| Nivelle offensive | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theWestern Front of theFirst World War | |||||||
 The Western Front, 1917 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 France United Kingdom Russia |  Germany | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Robert NivelleDouglas Haig | Erich LudendorffCrown Prince Wilhelm | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 850,000 troops 7,000 guns, 128 tanks | c. 480,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| French: 187,000 Russian: 5,183 32 tanks[1] | c. 163,000 (15,000–20,780 POW) | ||||||
TheNivelle offensive (16 April – 9 May 1917) was a Franco-British operation on theWestern Front in theFirst World War which was named after GeneralRobert Nivelle, the commander-in-chief of the French metropolitan armies, who led the offensive. The French part of the offensive was intended to be strategically decisive by breaking through the German defences on theAisne front within48 hours, with casualties expected to be around10,000 men. A preliminary attack was to be made by the FrenchThird Army atSt Quentin and the BritishFirst,Third andFifth armies atArras, to capture high ground and divert German reserves from the French fronts on the Aisne and inChampagne. The main offensive was to be delivered by the French on theChemin des Dames ridge (theSecond Battle of the Aisne).[a] A subsidiary attack was to be made by theFourth Army (the Third Battle of Champagne).[b] The final stage of the offensive was to follow the meeting of the British and French armies, having broken through the German lines, to pursue the defeated German armies towards the German frontier.
The Franco-British attacks were tactically successful; the French Third Army ofGroupe d'armées du Nord (GAN, Northern Army Group) captured the German defences west of theHindenburg Line(Siegfriedstellung) near St Quentin from 1 to 4 April, before further attacks were repulsed. The British Third and First armies achieved the deepest advance since trench warfare began, along theScarpe river in theBattle of Arras, which inflicted many casualties on the Germans, attracted reserves and capturedVimy Ridge to the north. The main French offensive on the Aisne began on 16 April and also achieved considerable tactical success but the attempt to force a strategically decisive battle on the Germans was a costly failure and by 25 April the main offensive had been suspended.
The failure of the Nivelle strategy and the high number of French casualties led tomutinies, the dismissal of Nivelle, his replacement byPhilippe Pétain and the adoption of a defensive strategy by the French, while their armies recuperated and rearmed. Fighting known as the Battle of the Observatories continued for local advantage all summer on the Chemin des Dames and along theMoronvilliers heights east ofReims. In late October, the French conducted theBattle of La Malmaison (23–27 October), a limited-objective attack on the west end of the Chemin-des-Dames, which forced the Germans to abandon their remaining positions on the ridge and retire across the Ailette valley. The British remained on the offensive for the rest of the year fighting the battles ofMessines,3rd Ypres andCambrai.
After the costly fighting at Verdun and on the Somme in 1916, GeneralRobert Nivelle replacedMarshalJoseph Joffre as the commander of the French armies on theWestern Front in December. Nivelle claimed that a massive barrage on German lines would bring France victory in 48 hours.[2] TheRussian Revolution, the German withdrawal to theHindenburg Line and the likelihood of a declaration of war by the US, made some assumptions of the plan obsolete. At a meeting on 6 April, despite the doubts of other politicians, the army group commanders and the British,Alexandre Ribot, the new French Prime Minister supported the plan. Nivelle offered his resignation but it was refused, despite Nivelle's authority having been undermined.[3][4] Preparing the Nivelle Offensive was a huge and costly undertaking, involvingc. 1.2 million troops and7,000artillery pieces on a front betweenReims andRoye. The principal effort was an attack on the German positions along theChemin des Dames ridge, in theSecond Battle of the Aisne and an eventual link with the British. The plan had been in development since December 1916 but the preparations were plagued by delays and information leaks. By April 1917, the plans were well known to the German army, which made extensive defensive preparations, by adding fortifications to the Aisne front and reinforcing the7th Army (General der InfanterieMax von Boehn) with divisions released by the retreat to the Hindenburg Line inOperation Alberich.[5]
Nivelle left Petain in command ofGroupe d'armées de Centre (GAC) and established a newGroupe d'armées de Reserve (GAR,Joseph Micheler) for the attack along the Chemin des Dames with the Fifth Army (GeneralOlivier Mazel), the Sixth Army (GeneralCharles Mangin) and the Tenth Army (GeneralDenis Duchêne). Forty-nine infantry and five cavalry divisions were massed on the Aisne front with5,300 guns.[6] The ground at Brimont began to rise to the west towards Craonne and then reached a height of 180 m (590 ft) along a plateau which continued westwards to Fort Malmaison. The French held a bridgehead 20 km (12 mi) wide on the north bank of the Aisne, south of the Chemin des Dames, from Berry-au-Bac to Fort Condé on the road to Soissons.[7]
German air reconnaissance was possible close to the front although longer-range sorties were impossible to protect because of the greater number of Allied aircraft. The qualitative superiority of German fighters enabled German air observers on short-range sorties to detect British preparations for an attack on both sides of the Scarpe; accommodation for150,000 men was identified in reconnaissance photographs. On 6 April a division was seen encamped near Arras, troop and transport columns crowded the streets while more narrow-gauge railways and artillery were seen to have moved closer to the front. British aerial activity opposite the 6th Army greatly increased and by 6 April Ludendorff was certain that an attack was imminent. By early April German air reinforcements had arrived the Arras front, telephone networks had been completed and a common communications system for the air and ground forces built.[8]
