50.399 up massive troop movements. Yes, they could see 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.300 them massing. And then the French pull off this 00:04:53.300 --> 00:04:56.660 incredible intelligence coup. French forces conduct 00:04:56.660 --> 00:05:00.439 a daring trench raid and manage to capture 27 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:03.610 German prisoners. And those prisoners broke under 00:05:03.610 --> 00:05:06.290 interrogation. They spilled the exact start time 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:08.949 of the impending German attack. So the French 00:05:08.949 --> 00:05:11.129 knew precisely when the hammer was going to fall. 00:05:11.509 --> 00:05:13.769 And what's fascinating here is the psychological 00:05:13.769 --> 00:05:17.230 impact of what happens next, specifically regarding 00:05:17.230 --> 00:05:20.120 the artillery duel. Walk us through that. So 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:22.160 the German forces were scheduled to begin their 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:26.160 massive preliminary bombardment at 12 .10. But 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:29.139 because the French had that perfectly timed intelligence 00:05:29.139 --> 00:05:32.399 from the trench raid, the French artillery opened 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.779 fire on the crowded German assault trenches at 00:05:35.779 --> 00:05:38.560 11 .30. 40 minutes before the Germans were even 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:42.360 supposed to start. Yes. Imagine the sheer psychological 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:44.540 shock to the German attackers. I can't even. 00:05:44.699 --> 00:05:47.240 They are waiting in their trenches, heavily packed 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:50.500 in, preparing to launch this huge surprise attack. 00:05:50.860 --> 00:05:53.279 only to be suddenly pounded by a massive French 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.720 artillery barrage. It's insane. Furthermore, 00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:58.120 when the Germans finally did open fire at 12 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:00.800 10s, they engaged in what he's called counter 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:02.600 battery fire, meaning they were trying to hit 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:04.660 the French artillery gun to neutralize them. 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:06.879 Exactly. But because the French had set up that 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:09.360 defense in depth, the German counter battery 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:12.699 fire was mostly striking vacated gun pits. They 00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:14.899 were shooting at nothing. Their artillery was 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:18.220 effectively chewing up empty dirt. The choreography 00:06:18.220 --> 00:06:21.019 of the German battle plan was instantly ruined. 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:23.540 So when the German infantry finally advanced, 00:06:23.819 --> 00:06:26.339 they moved through that first empty French line 00:06:26.339 --> 00:06:29.860 pretty easily. But their rolling artillery barrage, 00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:31.779 that's the wall of explosions meant to shield 00:06:31.779 --> 00:06:34.160 their advance. Right. That barrage kept moving 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:37.079 forward at a set pace. It completely outpaced 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:39.439 the infantry because the foot soldiers were getting 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:42.480 tangled up by those scattered hidden strong points. 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:45.040 The French. left behind it is like planning an 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.319 elaborate ambush you know waiting in the bushes 00:06:47.319 --> 00:06:49.560 and suddenly the person you were trying to ambush 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:52.379 taps you on the shoulder and attacks you first. 