With the German defeat at the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914 and the unraveling of the Schlieffen Plan, both sides commenced a series of flanking maneuvers in northern France and Flanders. The First Battle of Champagne extended from December 20, 1914 to March 17, 1915, and was a French offensive against a German line that proved to be well-entrenched. The Second Battle of the Artois had at least two important long-term effects on the French army. Here and there along the line a star-shell would go up, and, bursting, light the landscape with a garish flare. A few isolated groups of soldiers managed to advance to the German trenches but they were exposed to enemy fire. Roll of honour in the Oakhamian Magazine, Summer term 1915, Vol.31, no.2. The Second Battle of Artois, which took place from May 9-June 18, 1915, marked a new extremity of savage and ultimately futile violence on the Western Front. It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. Battle of Arras, (9 April–17 May 1917), British offensive on the German defenses around the French city of Arras during World War I. A new push on May 15 also failed, and at the end of the week Vimy Ridge remained in German hands. Download PDF. A German-held salient from Reims to Amiens had been formed in 1914 which menaced communications between Paris and the unoccupied parts of northern France. Meanwhile the Germans were able to bring up reinforcements of their own, thanks in part to the failure of the British attack at Aubers Ridge. After school, Talbot passed 17th into RMC Sandhurst and gained a prize cadetship. Erik Svend Hundertmark Danish-American private, Field Ambulance Corps 1914-17 in Northern France, was awarded the Croix de guerre with bronze palm and three silver stars. Patches of field grey (German), khaki (British) and horizon blue (French) cloth show, or appear behind a thin film of clay, on the trench parapet and parados. It was one of a series of attacks by the British First Army and the French Tenth Army, designed as a strategic attempt to exploit the diversion of German troops to the Russian front. As the two sides sought an advantage, they clashed in Picardy, Albert, and Artois. A poor tackler.’. Siege of Przemysl Battle of Artois (First Artois) Battle of Champagne (First Champagne) Battle of Sarikamis. The Second Battle of Artois, which took place from May 9-June 18, 1915, marked a new extremity of savage and ultimately futile violence on the Western Front. Of course, we are walking on the bodies of men who have been buried there at an earlier date. North of Ypres, the fighting continued in the Battle of the Yser (16–31 October), between the German 4th Army, the Belgian army and French marines. This is the 182nd installment in the series. Ferdinand Foch, (born October 2, 1851, Tarbes, France—died March 20, 1929, Paris), marshal of France and commander of Allied forces during the closing months of World War I, generally considered the leader most responsible for the Allied victory. Overhead were the quiet stars. Cries and moans rose and fell in the infernal din of that struggle… I put my foot on the parapet and cried, “Forward, lads, here we are!” then I felt as though someone had suddenly given me a brutal blow in the back with the butt-end of a rifle… I was hit! Worth a look. He fought at the Battle of Aubers and was killed in action on 16th May 1915 during the attack on Fromelles. Souchez and Vimy, including the lower grounds around, would stay in German possession until 9 April 1917. This ambitious strategy depended on British support: according to the plan agreed by British Expeditionary Force commander Sir John French, the British First Army under Douglas Haig would mount attacks further north at Aubers Ridge around May 7 and Festubert around a week later, tying down German forces so the French Tenth Army under Victor d’Urbal could carry out the first phase of the offensive, also beginning May 9, to clear the German mini-salient north of Arras and seize Vimy Ridge. The aim was to break through the German line north of Arras. The battle was the initial British component of the combined Anglo-French offensive known as the Second Battle of Artois. Battle of Ypres (Second Ypres) Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive Battle of Artois (Second Artois) Further Reading. The British continued attacking through the night and through May 16, making progress across a broad front, but the Germans defensive line reformed closer to Festubert, requiring renewed bombardments and more costly infantry attacks. However the artillery bombardment failed to clear all the defensive positions and the advancing infantry found itself up against sweeping machine gun fire near Notre Dame de Lorette in the northern sector of the battlefield; nonetheless they succeeded in capturing several stretches of German trench. After approximately half an hour, my mate to the right of me moved. The frontline here straddled a deep manmade canal, Layes Brook, running diagonally southwest-northeast just west of the village; the British attack would basically consist of two thrusts starting from near the canal – a southern thrust heading east, by the 1st Division and Indian Meerut Division, and a northern thrust heading south, by the 8th Division and West Ridding Divisions with the 7th Division in reserve. When after approximately two hours my other mate lifted his head slightly, he was shot too and instantly killed: all shots came from injured Englishmen who lay about 5 metres away… I remained lying on the ground as if dead for the entire day. Many of them have face and head wounds. Located a few miles northeast of Neuve Chapelle, the village of Aubers is located on the western slope of a low ridge that rises gradually from a marshy, low-lying plain dotted with small forests and crisscrossed by drainage canals (below). After a furious artillery bombardment the Germans sent three waves of infantry against the British trenches, finally breaking through on the morning of May 8. In all that time while I was awake, gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds… At one time we were down to seven guns, but these