On the Aisne front, German intelligence had warned that an attack on 15 April against German airfields and observation balloons by theAéronautique Militaire was planned. TheLuftstreitkräfte arranged to meet the attack but it was cancelled. Dawn reconnaissance had been ordered to scrutinise French preparations and they gave the first warning of an attack on 16 April. German artillery-observation aircraft crews were able to range guns on terrain features, areas and targets before the offensive began so that the positions of the heaviest French guns, advanced batteries and areas not under French bombardment could be reported quickly along with the accuracy of German return-fire. Ground communication with the German artillery was made more reliable by running telephone lines along steep slopes and deep valleys which were relatively free of French artillery-fire; wireless control stations had been set up during the winter to link aircraft to the guns.[9]
Verdun cost the French nearly 400,000 casualties and the conditions undermined morale, leading to a number of incidents of indiscipline. Although relatively minor, they reflected a belief among the rank and file that their sacrifices were not appreciated by their government or senior officers.[10] Combatants on both sides claimed the battle was the most psychologically exhausting of the war; recognising this, Pétain frequently rotated divisions, in a process known as thenoria system. While this ensured units were withdrawn before their ability to fight was significantly eroded, it meant that a high proportion of the French army was affected by the battle.[11] By the beginning of 1917, morale was questionable, even in divisions with good combat records.[12]
Groupe d'armées du Nord on the northern flank ofGroupe d'armées de Reserve (GAR) had been reduced to one army with three corps and began French operations with preliminary attacks by the Third Army on German observation points at St. Quentin on1–4, 10 and 13 April, which took some of the German defences in front of theSiegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line) in preliminary operations. The main attack on 13 April made very little progress, against a German defence relying mainly on machine-gun fire and local counter-attacks.[13] On 9 April the British Third Army attacked to the east of Arras from Croisilles to Ecurie, against Observation Ridge, north of the Arras–Cambrai road and then towards Feuchy and the German second and third lines. To the south of the road the initial objective was Devil's Wood toTilloy-lès-Mofflaines and Bois des Boeufs, with a final objective of theMonchyriegel (Monchy switch line) between Wancourt and Feuchy. The Third Army attack on the German defences either side of the Scarpe river penetrated 6,000 yd (3.4 mi; 5.5 km), the furthest advance achieved since the beginning of trench warfare. Most of the objectives had been reached by the evening of 10 April, except for the line between Wancourt and Feuchy aroundNeuville-Vitasse. The village fell that day, although the German garrisons in some parts ofMonchyriegel held out for several more days. The Third Army consolidated and then advanced onMonchy-le-Preux.[14]
To the north the First Army attacked from Ecurie north of the Scarpe to Vimy Ridge. The crest of the ridge was captured at about1:00 p.m. in an advance which penetrated about 4,000 yd (2.3 mi; 3.7 km) during the day. German reserves had been held too far back from the front and did not begin to reach the battlefield until the evening, when they were able only to reinforce the survivors of the front defences in improvised positions.[15] The British engaged in several general attacks and limited attacks, which took more ground but became increasingly costly, against a German defence which recovered from the defeats of 9 April and organised reverse-slope defences, which were much easier to hold. By 16 May the British had made significant advances and captured254 German guns but had been unable to achieve a breakthrough. New tactics had been used, particularly in the first phase and had demonstrated that set-piece assaults against elaborately fortified positions could be successful.[16]
TheFifth Army attacked on 16 April at6:00 a.m., which dawned misty and overcast. From the beginning German machine-gunners were able to engage the French infantry and inflict many casualties, although German artillery-fire was far less destructive. Courcy on the right flank was captured but the advance was stopped at the Aisne–Marne canal. The canal was crossed further north and Bermericourt was captured against a determined German defence. From Bermericourt to the Aisne the French attack was repulsed and south of the river French infantry were forced back to their start-line. On the north bank of the Aisne the French attack was more successful, the 42nd and 69th divisions reached the German second position between the Aisne and the Miette, the advance north of Berry penetrating 4.0 km (2.5 mi).[17] Russian troops participated in the attack and the 1st Russian Brigade captured the village of Kursi; the Russian commander was wounded and the brigade lost more than half of its troops but captured 635 prisoners and held the village.[18]
