1918 Kenyon Map Company Map of Northern France / Western Front World War I

This is a previously uncatalogued state of the 1918 Kenyon Company map of northern France, the main sector of the Western Front during World War I, and features overprinting illustrating the front line and several events between March and May 1918. The map depicts the region from Dieppe and Rouen in France to Strasbourg (Strassburg) and Mulhouse (Mulhausen) in Alsace and Basel in Switzerland.

A Detailed Look at the Battle Map

Two red lines mark the front line in France during the spring of 1918. The dashed line, marked with number 1s in several places, illustrates the battle line as of March 21st, 1918. The solid line, which only appears in two sections along the front and is identified by 2s, marks how far the Allies had been pushed back between March 21st and May 18th. Numbers 3, 4, and 5 highlight locations along the front line held by American soldiers. Number 6 is not present on the central map, but in the inset of the Italian front in the lower left corner and identifies where the Italians attacked during the week of May 18th. Number 7 refers to the area where French soldiers drove back a German advance south of Hailles in Belgium, and Number 8 marks Hill 44, just north of Mount Kemmel, where the French stopped a German assault, and even managed to counterattack and gain back some lost ground. The section of green along the front renders immediately apparent German gains won immediately after their attack across the Marne that began on May 27, 1918.

The German 1918 Spring Offensive

All actions detailed above were part of the 1918 Spring Offensive, officially known as the Kaiserschlacht, also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, since it was principally orchestrated by General Erich Ludendorff. Begun on March 21, 1918, the Spring Offensive was a series of four German offensives in which the Germans regained most of the territory they lost in 1916 - 17 and even took some ground that they had never conquered before. Even so, their gains are seen by some historians as a pyrrhic victory, because, with the arrival of more American forces in July 1918, the Allies regained their numerical superiority and launched the Hundred Days Offensive, which resulted in the Germans losing all the territory they had just gained, followed by the smashing of the Hindenburg Line and German capitulation in November.

History As It Happened

These movements, even at the beginning of the offensive, were chronicled in precise detail in American and British newspapers, so the detail present here would have been incredibly useful for anyone closely following the news from the front. Companies such as Kenyon published numerous editions to help people visualize the events they read about in newspapers and heard about on the radio, and, of course, to capitalize on their interest. This edition was published early in the 1918 campaign, meaning that the end of the war was still unknown.

Publication History and Census

This map was created by the Kenyon Company and published in 1918. This is a previously uncatalogued state of this map, but other, later states are part of a handful of institutional collections.