Beginning of the End is a Codex Entry featured in Battlefield 1. It was introduced with Operation Campaigns in November 2017. The codex is unlocked upon completion of the Beginning of The End Operation Campaign. This is done by obtaining 25,000 points in the Beyond The Marne Operation and 25,000 points in the Kaiserschlacht Operation. It can be viewed while the Operation campaign is active in the Operation menu without unlocking it.
Transcript[]
BEGINNING OF THE END[]
By early 1918 German high command was acutely aware of the looming war of attrition the influx of fresh American troops on the Western Front would spark. Fortuitously, the Russian Revolution had ended Germany's war in the east, allowing thousands of seasoned German troops to be transferred back to the western front. Chief Quartermaster General Erich Ludendorff therefore decided on a massive offensive, Kaiserschlacht, in spring 1918 in the hopes of a decisive victory.
Ludendorff launched subsequent offensives as part of Kaiserschlacht, and on 27th May Germany attacked the French at the Chemin des Dames ridge, intending to draw British troops from the north and renew the original offensive in Flanders.
Building on the ground gained at the Marne, the final attack of Kaiserschlacht began on 15th July, but this time the French had set up a defense in depth. The German artillery barrage landed on empty trenches, with the actual Allied defensive line further back and untouched, and as the Germans advanced close to it they were in turn met by heavy artillery fire. The German attack was thwarted and now the initiative passed to the Allies. On July 18th, Allied Supreme Commander Foch launched a massive counter-attack with French, American, British and Italian troops behind a sudden rolling barrage, accompanied by 350 tanks and many aircraft. This was the beginning of the end, soon followed by the Allied Hundred Days Offensive which relentlessly pushed the Germans back until the November 11 armistice.