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:55.139 It was devastating. By the time the German infantry 00:06:55.139 --> 00:06:57.720 finally reached the main French line on that 00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:00.079 reverse slope, they were exhausted. They were 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.459 bleeding and utterly disorganized. The attack 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:04.860 just fell apart. It really did. They actually 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:07.540 had to be ordered to rest, regroup, and wait 00:07:07.540 --> 00:07:09.980 for their own field guns to be dragged forward 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:12.360 into range. They didn't attack that main line 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:15.660 until 8 30 the following morning, a full hour 00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:17.339 later than they originally planned. And when 00:07:17.339 --> 00:07:19.829 they did, they were stopped cold by bulk of the 00:07:19.829 --> 00:07:22.810 French artillery. So the French 4th Army's defense 00:07:22.810 --> 00:07:25.610 in depth worked perfectly. So perfectly that 00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:27.970 they were actually able to start sending reinforcements 00:07:27.970 --> 00:07:29.990 to their neighbors across the river. Who were 00:07:29.990 --> 00:07:33.709 facing a much dire situation. Oh the nightmare 00:07:33.709 --> 00:07:36.410 scenario. Let's shift over there. While the French 00:07:36.410 --> 00:07:38.670 defense in depth was holding the line brilliantly 00:07:38.670 --> 00:07:42.029 in the east, the situation across the river to 00:07:42.029 --> 00:07:45.199 the west of Reims was brutal. Completely different 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:49.120 story. Here, 17 divisions of the German 7th Army, 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:52.399 aided by the 9th Army, attacked the French 6th 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:54.699 Army. And the source material paints a truly 00:07:54.699 --> 00:07:57.079 hellish picture of the conditions on the south 00:07:57.079 --> 00:07:59.899 bank of the Marne River. The defenders there 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:03.120 had to endure an intense three -hour preliminary 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.279 bombardment. And this wasn't just high explosives. 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:08.439 The Germans utilized a massive amount of gas 00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:11.540 shells, choking the riverbanks in toxic clouds. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:14.240 Just horrific. And under the cover of that gas 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:17.500 and artillery, German stormtroopers began their 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:20.420 assault. Now, when we say stormtroopers in the 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:23.199 context of World War One, we are talking about 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:26.500 specialized infantry utilizing infiltration tactics. 00:08:26.699 --> 00:08:28.639 Not the guys in white armor from the movies. 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:31.750 Right. Definitely not. Instead of advancing in 00:08:31.750 --> 00:08:35.210 a long, slow line, these highly trained, heavily 00:08:35.210 --> 00:08:37.590 armed units would rush forward in small groups. 00:08:37.830 --> 00:08:40.350 Bypassing heavily defended strong points. Exactly. 00:08:40.490 --> 00:08:42.950 To strike deep into the enemy's rear communication 00:08:42.950 --> 00:08:45.570 and supply lines. And to cross the Marne, they 00:08:45.570 --> 00:08:48.370 were using every sort of transport imaginable. 00:08:48.710 --> 00:08:51.769 Most notably, these 30 -man canvas boats and 00:08:51.769 --> 00:08:55.340 rafts. 30 men huddled in a canvas boat, paddling 00:08:55.340 --> 00:08:57.919 across a river, choked with poison gas while 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:00.019 actively being shot at by artillery and machine 00:09:00.019 --> 00:09:02.340 guns. It's terrifying. The sheer terror of that 00:09:02.340 --> 00:09:04.379 crossing is almost unimaginable for you or me 00:09:04.379 --> 00:09:06.620 sitting here today. Oh, absolutely. And the resistance 00:09:06.620 --> 00:09:09.159 to this crossing was fierce. The French launched 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:11.700 a massive aerial intervention to try and stop 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:15.779 the swarm of boats. They sent up planes. 