Battle of the Ailette

Part of the Western Front of World War I

Date	17-23 August 1918
Location	Ailette (Aisne), Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, France
Result	French victory

Belligerents

German Empire

France

Commanders and leaders

Units involved

The Battle of the Ailette was a battle that took place during the First World War in August 1918, on the banks of the Ailette between Laon and Aisne.

After the Battle of Amiens, the forces of the Entente, led by Marshal Foch, planned a large-scale offensive on the German lines in France, the various lines of advance converging on Liège in Belgium.

Blocking the road to Paris between the Somme and Aisne, the Ailette and its canal linking the Oise and Aisne served as retrenchment for a number of soldiers of the Imperial German Army. Though it was a largely unknown battle of the Hundred Days Offensive during the First World War, the Ailette was the scene of fierce fighting between the French and German forces for its control from August to September 1918, before it returned to the French in October.

On the month of October 1918 the German armies had to retreat from all the territories conquered in 1914. The Allies repulsed the Germans on the railway line connecting Metz to Bruges, which had previously served to supply the whole front in the north of France and Belgium during much of the war. When the Allied armies reached this line, the Germans were forced to abandon more and more heavy equipment and other equipment, further reducing their morale and resistance.

The losses remained high in the Allied forces as well as in the retired German army. Rearguard fights took place at Ypres, Courtrai, Selle, Valenciennes, the Sambre and at Mons. As a result, the forces of the Entente could enter Germany.

Meanwhile, mutinies erupted in Kiel on 3 November; the sailors of the Kaiserliche Marine refused to fight a battle "for honor". The revolutionary wave spread all over Germany. On November 9, William II was forced to abdicate. The General Staff asked that the armistice be signed. The fighting continued until the last minutes before the armistice took effect at 11:00 am 11 November 1918.

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