The “Amiens gun” fended of Allied attacks all summer, and previous attempts to take it out failed. The Allies also captured the “Amiens gun”, a 280-millimeter Krupp naval weapon mounted on a railway wagon. Over 19.000 soldiers in the Allied army were killed or wounded, while the Germans lost over 26.000, including about 12.000 prisoners. Even with their losses in tanks, the British drove 19 km to the German positions until 13 August. According to official reports, the Allies captured nearly 50.000 prisoners and 500 weapons by August 27. On August 10, there were signs that the Germans were withdrawing. The battle was extended to the north and south of the initial attack, (involving French forces), this action being known as the Battle of Montdidier. The advance continued on August 9, but without the spectacular results from the first day. The attack was so unexpected that the German forces retaliated after five minutes. Although the two forces were at a distance of 460 meters from each other, gas bombardment was very low, as most of the Allied presence was not known to the Germans. The 1st French Army initiated the preliminary fire at the same time as the rest of the troops and began its advance 45 minutes later, supported by a battalion of 72 Whippet tanks. They attacked the British III Corps, the Australian Corps and the Canadian Corps. The battle began on the morning of August 8, 1918, at 4:20. Although the German resistance strengthened and the fight ended after a few days, this battle convinced many German leaders that the final victory was not possible. The offensive made huge gains on the first day, with Allied troops and tanks advancing 13 kilometres and causing 27.000 casualties. Following the second battle of the Marne, the Allies launched an attack in August 1918 with a force of 75.000 men, over 500 tanks and nearly 2.000 aircraft. The Battle of Amiens was the Allied victory which led to the end of the Great War.
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