225 00:09:15.779 --> 00:09:19.399 bombers dropping 44 tons of bombs directly onto 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:22.509 the river. Wow. And hitting the makeshift skeleton 00:09:22.509 --> 00:09:24.909 bridges the Germans were frantically trying to 00:09:24.909 --> 00:09:28.509 construct under fire. And yet, despite the bombs 00:09:28.509 --> 00:09:31.330 raining from the sky, the German engineers managed 00:09:31.330 --> 00:09:34.289 to erect bridges at 12 different points. It's 00:09:34.289 --> 00:09:36.860 a testament to their engineering for sure. Amidst 00:09:36.860 --> 00:09:39.820 all this mechanized slaughter, we get some incredible 00:09:39.820 --> 00:09:43.360 stories of human endurance. Our source highlights 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:47.539 Colonel Ulysses G. McAlexander and the 38th Infantry 00:09:47.539 --> 00:09:50.000 Regiment of the American 3rd Infantry Division. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:52.860 Their stand is one of the most remarkable of 00:09:52.860 --> 00:09:55.360 the battle. Tell us about it. Despite the gas, 00:09:55.639 --> 00:09:58.419 the relentless artillery and the swarms of elite 00:09:58.419 --> 00:10:01.019 German stormtroopers crossing the river, the 00:10:01.019 --> 00:10:03.950 38th Infantry refused to yield. They were surrounded 00:10:03.950 --> 00:10:06.610 on three sides at one point. Take facts. Yeah. 00:10:06.850 --> 00:10:09.429 But they held their ground. Some units even launched 00:10:09.429 --> 00:10:11.490 counter -attacks straight into the teeth of the 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:13.970 German advance. That is incredible. Their absolute 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:16.009 refusal to break during this crossing earned 00:10:16.009 --> 00:10:18.429 the regiment a legendary nickname that persists 00:10:18.429 --> 00:10:21.409 to this day, the Rock of the Marne. The Rock 00:10:21.409 --> 00:10:25.940 of the Marne. That's powerful. But despite the 00:10:25.940 --> 00:10:28.960 incredible bravery of units like that, and despite 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:31.120 the bombers destroying several of those bridges, 00:10:31.700 --> 00:10:34.039 the sheer numbers of the German assault eventually 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:36.940 pushed through the lines. They did. By the evening 00:10:36.940 --> 00:10:39.639 of that first day, the Germans had captured a 00:10:39.639 --> 00:10:42.480 substantial bridgehead on either side of a commune 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:45.019 called Dormans, which was a critical crossing 00:10:45.019 --> 00:10:47.279 point on the river. And how big was this bridgehead? 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:50.059 It was four miles deep and nine miles wide. Okay, 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:52.500 so that is a significant penetration into the 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:55.240 Allied lines. Definitely. And Ludendorff certainly 00:10:55.240 --> 00:10:58.340 viewed it as a massive triumph. Our source notes 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:00.940 that Ludendorff prematurely celebrated this crossing. 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:04.250 He called the advance the very pinnacle. of military 00:11:04.250 --> 00:11:06.110 victory. Which is quite a statement, and this 00:11:06.110 --> 00:11:08.830 raises an important question. Which is? How quickly 00:11:08.830 --> 00:11:11.710 can the so -called pinnacle of military victory 00:11:11.710 --> 00:11:14.710 collapse when the enemy already knows your grand 00:11:14.710 --> 00:11:17.629 strategy? And when your forces are stretched 00:11:17.629 --> 00:11:20.950 incredibly thin across a river, having exhausted 00:11:20.950 --> 00:11:23.649 themselves on what was supposed to be a decoy 00:11:23.649 --> 00:11:25.850 attack. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:11:25.870 --> 00:11:28.950 Yeah. Because that pinnacle collapses incredibly 00:11:28.950 --> 00:11:32.379 fast. Almost overnight. The German advance stalls 00:11:32.379 --> 00:11:36.159 out entirely by July 17th. They hit a brick wall 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.259 consisting of reinforcements from the British 00:11:38.259 --> 00:11:41.919 Exe Secor and 85 ,000 fresh American troops. 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:45.100 Fresh being the key word there. Right. But the 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:47.080 Allies didn't just halt the German war machine. 