The French, however, were able to hold Arras. A. Churchill), was to advance from the west of Arras and move round to the Cojeul river; the 13th Infantry Brigade (Brigadier M. C. Dempsey) of the 5th Infantry Division was then to cross the river and advance southwards from the east side of Arras, to meet the 151st Infantry Brigade. When cleared out, the caves had room for 11,500 men, one in the Ronville system housing 4,000 men. Sentries could retreat to larger positions (Gruppennester) held by Stosstrupps (five men and an NCO per Trupp), who would join the sentries to recapture sentry-posts by immediate counter-attack. [2] The aim of the French offensive was to break through the German defences in forty-eight hours. [7] This impasse reinforced the French and British commanders' belief that to end the stalemate they needed a breakthrough; while this desire may have been the main impetus behind the offensive, the timing and location were influenced by political and tactical considerations. The panzer divisions had moved on, only small detachments having been left in Cambrai and the marching infantry divisions were not due until later in the day. Fighting went on all afternoon between Mercatel and Tilloy, where the tanks ran into a line of anti-aircraft guns and artillery, including 88 mm Flak guns and many of the tanks were knocked out. Some went without food altogether for two or three consecutive days. the great value of our recent advance here lies in the fact that we have everywhere driven the enemy from high ground and robbed him of observation. [52] Military historians have attributed the success of this attack to careful planning by Canadian Corps commander Julian Byng and his subordinate General Arthur Currie,[53] constant training and the assignment of specific objectives to each platoon. He was killed by shellfire at Easter during the … During the Battle of the Somme in 1916 Colonel Fritz von Loßberg (Chief of Staff of the 1st Army) had been able to establish a line of relief divisions (Ablösungsdivisionen), with the reinforcements from Verdun, which began to arrive in greater numbers in September. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the Western Front. A school was opened in January 1917 to teach infantry commanders the new methods. [25], The maximum depth of the British advance was 10 mi (16 km); 400 German prisoners had been taken, many tanks and much equipment had been destroyed but two Matilda IIs had been knocked out. The Battle of Arras is generally considered a British victory due to the capture of Vimy Ridge and other territorial gains, however, it did little to alter the strategic situation on the Western Front. The observation post for the VI Corps heavy artillery off the St Sauveur tunnel, had a telephone exchange with 750 circuits; much of the work in this area being done by the New Zealand Tunnelling Company. The defensive deployments left only the 6th and 8th battalions of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI), of 151st Brigade and one in reserve as well as the 13th Infantry Brigade, supporting the 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4th RTR) and the 7th Royal Tank Regiment (7th RTR), a force of about 2,000 men and 74 tanks. At the Battle of Arras, which began 100 years ago today, the proportion of Scots fighting was higher than at any other engagement of the First World … Advancing behind a creeping barrage and making heavy use of machine guns – eighty to each brigade, including one Lewis gun in each platoon – the corps was able to advance through about 4,000 yd (3,700 m) of German defences and captured the crest of the ridge at about 13:00. When the battle officially ended on 16 May, the British had made significant advances but had been unable to achieve a breakthrough. The presence of Jasta 11 led to sharply increased losses of Allied pilots and April 1917, became known as Bloody April. [10], The French, Russians and British had intended to launch a joint spring offensive in 1917 but this strategy foundered in February when the Russians admitted that they could not meet their commitments. Haig reported. [18] The platoon was divided into a small headquarters and four sections, one with two trained grenade-throwers and assistants, the second with a Lewis gunner and nine assistants carrying 30 drums of ammunition, the third section comprised a sniper, scout and nine riflemen and the fourth section had nine men with four rifle-grenade launchers. German defenders were to be suppressed by fire from the Lewis-gun and rifle-grenade sections, while the riflemen and hand-grenade sections moved forward, preferably by infiltrating around the flanks of the resistance, to overwhelm the defenders from the rear. Specific parts of the bombardment were nominated by divisions, using their local knowledge and the results of air reconnaissance. The battle started on 9 April 1917. Until French troops advanced into the former Noyon Salient during the Battles of Arras, they encountered no German troops in the assault sector and French doubts over the wisdom of the offensive increased. [7], King Leopold III of Belgium told Gort that he did not expect the BEF to risk itself to keep contact with the Belgian army but warned the British that if they persisted with the southern offensive, the Belgians would be overstretched and collapse. The