Virtual Tours - 'Der Schwarze Tag, Amiens, 1918' is now available to view
The last of the 'Virtual Tours' commissioned by The Western Front Association is now available to view. The association arranged a total of six of these tours in order to bring the battlefields to members, despite the 'attrition' of lock down.
This sixth tour looked at the activities of the Whippet tank 'Musical Box' on the German Army's 'Black Day' of 8 August 1918. A short clip of this is available below. Click the right pointing arrow in the bottom left corner of the image.
The full hour long virtual tour can be seen via the link at the foot of this page (note: this requires a sign on to The Western Front Association 'members only' area of the website)
The six tours, which were brought about with our collaboration with our friends at Battle Guide Virtual Tours are all available to watch in full in the members area of the WFA's website.
It was the momentous success that heralded the opening of the doors to victory on the Western Front. Demonstrating superior tactics, operational resilience and material might, the combined allied forces punched up to 8 miles into German Lines. Engulfing five German Divisions, it was the profound effect on morale, of both sides, that proved even more significant than the geographical gains.
British troops were buoyed by the success and felt that the offensive spirit was entirely with them to “get the job done”, while 50,000 German soldiers surrendered with no longer even a dim hope of Victory in their mind. General Erich Ludendorff later described it as “the black day of the German Army” - Der Schwarze Tag. This virtual captures the essence of the first day at Amiens following the leading Australian Battalions and the British Cavalry including the incredible story of one Whippet Tank Crew from 6th Battalion Tank Corps that operated for 9 hours behind enemy line inflicting tremendous losses on the enemy.
The full virtual tour is available to Western Front Association members only and is accessible via the 'members area' on the website. In order to view this in full, you will need to log in to the website using your personal log in details. Once you have done so, simply click onto 'Virtual Tours' and then to the 1914 tour. Alternatively click on the link here Der Schwarze Tag, Amiens, 1918.
