The German High Command had been buoyed by the redeployed Divisions arriving at the Western Front following the Russian revolution and the subsequent dissolving Eastern Front and they now enjoyed greater options in terms of available manpower. However, they were also aware of the American involvement in the war, so this advantage of numbers may only be brief. In which case, the time to act was at hand.

The German plan was to split the enemy lines where British and French forces met and punch through into the land beyond destroying valuable infrastructure and encircling the two armies. It was a bold move, but one that had previously proven successful against the Russian Army. The possibility of success of this operation was increased by German Intelligence noting that stretches of the line, recently taken over by the British from the French, had poor defensive positions and seen as a soft target. The pre-cursor to the attack, would be an intensive bombardment, although not following the normal modus operandi, this time there would be a change in the German tactics. Instead of focusing on the front line trenches, the artillery would focus their fury on targets beyond this such as strong localised defensive positions, artillery, communications, train lines to disrupt reinforcements and supply and so forth. The bombardment would be the largest ever seen on the Western Front and the subsequent attack would be the largest military operation of any army since the German invasion of 1914. The most decisive hammer-blow would come at Saint Quentin, where the opposing force would be the 5th Army and the 21st Division, which included the 97th Field Company and Sapper Michael Beer.

Following the crushing artillery barrage came the ground attack, which commenced on the 21st March. Fortuitously, the conditions for the attackers were perfect as dense fog lay over the battlefield so the defending troops were blind to what was approaching. The 5th Army took the brunt of the onslaught, which saw a German advance of some forty miles reaching the prize of the Amiens railway junctions. The Battle of Saint Quentin, which only lasted two days, had the following words written of it:

 ‘…eight out of the eleven divisions of the Fifth Army originally in the front line, and three brigades of the remaining divisions had suffered such heavy losses that they were only ‘remnants’ of their former selves. Most of the divisional troops, engineers, pioneers and details, besides dismounted cavalry, tunnellers, gas units, entrenching battalions…schools and depots, in fact any man who could use a rifle, had been thrown into the fight. The vast majority of the troops had been in action without rest or, owing to night retirements, ordinary sleep for three days and they were feeling the strain. Food they had obtained, but they were suffering from want of water. [1]’

Eventually reserve divisions and assistance from the French were able to shore up the frontline and stem the German advance but by this time the casualty toll was extraordinary. It was estimated that British and Commonwealth casualties were in the region of 177,500, which included around 15,000 soldiers killed. Some 90,000 were quoted as missing although it was thought that as many as 90,000 soldiers were captured by the enemy in their sweeping movement and gains.