00:11:47.460 --> 00:11:49.799 They had a devastating counterpunch prepared. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.879 They really did. And the way they ensured this 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:55.620 counterpunch landed involves one of the most 00:11:55.620 --> 00:11:58.779 cinematic espionage ruses of the entire war. 00:11:59.019 --> 00:12:00.740 It sounds like something out of a spy novel. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.559 The Allied preparation for their counteroffensive 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:06.360 was meticulous. Because of their intelligence 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:09.259 gathering, they had a nearly complete picture 00:12:09.259 --> 00:12:11.480 of the German intentions. They knew exactly where 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:14.220 they were. Right. But to guarantee their massive 00:12:14.220 --> 00:12:16.779 counter -attack succeeded, they needed the Germans 00:12:16.779 --> 00:12:19.120 to commit their defenses to the wrong sector. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:21.779 They needed to create a phantom threat. Exactly. 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:24.419 According to a widely circulated account that 00:12:24.419 --> 00:12:26.320 our source notes is historically compelling, 00:12:26.860 --> 00:12:29.820 two officers devised a macabre deception. Captain 00:12:29.820 --> 00:12:32.779 Hunter Grant, an engineer, and Captain Page, 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.639 an engagement coordinator. They procured a briefcase 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:38.679 and filled it with completely fabricating plans 00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:42.399 detailing a massive fictitious American counter 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.159 attack. A completely fake attack. And then they 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:48.259 took those fake plans and handcuffed the briefcase 00:12:48.259 --> 00:12:50.340 to the wrist of a man who had recently died of 00:12:50.340 --> 00:12:53.730 pneumonia. They took this deceased man, dressed 00:12:53.730 --> 00:12:56.850 him as an allied courier, and staged a vehicle 00:12:56.850 --> 00:12:59.389 crash. Unbelievable. They placed the body in 00:12:59.389 --> 00:13:02.570 a car and meticulously arranged the scene to 00:13:02.570 --> 00:13:05.110 look as though the vehicle had run off the road 00:13:05.110 --> 00:13:07.629 right near a German -controlled bridge. That 00:13:07.629 --> 00:13:10.450 is incredibly risky. I mean, if the Germans suspected 00:13:10.450 --> 00:13:13.190 it was a plant, the entire allied counteroffensive 00:13:13.190 --> 00:13:15.029 could be compromised. The stakes couldn't be 00:13:15.029 --> 00:13:18.070 higher. But a German patrol found the crashed 00:13:18.070 --> 00:13:21.190 car. They found the dead messenger prior to... 00:13:20.750 --> 00:13:23.250 the briefcase and believed they had just stumbled 00:13:23.250 --> 00:13:25.330 into the intelligence score of the century. They 00:13:25.330 --> 00:13:28.549 bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. The German 00:13:28.549 --> 00:13:31.450 command completely fell for the fake plans. They 00:13:31.450 --> 00:13:33.870 rapidly adjusted their entire defensive line 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:36.529 to thwart this imaginary American attack detailed 00:13:36.529 --> 00:13:39.110 in the briefcase. By shifting their forces to 00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:41.769 block an attack that didn't exist, the Germans 00:13:41.769 --> 00:13:44.129 stretched their lines even further into what 00:13:44.129 --> 00:13:47.620 military strategists call a salient. Yes. For 00:13:47.620 --> 00:13:49.639 those who don't know, a salient is essentially 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:52.659 a bulge in the military line where an army has 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:55.100 pushed forward into enemy territory. Leaving 00:13:55.100 --> 00:13:57.500 them surrounded on three sides. Right. And highly 00:13:57.500 --> 00:14:00.399 vulnerable on their flanks. By adjusting their 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:03.399 defenses based on the fake briefcase plans, the 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:06.120 Germans left the actual targets of the allied 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:08.860 counteroffensive completely exposed. They moved 00:14:08.860 --> 00:14:11.259 their shield to block a phantom punch. Leaving 00:14:11.259 --> 00:14:13.600 their flanks wide open for the real one. And 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:16.950 the real punch? unleashed on July 18th by Allied 00:14:16.950 --> 00:14:19.970 Supreme Commander Ferdinand Foch was gargantuan. 