British suffered 150,000 casualties in Arras; the Germans, 100,000. Ironside met Billotte, finding him apparently incapable of taking action. [33] Frankforce lost sixty of the 88 tanks in the attack. [33][a], On the First Army front German sappers also conducted underground operations, seeking out Allied tunnels to assault and counter-mine, in which 41 New Zealand tunnellers were killed and 151 wounded. The Allies used the pause to reinforce the Channel Ports, prevent their rapid capture and fortify the western approaches to Dunkirk before the Germans arrived, making the evacuation of the British and French forces in Operation Dynamo possible. [4], On the morning of 20 May, General Maurice Gamelin, the Commander-in-chief of the French armed forces, ordered the armies trapped in Belgium and northern France to fight their way south, to link up with French forces attacking northwards from the Somme river. Soldiers from New Zealand and some are from the north of England dug a network of tunnels in the ground underneath arras. [15] Junkers Ju 87 Stukas belonging to I, and III Gruppen, Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 dive-bombed British forces at Arras. He telephoned each of his commanders and "gained the impression that the principles laid down by OHL were sound but the whole art of leadership lies in applying them correctly". The Allies were thrown into confusion and their attempts to cut off the panzer spearheads degenerated into sporadic, un-coordinated counter-attacks which never achieved sufficient concentration to succeed as the main Allied armies were in Belgium. The report after the battle listed: Corps were to allot tasks to divisions, which would then select objectives and devise infantry plans subject to corps approval. Beginning their attack on April 16, the French failed to reach their objective in the Second Battle of the Aisne. Often five or six planes in succession would be chased away or shot down in flames. Attacking the same day the British launched their offensive, the Canadians succeeded in capturing Vimy Ridge. Individual tanks kept going but there were no reserves to consolidate and exploit the success and the advance was stopped in mutually-costly fighting. At the beginning of 1917, the British and French were still searching for a way to achieve a strategic breakthrough on the Western Front. OHL had added an extra division to his Gruppe and added two more from Gruppe Cambrai to the south, further to strengthen the attack. To the west, British troops managed to push the Germans out of Bullecourt but incurred considerable losses, failing also to advance north-east to Hendecourt. [15], The Left Column also met resistance as soon as it advanced and fought its way through Schützen-Regiment 6 at Dainville. [44] Gas shells were also used against the draught horses of the batteries and to disrupt ammunition supply columns. Relief map showing the Hindenburg Line and Wotan Line, German troops with British tank captured on 11 April. The German counter-attacks were supported by Fliegerkorps VIII (Generaloberst Wolfram von Richthofen) and the French lost 32 tanks and armoured vehicles. Third Army (Allenby) VI Corps (Haldane) 3rd Division 12th (Eastern) Division. The French were forced to withdraw towards Arras. [3][84], Although Haig paid tribute to Allenby for the plan's "great initial success", Allenby's subordinates "objected to the way he handled the ... attritional stage". After Canadian and other Allied troops crossed the Canal du Nord, the German forces were in full retreat. It was still dark and visibility on the battlefield was very poor. [54] In many respects, the battle might be deemed a victory for the British and their allies but these gains were offset by high casualties after the first two days and the failure of the French offensive at the Aisne. The German campaign plan Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) had evolved into a decoy operation in the Netherlands and Belgium, with the main effort through the Ardennes. France's failure to hold back the German Army resulted in the loss of Lens on 4 October, and allowed the Germans to move further northwards towards Flanders. World War 1, a gruesome war that left many countries in debt and caused many casualties around the world, mostly European countries were greatly affected. [31][32] In 1953, Lionel Ellis, the British official historian, quoted the 7th Panzer Division war diary, which recorded the loss of nine medium and several light tanks, 378 men killed or wounded and 173 missing; British records noted some 400 Germans taken prisoner. Reserves held close to the battlefield would be committed once the initial advance had bogged down, before enemy reinforcements could be brought up. [28] The new Hindenburg line ended at Telegraph Hill between Neuville-Vitasse and Tilloy lez Mofflaines, from whence the original system of four lines 75–150 yd (69–137 m) apart, ran north to the Neuville St. Vaast–Bailleul-aux-Cornailles road. SS 135 provided the basis for the operational technique of the BEF for the rest of 1917. [55][60] From 16 April, it was apparent that the French part of the Nivelle Offensive on the Aisne had not achieved a breakthrough. The battle continued for most of 28 and 29 April, with the Germans delivering determined counter-attacks. The first was accurately synchronising