Final Days of World War I and Retirement
Hutier's tactics were used in another major victory against the French in June 1918, but the Allies had begun to develop counters to his methods. In July, when the German Army advanced in what became known as the Second Battle of the Marne, they found the American and French defenders had created a deep defensive system which the depleted and exhausted shock troop units failed to break. Once the German advance lost the initiative, the Western Allies counterattacked. The introduction of new technology (improved aircraft, tanks etc.), tactics (combined arms, improved artillery handling), and training (ironically much of which was adapted from Hutier's earlier successes) meant that the Germans had lost the edge they had, and even the talent of Hutier, Hindenburg, and Ludendorff could not save the situation. The repeated batterings were to prove fatal to the German military, which eventually collapsed under the strain in all but a few sectors, forcing Germany to the peace table.
Nevertheless, Hutier returned to postwar Germany as a hero. Like his overall commander and cousin, General Erich Ludendorff, Hutier maintained that the German Army had not been defeated in the field, but was "stabbed in the back" by domestic enemies on the home front.
Hutier left the army in 1919 and served as president of the German Officers' League until shortly before his death in Berlin in 1934.
Read more about this topic: Oskar Von Hutier
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