Battle of Soissons - 1918

Whatever you do, you lose a lot of men – General Mangin, commander French 10 Army.

The Battle of Soissons, 18 July to 28 July, 1918, is little known today, particularly in the English-speaking world. It is significant for a number of reasons; it was the first time that the French army used a large-scale attack with tanks supported by a surprise (i.e. not pre-registered) artillery bombardment, similar to the British attack the previous year at Cambrai, and it was the first time that full-size US divisions went on the offensive incorporated in the French army. But most importantly, it was the opening of the Second Battle of the Marne. It not known at the time, although suspected by many, that this battle was the death-knell of the German army.

French 10 Army, reinforced by US troops, had been assembled to strike the over-stretched German forces on one side of the Soissons – Château Thierry – Reims salient. The French had sixteen infantry divisions, including two US corps-sized divisions, as well as over three hundred tanks. The Germans facing them consisted of ten divisions, the quality of which varied widely although all had taken a bettering during the Spring Offensive fighting. The German positions had been reached a few weeks previously during the final thrust of the offensives and therefore there had been no time to extensively fortify it; thus the battle was far more mobile than most of those previously on the Western Front. In addition, German artillery was sparse at the start of the battle because all of the heavy & super-heavy artillery in the area had been sent north for the planned Hagen Offensive in Flanders, giving the French a roughly 2.5:1 advantage in artillery. Although the battle continued beyond when the game ends, it was largely over by the 23 July, progress after that day being very slow, which is why the simulation terminates on that day. The German defence at Soissons was skilfully executed, particularly as the attack had been a complete surprise.

This simulation helps illustrate the serious problems facing commanders in the Great War. Even with the element of complete surprise and greater numbers of troops & equipment facing a tired enemy, the French army was unable to maintain the pace of the advance attained on the first two days. This was not through any lack of competence but because during the war the defence could nearly always bring in reinforcements of men and equipment faster than the attacker could. Popular opinion might believe that commanders in the war were almost without exception poor but an examination of this battle shows how sophisticated the armies on the Western Front had become. By this stage in the war, commanders could almost guarantee breaking through the enemy frontline but the difficulty was maintaining the advance once attacking troops had gone beyond friendly artillery cover. Both the French and the German player will need their wits about them to better the achievements of their historical counter-parts. The simulation will succeed if players come away with a sense of how difficult it was for the historical commanders to achieve a decisive victory with the fragile assets available. It is hoped that it will draw some attention to a very interesting battle that Robert Citino calls ‘the turning point on the western front’.

Game scale
Unit size: Regiment/Company
Game Turn: 12 Hours
Map Scale: 1 Kilometer per hex