Operation MICHAEL

• First German offensive on the Somme from March 21 to April 5, 1918 between Cambrai and Saint-Quentin
• 2 German armies
• 200,000 men
• 6,000 guns
• 5th British Army (Gough) swept away
• 60 km further
• capture of an area of maximum depth 60 km

If the Germans had taken Amiens, rail communications between the French and British would have been interrupted.