guns were smoking at every joint, the gunners using cloth to handle the breech levers because of the heat… Our casualties were half the number of men in the firing line. 9-10 May 1915: the Battle of Aubers.A disastrous attack that cost 11,000 British casualties for no material gain: it was a minor supporting operation to a much larger French attack in an action known as the Second Battle of Artois. Talbot’s grave was lost but he is remembered on panel 10 at the Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing, on the Copythorne Memorial in the New Forest and in Oakham School chapel. The French conquered Notre Dame de Lorette, Ablain St. Nazaire, and Neuville St. Vaast. In July 1914, he was sent to Minster, Isle of Shippey. The Battle of Loos took place from 25 September – 8 October 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War.It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. For at our feet lay Ypres, burning furiously. He reads music with ease and his voice has a fine volume.’. The Daily Telegraph is republishing its archives from the war day-by-day. [1] and Catherine C.L. A short summary of this paper. Despite this, some troops managed to press ahead in short runs by leaping from crater to crater, and even reached the German lines in places. Second Battle of Artois (9 th May 1915 - 18 th June 1918) After the failed French offensive at Neuve-Chapelle in March 1915, General Joffre asked for the British’s help to plan a pincer attack in Artois at the beginning of May 1915. To the north infantry in the second pincer ran into the same wall of fire, and the initial advance was completely bogged down by 6:10 am. If you have any relatives, my advice is don’t let them enlist…. We have been in the most bitter of fights. At first the attack made rapid progress as the Indians succeeded in seizing the German frontline trenches, but they suffered heavy losses from German machine gun fire, as well as friendly fire as artillery shells fell short. Though light, works hard. 2013. 37 Full PDFs related to this paper. Nothing broke the great silence, save now and then the deep, rich, solemn b-o-o-m of a big gun far away up north, with, perhaps, an occasional crackle of rifles near at hand. I saw groups of five or six crushed and mown down. The Daily Telegraph is republishing its archives from the war day-by-day. The Battle of the Hills or the Third Battle of Champagne (17 - 20 April 1917) was a diversionary battle carried out during the Second Battle of the Aisne. After preliminary skirmishes such as that at Givenchy on December 18, the French offensive began on December 20, at Perthes-les-Hurlus, between Reims and Verdun. This valiant defense took place amid scenes of shocking devastation. Second Battle of Artois (9 th May 1915 - 18 th June 1918) After the failed French offensive at Neuve-Chapelle in March 1915, General Joffre asked for the British’s help to plan a pincer attack in Artois at the beginning of May 1915. The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that shaped our modern world. Now and then great tongues of flame would leap up from the doomed town… We felt that we were looking at some painted scene, or watching a vast stage where some lurid Mephistophelian drama was being enacted. He left to the front in March 1915 as a Lieutenant with the 2nd Battalion, 25 Brigade, 8th Division. Oakham School Cricket 1st XI 1905 – Douglas is standing third from left. However Canadian troops saved the day again, as Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry mounted desperate counter-attacks to fill the 2-mile-wide gap. The battle was the initial British component of the combined Anglo-French offensive known as the Second Battle of Artois. Nonetheless Joffre, encouraged by the transfer of eight German divisions to the Eastern Front, believed a breakthrough was still possible provided there was sufficient preparation in the form of massive artillery bombardments. … Erik Svend Hundertmark Danish-American private, Field Ambulance Corps 1914-17 in Northern France, was awarded the Croix de guerre with bronze palm and three silver stars. The men who did make it out found that in most places the brief artillery barrage had failed to cut the German barbed wire entanglements, forcing them to dig in or shelter in shell craters. Early Trench Tactics in the French Army: The Second Battle of Artois, May-June 1915. I saw one splendid young fellow, with a beautiful face, and straight clear eyes of a sort of forget-me-not blue. We sat on, and on, and on. One officer, Christian Mallet, described the advance near Loos: Now, with our heads down, we entered the zone of Hell. After the attack at Neuve-Chapelle, the Germans had considerably strengthened their defences with barbed wire fences, they had built shelters every 20 meter, they had installed machine guns behind steel plates and had deepened their trenches and raised the height of sand bag parapets. Russell Kelly, an American volunteer with the French Foreign Legion, recalled occupying the German trenches a few days later: Our bombardment before the attack on May 9th had played havoc with the German trenches; a great number of the roofs on the huts had fallen during the cannonading burying alive all the occupants. Erik Sass is covering the events of the war exactly 100 years after they happened. Douglas attended Oakham School between 1902 and 1907. Dubbed the Second Battle of Artois, the British were stopped dead, while the General Philippe Pétain 's XXXIII Corps succeeded in reaching the crest of Vimy Ridge. Donald was killed in action on 9th May 1915 during the Battle of Aubers Ridge. Further north, the Second Battle of Ypres continued with the Battle of Frezenberg Ridge, yet another all-out German attack against the shortened British lines outside Ypres, from May 8-13, 1915. Douglas and John Furley met Emmeline Pankhurst when she came to Oakham and had tea with her in Summer 1907. This allowed the Germans to transfer two divisions further south to meet the main French attack unfolding north of Arras. Summer 1912 Cricket review: ‘Undoubtedly the best bowler on the side.
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