the movement of the troops to the fall of the barrage: for Arras, this was overcome by rehearsal and strict scheduling. The defenders would thus be able to counter-attack and regain any lost territory. For 21 May, the division was ordered to wheel west around Arras and attack to the north, capturing crossings over the Scarpe at Acq, a risky manoeuvre since the right flank would be vulnerable to a counter-attack from Arras. The news of the battle reached him during his 52nd birthday celebrations at his headquarters in Kreuznach. In this sector, Falkenhausen kept his reserve troops too far from the front and they were too late for a useful counter-attack on either 10 or 11 April. Beyond the delay imposed on German moves and the many casualties inflicted on the Germans, the attack was bound to fail without a force sufficiently powerful to follow up and consolidate the captured ground. Captain Cyril Falls (the writer of the Official History volume on the battle) estimated that 30 per cent needed to be added to German returns for comparison with the British. Gunner Percy Livermore was one of the wounded and was transferred to no 4 General Hospital in Rouen before, in June 1917, he was repatriated to the UK. [76] The artillery of the 2nd Guard Division and 220th Division added to the barrage in no man's land and prevented another Australian attack. [5][3], The mid-war years were momentous times. By 21 May, Prioux could only contribute a few tanks of the 3ième Division Légère Mécanique (3e DLM). About 3 mi (4.8 km) behind were the Wancourt–Feuchy and to the north the Point du Jour lines, running from the Scarpe river north along the east slope of Vimy ridge. A 270 yd (250 m) portion of the Grange Subway at Vimy Ridge is open to the public from May to November and the Wellington tunnel was opened to the public as the, Despite transfers, the Fifth Army had 26 batteries of medium and heavy howitzers but traffic jams caused many hold-ups. Panzerjägerabteilung 42 (42nd Anti-Tank Battalion) was rushed up to the area between Agny and Beaurains, but was overrun by the British tanks. [20], The changes in equipment, organisation and formation were elaborated in SS 144 The Normal Formation For the Attack of February 1917, which recommended that the leading troops should push on to the final objective, when only one or two were involved but that for a greater number of objectives, when artillery covering fire was available for the depth of the intended advance, fresh platoons should "leap-frog" through the leading platoons to the next objective. Resistance from troops equipped with automatic weapons, supported by observed artillery fire, would increase the further the advance progressed. During the evening, the French force, with about six SOMUAs, engaged Panzer-Regiment 25 south of Duisans. Gruppe Vimy and Gruppe Souchez suffered 79,418 casualties but the figures for Gruppe Arras are incomplete. [15], The original instructions given to Franklyn had been to plan a limited attack south of Arras, to relieve the garrison. Third Battle of Ypres. The combination of the unusual bombardment and poor visibility meant many German troops were caught unawares and taken prisoner, still half-dressed, clambering out of the deep dug-outs of the first two lines of trenches. [27], Attacking to the south-west was rejected and OKH ordered Panzergruppe von Kleist to capture Boulogne and Calais, about 50 mi (80 km) away. [74] The tank on the right flank deviated to the right, suffered mechanical difficulties and returned to the railway. Arras … Ironside returned to Britain and ordered urgent anti-invasion measures. [46], The preliminary bombardment of Vimy Ridge started on 20 March; and the bombardment of the rest of the sector on 4 April. Just after 6:00 p.m., Junkers Ju 87 Stukas of Fliegerkorps I and VIII arrived and made 300 attacks on the retiring tanks by 8:30 p.m. Rommel ordered Panzer-Regiment 25 to return and cut off the British tanks but south of Duisans it met French tanks covering the British right flank and only pushed through after a long and costly engagement. The April – May 1917 Battle of Arras was the British Empire’s part of a larger offensive planned by the French. [6] Weygand cancelled the orders and after a delay, ordered a similar counter-offensive from the north and south against the German "corridor", to break the encircled armies out of the pocket. "[81], On the Allied side, twenty-five Victoria Crosses were awarded. [77], Observing that the 1st Australian Division was holding a frontage of 13,000 yd (7.4 mi; 12 km), the local German corps commander General Otto von Moser, commanding Gruppe Quéant (XIV Reserve Corps) planned a spoiling attack to drive back the advanced posts, destroy supplies and guns and then retire to the Hindenburg defences. Dominance of the air over Arras was essential for reconnaissance and the British carried out many aerial patrols. Franklyn was not aware of a French push northwards toward Cambrai and the French were ignorant of a British attack south toward Arras. Inside the old walls of Arras were the Grand and Petit places, under which there were old cellars, which were emptied and refurbished for the accommodation of 13,000 men. The offensive drew German troops away from the French offensive in the Aisne sector. 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