00:14:19.970 --> 00:14:23.309 It was massive. We are talking 24 French divisions, 00:14:23.350 --> 00:14:26.250 which notably included the American 92nd and 00:14:26.250 --> 00:14:28.889 93rd Infantry Divisions operating under French 00:14:28.889 --> 00:14:31.389 command. Right. They were joined by eight large 00:14:31.389 --> 00:14:34.149 American divisions operating under American command, 00:14:34.490 --> 00:14:37.649 plus British and Italian troops. And perhaps 00:14:37.649 --> 00:14:39.990 most terrifying for the German infantry stuck 00:14:39.990 --> 00:14:43.429 in that salient. The tanks. Yes. The assault 00:14:43.429 --> 00:14:48.049 included 350 Renault FT tanks rolling across 00:14:48.049 --> 00:14:51.669 the battlefield. The physical scale of that counteroffensive 00:14:51.669 --> 00:14:55.409 is just staggering. But the logistical and political 00:14:55.409 --> 00:14:57.710 nightmare that Ferdinand Foch navigated to make 00:14:57.710 --> 00:15:00.110 it happen is equally impressive. Because he's 00:15:00.110 --> 00:15:03.070 dealing with a coalition. Exactly. Back in May, 00:15:03.429 --> 00:15:06.250 Foch had spotted the strategic flaws in the German 00:15:06.250 --> 00:15:09.250 offensives, noticing how they continually overextended 00:15:09.250 --> 00:15:12.279 their supply lines. But coordinating a unified 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:15.159 response was immensely difficult. Why was it 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:17.559 so hard for him specifically? Well, as supreme 00:15:17.559 --> 00:15:20.500 commander, Foch did not have direct unilateral 00:15:20.500 --> 00:15:23.000 authority to simply issue orders to the different 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:24.840 national armies. So he couldn't just say, do 00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:27.820 this? No. He had to work with four distinct national 00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:30.759 commanders, French, American, British and Italian. 00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:33.360 He had to persuade and coordinate a coalition 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:35.759 force overcoming massive hurdles like different 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.080 languages, different languages, entirely different 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.639 military cultures, opposing tactical doctrines, 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:43.340 conflicting fighting styles. Keeping that coalition 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:45.720 unified during a massive counteroffensive was 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:48.940 a monumental feat of leadership. A huge part 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:50.820 of the success of that coalition, according to 00:15:50.820 --> 00:15:53.480 the sources, was the infusion of those fresh 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:55.490 American troops we mentioned earlier. It changed 00:15:55.490 --> 00:15:58.029 the dynamic completely. These were soldiers who 00:15:58.029 --> 00:16:01.970 hadn't been ground down by four years of brutal, 00:16:02.370 --> 00:16:05.769 stagnant trench warfare. They brought a raw aggression 00:16:05.769 --> 00:16:08.470 to the line that shocked the exhausted German 00:16:08.470 --> 00:16:11.230 defenders. They really did. There is a deeply 00:16:11.230 --> 00:16:14.549 moving quote from war correspondent Floyd Givens 00:16:14.549 --> 00:16:17.090 in our source material describing the American 00:16:17.090 --> 00:16:20.169 troops during this push. He wrote, I never saw 00:16:20.169 --> 00:16:22.450 men charged to their death with finer spirit. 00:16:22.809 --> 00:16:25.889 That aggressive spirit, combined with the mechanized 00:16:25.889 --> 00:16:27.990 terror of the tanks and the element of surprise 00:16:27.990 --> 00:16:30.769 secured by the dead man's briefcase, it shattered 00:16:30.769 --> 00:16:33.289 the German lines. It broke them. This engagement 00:16:33.289 --> 00:16:36.029 forced a German withdrawal that was never effectively 00:16:36.029 --> 00:16:38.350 reversed. It was the beginning of the end. But 00:16:38.350 --> 00:16:40.250 as we discuss the brilliance of the strategy 00:16:40.250 --> 00:16:42.570 and the turning of the tide, we have to slow 00:16:42.570 --> 00:16:45.370 down and honor the grim reality of this victory. 