 There was an urgency to the assault, and for good reason. With the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3rd, Russia had officially taken itself out of the war and relieved the pressure on Germany's eastern front. After years of fighting a two-front war, German forces were now consolidated. Meanwhile, the United States, which had declared war on Germany nearly a year before, had yet to send enough men across the Atlantic to tip the balance in the Allies' favor on the western front.