By James L. McWilliams and R. James Steel. The first history of one of the most significant battles of the First World War. A major victory for the Allies, Amiens is the battle many military historians credit with precipitating the end of the war. The surprise attack was launched on 8 August 1918, with over 500 tanks (the largest number to participate in any battle of the war), 1,000 aircraft and 21 divisions of the Allied forces. The German supreme commander, General Erich von Ludendorff, described the first day as the black day of the German army in the history of the war. The operation succeeded and by 13 August the Allies had penetrated 11 miles along a 47-mile front, killing or wounding 50,000 Germans. Thirty years in the writing, Amiens is the first book to study the battle in minute detail. Using eyewitness accounts from numerous survivors, the authors take us into the trenches, the tanks and the cockpits.