00:16:45.570 --> 00:16:48.799 Always. The cost was absolute devastation. The 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:51.159 source gives us specific casualty numbers that 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:54.200 are difficult to even comprehend. For example, 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:57.399 during a vicious German assault on July 19th, 00:16:57.500 --> 00:16:59.600 the Italian Corps successfully held their sector 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:02.019 and stopped the German advance. But the price 00:17:02.019 --> 00:17:06.619 was horrifying. They lost 9 ,334 officers and 00:17:06.619 --> 00:17:09.279 men out of a total fighting strength of about 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.970 24 ,000. Nearly 40 percent of an entire fighting 00:17:12.970 --> 00:17:15.890 force wiped out in a single desperate action 00:17:15.890 --> 00:17:19.069 just to hold a patch of ground. It's a staggering 00:17:19.069 --> 00:17:21.230 sacrifice. The desperation during those days 00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:23.829 of the counteroffensive was palpable everywhere. 00:17:24.390 --> 00:17:27.069 The fighting was so intense in a critical geographical 00:17:27.069 --> 00:17:29.650 corridor called the Ardre Valley, which was a 00:17:29.650 --> 00:17:31.789 direct route leading toward Paris. Right. It 00:17:31.789 --> 00:17:34.130 was so intense there that French General Henri 00:17:34.130 --> 00:17:37.450 Mathias Berthelot had to take two newly arrived 00:17:37.450 --> 00:17:40.240 British infantry divisions, the 54th Highland 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:43.579 and the 62nd West Riding and rushed them straight 00:17:43.579 --> 00:17:45.660 from their transport trains into a massive attack 00:17:45.660 --> 00:17:47.440 down the valley. Just off the train and into 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.460 the fire. Just to keep the pressure on the retreating 00:17:49.460 --> 00:17:52.839 Germans. It was a relentless meat grinder. But 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:54.980 the pressure ultimately achieved its objective. 00:17:55.940 --> 00:17:58.799 By July 20th, the German High Command realized 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.019 their position in the salient was untenable. 00:18:01.099 --> 00:18:03.980 They had to get out. They were forced to order 00:18:03.980 --> 00:18:06.839 a massive retreat, pulling their battered forces 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.220 back to the exact positions from which they had 00:18:09.220 --> 00:18:11.240 started their spring offensive months earlier. 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:13.539 Basically back to square one. And the Allies 00:18:13.539 --> 00:18:17.380 relentlessly pursued them. Costly grinding assaults 00:18:17.380 --> 00:18:20.079 continued for minimal geographical gains. But 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:22.920 by early August, the massive bulge in the line 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:25.240 had been reduced. The salient was gone. Let's 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:27.059 look at the final statistics of this battle because 00:18:27.059 --> 00:18:29.859 they truly contextualize the horrific scale of 00:18:29.859 --> 00:18:34.200 the First World War. The Allies took 29 ,367 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:36.500 Jurgen prisoners. Just massive numbers. They 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:40.680 captured 793 heavy guns and 3 ,000 machine guns. 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:44.039 In total, they inflicted a staggering 168 ,000 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:46.039 casualties on on the German army. And the cost 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:48.559 of that victory for the Allies was equally catastrophic. 00:18:49.140 --> 00:18:52.599 The Allies suffered roughly 133 ,000 casualties 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:55.240 combined. 300 ,000 casualties across both sides. 