Allied offensives in Champagne and Artois

The Lens Salient 1915

Of all the combatants on the Western Front, the French were understandably the most impatient to make progress and eject the German invaders from their sovereign territory. In military terms, Britain was very much the junior partner to France, and more than once during 1915 the BEF was to find itself committed to battles and offensives more for political reasons than for sound military strategic ones. Nevertheless, it was France who took the brunt of the action and therefore the losses during this desperate phase, which produced minimal gains at terrible cost.

In the few months since taking the decision to hold a defensive line on the Western Front, the Germans had moved rapidly to enhance trench warfare to new levels of robustness and sophistication, and the Allied soldiers would pay the price.

From late December to March the French had launched their first Champagne offensive. This was a major effort by de Langle’s army, strengthened by the addition of large numbers of colonial troops, 1 Colonial Corps. Numerous small attacks were made against tactical objectives, rather than a single continuous assault. During the same period and into Spring, other Allied attacks were carried out against the German Front from the Yser sector in the Belgian coastal region to the Woeuvre heights. The most promising moves were in the south west in Alsace and Lorraine, where Dubail’s Army Group moved on the St. Mihiel salient between Verdun and Belfort in February. During this time the Germans responded with the first use of flame throwers. The gain in ground for the Allies in this period was very little, being up against a well-entrenched enemy as they were, and by the end of the offensive French casualties were well in excess of 100,000.
Further, because of the massive pressure that was building on the Russian armies in Galicia, it was deemed necessary to support them by more strategic action in a part of the Western Front that would occupy more German resources.  Joffre took the view that artillery preparation for the actions so far had been insufficient; and he resolved on a major frontal campaign. He chose Foch as his General to lead the campaign for a major offensive north of Arras towards Lille. This became the Second Battle of Artois (9^th May - 18^thJune 1915) with its aim to push the Germans off the dominating high ground of the Loretto and Vimy Ridges north of Arras.

The heroics of Ferdinand Foch resulted
in memorials and statues all over France

The BEF had also been strengthened by the transfer of further English and Canadian Divisions across the Channel in January and February. The action at Neuve Chapelle that we have seen was almost a pilot for the summer and autumn moves in Champagne and Artois. The 1915 actions to date had been costly failures in terms of ground gained, and needed a larger scale thrust to take the strategically important town of Lens. The British contribution would be at the northern end, pushing towards Lille from La Bassee.

The German front line in Artois bent in a sharp salient to the east of Lens to protect industrial town that guarded the upper plains and flat country to the east towards Douai (see Map). On 9^th May the French began their bombardment of the point of the salient around La Targette and Corency. It was the heaviest bombardment on the Western Front to date. The French infantry then hurled themselves at the salient with great valour and high casualties. They had success in the southern sector, and by dusk were not far from Vimy, and its important ridge. Their 2.5 mile advance was the most significant of the year to date, but further north the French were held up still at Corency. In the following 2-3 days, huge efforts carried the heights of Notre Dame de Lorette and another 1-2 miles to the east. 

Notre Dame de Lorette.
Memorial, cemetery, ossuary and
mausoleum. A moving place to
visit if you have the chance

Thereafter came two weeks of fierce fighting across the whole salient against a stubborn and well prepared defence, which by now had second and third lines of defensive fortifications. Multiple trenches and tunnels served redoubts, which became little islands of German resistance. Many such places were taken several times, only to be re-taken by counter-attacks. By the end of May, the French part of the Battle of Artois had virtually ground to a halt in exhaustion. Much ground had been taken, and the salient line straightened to some extent, but the Germans still held Vimy, and the ridges that surround Lens.

The British attacks took place a further north on the flat Flanders plain, but followed a similar pattern. Initial attacks from Festubert on 15^th May advanced in the direction of Aubers ridge east of Neuve Chapelle, but ran into deep German resistance, organised behind the first line. By the 25^th May, Sir John French was ordering Haig to cease the attacks and consolidate. They had at least drawn German resources away from Ypres, and thus the battles of Ypres 2 and Festubert effectively finished together. At the end of the offensive there were over 100,000 French casualties, 26,000 British casualties and approx. 90,000 German casualties. It was becoming apparent that even attacks on a broader front could not succeed against deep defences and sophisticated trench systems – not that this stopped further efforts in the autumn.