The national victory in the Northern Offensive allowed the fleet to move to the Mediterranean to be concentrated there, and 65,000 men of the Army of the North to become available, together with their armaments, to join the southern front. In fact, these forces would take part in the decisive Aragon Offensive which began on 7 March 1938 and took the Nationalists as far as the Segre River and the Mediterranean Sea, cutting the Republican zone in two. In the following months the offensive was directed towards Valencia, although this attack failed and resulted in heavy casualties. In July the Republican offensive on the Ebro managed to surprise Franco's rearguard, but after several months of bloody counterattacks the Republican forces fled after heavy attrition by the Popular Army.