Discussions of War and a request for more magazines and tobacco

See below for what I found on the History Channel web site about this time in 1918. it also seems that Ferdinand Foch became the supreme Allied commander at this time, too.

Herb is still in Bouvancourt, Marne, France.

April 4th (1918)
Dear Mother,
I skipped my regular letter day this time because we’ve been cast off from mail communication through some mix up – I don’t know just what. Now the mail goes out but none comes in. so I haven’t had your letter telling of Tom’s accident nor my package of tobacco. However I expect the mail will come any day now.

There has been little or no activity on our front. Every energy has been excited on the main battle of which you have read. It certainly must have been terrific. Let us hope that it may be decisive.

A few days ago the French anti-aircraft guns brought down a German plane which was attacking a French observation balloon. “Sausages” the French call those balloons because that’s what they look like. The German plane was completely wrecked and the driver was killed, of course. It all happened fairly near here but of course I was all over in a few minutes. No one felt sorry for the Boche because on Good Friday one of the German long range guns dropped a shell on a church in Paris during services inflicting frightful damage.

As for myself, I am as usual, well and still getting fat, I guess. We’re getting really good food, fresh vegetables and everything. The government makes us a good allowance and we can buy whatever sort of food we like – and can get.

I wish you’d send me a supply of tobacco about every five or six weeks. It’s practically impossible to smoke the French article and entirely impossible to buy any American variety. As for reading matter, I can use all the magazines you can send.

Love to all,
Herb

I took this from the History Channel's web site about March 30th, 1918:

On March 30, 1918, British, Australian and Canadian troops mount a successful counter-attack against the German offensive at Moreuil Wood, recapturing most of the area and forcing a turn in the tide of the battle in favor of the Allies.

After launching the first stage of a major spring offensive on March 21, 1918--masterminded by Erich Ludendorff, chief of the German general staff--the German army swiftly pushed through the British 5th Army along the Somme, crossing the river on March 24. Their attacks were less successful to the north, however, around the crucially important Vimy Ridge, where Britain's 3rd Army successfully held its positions. Determined to push on toward Paris, Ludendorff threw his troops against the town of Amiens. To Ludendorff's distress, although they came within 11 miles of the city, the Germans had great difficulty capturing Amiens and its railway junction, which the British and French were told to hold at all costs. Lacking sufficient cavalry, the Germans also had problems delivering artillery and supplies to their front-line troops; those troops also received no relief, and were expected to sustain the momentum of the attack all on their own.

By the morning of March 30, the Germans had occupied Moreuil Wood, some 20 kilometers south of Amiens. On that day, an Allied force including British and Canadian cavalry and air brigades confronted the Germans head-on. By the end of the day, the Allies had managed to halt the German advance at Moreuil Wood, despite suffering heavy casualties.

The events at Moreuil Wood broke the momentum of the German attacks. While the operation had technically been successful, resulting in a gain of almost 40 miles of territory and inflicting heavy losses on the Allies; 177,739 British troops died or were taken prisoner during the battle, at a daily rate of 11,000 men, while the French lost nearly 80,000; German troops had also lost over a quarter of a million men to injury or death. The casualties included Ludendorff's own stepson, a German pilot shot down over the battlefield during the attacks. Ludendorff called off the attacks on April 5; the next stage of the offensive would begin just four days later.

By early April 1918, both the Allies and the Central Powers had entered a crucial period of reckoning. A major German victory on the Western Front would mean the end of the war, in their favor. As British Prime Minister David Lloyd George told the leaders of the British Dominions in a speech on March 31: "The last man may count." The Allies, at least, could count on fresh infusions from the United States, which increased its troops in France to more than 300,000 by the end of that month. For their part, the Germans were prepared to wager everything they had on this spring offensive—the last they would undertake in World War I.

On the actual day Herb was writing his letter home and missing his mail, the History Channel claims this was occurring:

On this day in 1918, German forces in the throes of a major spring offensive on the Western Front launch a renewed attack on Allied positions between the Somme and Avre Rivers.

The first stage of the German offensive, dubbed "Operation Michael," began March 21, 1918; by the first days of April it had resulted in a gain of almost 40 miles of territory for the Germans, the largest advance in the west for either side since 1914. After initial panic, the Allies had managed to stabilize and strengthen their defense, stopping the Germans at Moreau Wood on March 30 and continuing their hardy defense of the crucial railroad junction and town of Amiens, France, just south of the Somme.

With a bombardment by more than 1,200 guns and a total of 15 divisions sent against only seven of the enemy's, the Germans attacked in force at Villers-Bretonneux on April 4. Again, British and Australian troops reacted with panic in the face of such an onslaught, but soon rallied to drive back their attackers. At the same time, French divisions made their own advances along the front running between the towns of Castel and Cantigny, to the south of Villers-Bretonneux.

Also on April 4, German military officials announced that their attacks in the Somme region had claimed a total of 90,000 Allied prisoners since March 21. The following day, Erich Ludendorff, chief of the German general staff, formally closed down the Michael offensive; the second phase of the attacks, "Georgette," would begin four days later in Flanders.