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The Battle of the Lys, also known as the Fourth Battle of Ypres and Operation Georgette, was a German offensive launched against the British-held Ypres salient in Flanders during the German Spring Offensive of 1918.

As part of an all-out final offensive on the Western Front, the Imperial German 6th Army (commanded by Ferdinand von Quast) and the Imperial German 4th Army (led by Friedrich Sixt von Armin), included substantial numbers of the new stosstruppen (heavily-equipped, well-trained, under-25 years assault troops) who were trained to lead attacks with the new stormtroop tactics. Their targets were the Belgian Army, the British 2nd Army under Herbert Plumer, and the British 1st Army under Henry Horne, holding the line along the Lys River. The British 1st Army was a weak formation consisting of worn-out formations posted to a "quiet" sector; they were reinforced by the undermanned Portuguese Expeditionary Corps, whose two divisions lacked almost half of their officers and were set to be replaced the day of the German attack. The Germans planned to break through the First Army, push the Second Army aside to the north, and drive west to the English Channel, cutting off British forces in France from their supply line, which ran through the Channel ports of Calais, Dunkirk, and Boulogne.

On 7 April 1918, the Germans opened a two-day artillery barrage against the southern part of the Allied line between Armentieres and Festubert. The Sixth Army then attacked with eight divisions, overrunning the Portuguese 2nd Division after several hours of heavy fighting and forcing the 55th (West Lancashire) Division (to the south of the Portuguese) to withdraw its northern brigade; the division held out against two German reserve divisions, although the British 40th Division (to the north of the Portuguese) collapsed under the German attack and fell back to the north. Horne committed his reserves to stem the German breakthrough, but they were also defeated, and the Germans broke through 9.3 miles of front and advanced up to 5 miles, reaching Estaires on the Lys. There, they were finally halted by British reserve divisions. The German 6th Army took Armentieres on 10 April, and the Germans captured Messines later that same day. On 11 April, British Field Marshal Douglas Haig issued his famous "backs to the wall" order, telling his men, "There is no other course open to us but to fight it out. Every position must be held to the last man: there must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause each one of us must fight on to the end. The safety of our homes and the freedom of mankind alike depend upon the conduct of each one of us at this critical moment."

On 12 April, the Germans pushed on the supply center of Hazebrouck, capturing Merville before being halted by the 1st (Australian) Division, the British 4th Infantry Division at Hinges Ridge, the British 5th Infantry Division at Nieppe Forest, and the British 33rd Division. From 13 to 15 April, the Germans took Bailleul in the face of increasing British resistance, forcing Plumer to order his northern flank to withdraw from Passchendaele to Ypres and the Yser Canal, with the Belgians following suit. The British stealthily withdrew to a new line of defense, holding their "Forward Zone" while retreating to the Ypres "Battle Zone." On 17 April, the Belgians repulsed a German attack at Merckem, while the British repelled German attacks on Kemmel on 17-19 April and Bethune on 18 April, and French reinforcements relieved the British defenders of Kemmel on 25 April. While the Germans took the Kemmelberg mountain and the Scherpenberg hill to its northwest, they were unable to make any progress toward a new break in the Allied line. The Germans failure to capture Hazebrouck and force a British withdrawal from the Ypres salient negated the Germans' 9.3-mile advance, and more French reinforcements arrived in late April, while the Germans had suffered unmanageable strosstruppen casualties. On 29 April, the Germans called off their offensive. Equally devastating to the Germans was the death of the aerial ace Manfred von Richthofen, which further demoralized the Central Powers.

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