their strongest ally, the new british and french field commanders, general hague and general robert nevillenned a series of offenses to are a advantage the hindenburg line. the oi from april to may, the offensive of june to december. the offensive of november to december all came to screeching halts. the germans mastered their defensive system offering an elastic defense which allowed troopses to penetrate the front line entrenchments only to find more serious systems of interlocking fields of fire in the secondary and tertiary lines to the rear. by giving ground the sound of the first artillery barrage the germans minimized losses losing ground temporarily only to retake it again, inflicting heavy losses against the british and french. the british lost 47,000 men at crambry and got push ped back to the initial line of departure. despiteva1Ñle9ljtories in 1917 remaining on the defensive the german armieses elected not to sit passively. with the u.s. entering in on the side of the allieses, german high command believed the armieses were under the clock. they had to bring a decisive victory b