When the climactic assault on the Hindenburg line began on 8 August 1918, 2,000 Allied aircraft provided smothering air superiority. The German squadrons, led amongst others by the youthful Hermann Goering, were outnumbered five to one. On the ground the imbalance was even more severe. By 1917 every major attack by French or British infantry could count on the support of hundreds of tanks. The Germans never fielded more than a handful. But the truly decisive difference was in firepower.
