Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/856

 642 General History of Europe Germans were disturbed by fierce attacks while establishing their new line of defense, but in spite of great sacrifices on the part of the French and English, and especially of the Canadians, who fought with special heroism, this "Hindenburg" line was so well fortified that it held, and with slight exceptions continued to hold during the year. Attempts to take the important mining town of Lens and the city of Cambrai were not successful for another year, but the terrible slaughter went on and tens of thousands were killed every week. 1160. The German Drive of March, 1918. On March 21, 1918, the Germans began a great drive on the Western Front with the hope of gaining a decisive victory and forcing the Allies to sue for peace. Germany was in a hurry, for she knew that her U-boat warfare was reducing England to starvation, that the United States troops were beginning to arrive in ever-increasing numbers, and that the German plans for getting supplies from Russia were meeting with little success. Moreover, the German people were suffering all sorts of bitter hardships and might at any time begin to complain that the final victory which the kaiser had been promising from the first was too long in coming. For some days the Germans were victorious and were able to push back the British almost to Amiens. But the French rushed to the aid of their allies ; the drive was checked and Amiens, with its important railroad connections, was saved. No previous con- flict of the war had been so terrible as this, and it is estimated that over four hundred thousand men were killed, wounded, or captured. The Germans, however, only regained the devastated territory from which they had retired a year before, and their fierce efforts to advance further failed. 1161. Foch Commander in Chief. The grave danger in which the Allies found themselves finally convinced them that their safety lay in putting all their forces French, British, Italian, and the newly arriving troops from America under a single com- mander in chief. It was agreed that the French general Ferdinand Foch (appointed, March 28, 1918) was the most likely to lead