00:18:55.500 --> 00:19:00.430 Yeah. We are talking about over 300 ,000 human 00:19:00.430 --> 00:19:03.529 beings killed, wounded, or captured in a matter 00:19:03.529 --> 00:19:06.190 of a few weeks along a single river valley. It 00:19:06.190 --> 00:19:09.009 is a profound amount of suffering to secure a 00:19:09.009 --> 00:19:11.150 shift in the front line. It really is. But if 00:19:11.150 --> 00:19:13.529 we connect this to the bigger picture, the sheer 00:19:13.529 --> 00:19:16.250 material loss in guns and manpower was something 00:19:16.250 --> 00:19:18.630 the German army could no longer replace. They're 00:19:18.630 --> 00:19:22.210 all capped out. Completely. But the primary lasting 00:19:22.210 --> 00:19:24.289 importance of the Second Battle of the Marne 00:19:24.289 --> 00:19:27.750 was morale. For Ferdinand Foch, orchestrating 00:19:27.750 --> 00:19:30.410 this massive coalition victory earned him the 00:19:30.410 --> 00:19:33.329 prestigious baton of a Marshal of France. A massive 00:19:33.329 --> 00:19:36.490 honor. But for the war as a whole, the strategic 00:19:36.490 --> 00:19:38.730 shift on the Marne decisively ended the long, 00:19:39.130 --> 00:19:41.569 terrifying string of German victories. It broke 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:43.349 their momentum permanently. It forced them onto 00:19:43.349 --> 00:19:45.990 the defensive. Exactly. and sparked a relentless 00:19:45.990 --> 00:19:48.809 series of allied advances. It is the definitive 00:19:48.809 --> 00:19:50.809 turning point that would ultimately force an 00:19:50.809 --> 00:19:53.569 armistice and end the war approximately 100 days 00:19:53.569 --> 00:19:55.549 later. So what does this all mean? We started 00:19:55.549 --> 00:19:57.589 out looking at a battle that was meant to be 00:19:57.589 --> 00:20:00.990 a simple decoy. A distraction. A massive bloody 00:20:00.990 --> 00:20:03.509 distraction to pave the way for a decisive strike 00:20:03.509 --> 00:20:07.089 in Flanders. But through a combination of brilliant 00:20:07.289 --> 00:20:10.410 unorthodox strategy like the reverse slope defense, 00:20:11.210 --> 00:20:13.430 the raw endurance of units fighting off canvas 00:20:13.430 --> 00:20:16.529 boats and rivers choked with poison gas, and 00:20:16.529 --> 00:20:18.730 the sheer audacity of staging a dead man with 00:20:18.730 --> 00:20:22.210 a briefcase full of fake plans. The Allies turned 00:20:22.210 --> 00:20:25.009 a decoy into the decisive turning point of the 00:20:25.009 --> 00:20:27.609 First World War. They flipped the script completely. 00:20:27.809 --> 00:20:30.250 It is a powerful reminder that history is rarely 00:20:30.250 --> 00:20:33.569 a list of inevitable outcomes. It is forged by 00:20:33.569 --> 00:20:36.970 human stories, fragile moments of luck, and incredible 00:20:36.970 --> 00:20:39.789 endurance in the face of absolute horror. It 00:20:39.789 --> 00:20:42.349 truly is. And as we consider the specific events 00:20:42.349 --> 00:20:44.210 of this battle, it leaves me with a lingering 00:20:44.210 --> 00:20:46.329 thought for you to ponder long after you finish 00:20:46.329 --> 00:20:48.890 listening. What's that? Well, the massive tide 00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:51.410 turning allied counterattack we discussed was 00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:53.509 heavily aided by the successful deception of 00:20:53.509 --> 00:20:56.430 a dead man in a crashed car. The Germans fell 00:20:56.430 --> 00:20:58.809 for the fake plans, altered their lines, and 00:20:58.809 --> 00:21:01.390 exposed themselves to defeat. It makes you wonder 00:21:01.390 --> 00:21:04.490 how much of recorded history and grand military 00:21:04.490 --> 00:21:07.910 strategy hinges not on tactical genius, but on 00:21:07.910 --> 00:21:11.569 bizarre, highly risky parlor tricks that just 00:21:11.569 --> 00:21:13.509 happened to work. That's a great point. What 00:21:13.509 --> 00:21:15.730 other massive shifts in history might have been 00:21:15.730 --> 00:21:19.170 decided by a simple macabre bluff? That is a 00:21:19.170 --> 00:21:21.569 deeply unsettling and profound thought to leave 00:21:21.569 --> 00:21:23.710 off on. We want to thank you so much for joining 00:21:23.710 --> 00:21:25.730 us on this deep dive into the Second Battle of 00:21:25.730 --> 00:21:28.150 the Marne. We hope it sparked some new questions, 00:21:28.490 --> 00:21:30.589 gave you some fresh perspectives on the events 00:21:30.589 --> 00:21:32.950 that shaped our world, and as always, we encourage 00:21:32.950 --> 00:21:34.910 you to stay curious. See you next time.