Background
The German offensives on the Western Front beginning with Operation Michael in March 1918 had petered out by July. The Germans, recognizing their untenable position, withdrew from the Marne towards the north. At this time, Ferdinand Foch ordered the Allies to return to the offensive, as the Americans were in France, increasing the morale of the Allies. The British Army had also been reinforced by large numbers of troops returning from battles in Palestine and Italy. In addition, they received large numbers of replacements previously held back in Britain by Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Foch agreed on a proposal by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), to strike on the Somme, east of Amiens and southwest of the 1916 battlefield of the Battle of the Somme. The Somme was chosen as a suitable site for the offensive for several reasons. As in 1916, it marked the boundary between the BEF and the French armies, in this case defined by the Amiens-Roye road, allowing the two armies to cooperate. The Canadian Corps was at this point part of the British Fourth Army under General Henry Rawlinson.
Read more about this topic: Canada's Hundred Days
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