After the Germans had successfully halted the Allied advance at Amiens on 12th August, Ferdinand Foch and Sir Douglas Haig made plans for a new offensive at Albert on the Western Front. Over 108,000 members of the recently arrived United States Army took part in the campaign.

General Sir Julian Byng and the British Third Army moved forward on 21st August. Counter-attacks by the German Second Army halted the advance that afternoon, but Sir Henry Rawlinson and the British Fourth Army, to the south of Byng, was brought forward to take the small town of Albert. The following day, both Byng and Rawlinson were able to advance and by 23rd August, they had captured 8,000 German soldiers.

The German Second Army was now in full retreat along a 55km front. Bapaume was taken on 29th August and during the next four days British forces were able to move up to the Hindenburg Line.