The attack on the right flank of theSixth Army, which faced north between Oulches and Missy, took place from Oulches to Soupir and had less success than the Fifth Army; the II Colonial Corps advanced for 0.80 km (0.5 mi) in the first thirty minutes and was then stopped. The XX Corps attack from Vendresse to the Oise–Aisne Canal had more success, the 153rd Division on the right flank reached the Chemin des Dames south of Courtecon after a second attack, managing an advance of 2.01 km (1.25 mi). The VI Corps advanced on its west of the Oise–Aisne Canal with its right wing but the left wing was held up. On the northern flank which faced east near Laffaux, I Colonial Corps was able to penetrate only a few hundred yards into the defences of theCondé-Riegel (Condé Switch Line). To the east of Vauxaillon at the north end of the Sixth Army, Mont des Singes was captured with the help of British heavy artillery but then lost to a German counter-attack. The Sixth Army operations tookc. 3,500 prisoners but no break-through as achieved and at only one point had the German second position been reached.[19]
On the second day Nivelle ordered the Fifth Army to attack north-eastwards to reinforce success, believing that the Germans intended to hold the ground in front of the Sixth Army. The Fifth Army was not able substantially to advance on 17 April but the Sixth Army, which had continued to attack overnight, forced a German withdrawal from the area of Braye–Condé–Laffaux to theSiegfriedstellung, which ran from Laffaux mill to the Chemin des Dames and joined the original defences at Courtecon. The German retirement was carried out urgently and many guns were left behind, along with "vast" stocks of munitions. The French infantry reached the new German positions with an advance of 6.4 km (4 mi).[20]
Nivelle ordered theTenth Army forward between the Fifth and Sixth armies on 21 April and local operations were continued on the fronts of the Fourth and Fifth armies with little success. On4 to 5 May Brimont was to be captured, which would have been of great tactical value to the French; the attack was postponed on the orders of the French government and was then cancelled. The Tenth Army captured the Californie plateau on the Chemin des Dames and the Sixth Army captured theSiegfriedstellung for 4.0 km (2.5 mi) along the Chemin des Dames and advanced at the salient opposite Laffaux. By the end of 5 May the Sixth Army had reached the outskirts of Allemant and takenc. 4,000 prisoners, by 10 May28,500 prisoners and187 guns had been taken by the French armies.[21]
On 17 April the Fourth Army on the left ofGroupe d'armées de Centre (GAC) began the subsidiary attack in Champagne from Aubérive to the east of Reims which became known asBataille des Monts, with the VIII, XVII and XII Corps on an 11 km (6.8 mi) front.[22] The attack began at4:45 a.m. in cold rain alternating with snow showers. The right flank guard to the east of Suippes was established by the 24th Division and Aubérive on the east bank of the river and the 34th Division took Mont Cornillet and Mont Blond. TheMonts were held against a German counter-attack on 19 April by the 5th and 6th (Eingreif divisions,) the 23rd Division and one regiment between Nauroy and Moronvilliers.[23] On the west bank, the Moroccan Division was repulsed on the right and captured Mont sans Nom on the left. To the north-east of the hill the advance reached a depth of 2.4 km (1.5 mi) and next day the advance was pressed beyond Mont Haut and Mont Cornet was captured on 5 May. The Fourth Army attacks took3,550 prisoners and27 guns.[20] German attacks on 27 May had temporary success before French counter-attacks recaptured the ground around Mont Haut; lack of troops had forced the Germans into piecemeal attacks instead of a simultaneous attack along all of the front.[24]
In 2015, Andrew Uffindell wrote that retrospective naming and dating of events can affect the way in which the past is understood. The Second Battle of the Aisne began on 16 April but the duration and extent of the battle have been interpreted differently. The ending of the battle is usually given as mid-May but Uffindell called this politically convenient, since it excluded the Battle of La Malmaison, in October, making it easier to blame Nivelle for a disaster. Uffindel wrote that the exclusion of La Malmaison was artificial, since the attack was begun from the ground taken from April to May. GeneralFranchet d'Espèrey called La Malmaison "the decisive phase of the Battle...that began on 16 April and ended on 2 November...".[25]
The offensive advanced the front line by 6–7 km (3.7–4.3 mi) on the front of the Sixth Army, which took5,300 prisoners and a large amount of equipment.[26] The operation had been planned as a decisive blow to the Germans but by 20 April it was clear that the strategic intent of the offensive had not been achieved and by 25 April most of the fighting had ended. The French tactic of assaultbrutal et continu suited the German defensive dispositions, since much of the new construction had taken place on reverse slopes. The speed of attack and the depth of the French objectives meant that there was no time to establish artillery observation posts overlooking the Ailette valley, where French infantry had reached the ridge. Tunnels and caves under the ridge nullified much of the destructive power of the French artillery, which was also hampered by poor visibility and by German air superiority, which made French artillery-observation aircraft even less effective. The rear edge of the German battle zone along the ridge had been reinforced with machine-gun posts; the German divisional commanders chose to fight in the front line and few of theEingreif divisions were needed in the first few days.[27]
On 3 May the French 2nd Division refused to follow orders to attack and thismutiny soon spread throughout the army. Towards the end of the offensive, the 2nd Division arrived on the battlefield drunk and without weapons.[28] From 16 to 17 May, there were disturbances in a Chasseur battalion of the 127th Division and a regiment of the 18th Division. Two days later a battalion of the 166th Division staged a demonstration and on 20 May, the 128th Regiment of the 3rd Division and the 66th Regiment of the 18th Division refused orders; individual incidents of insubordination occurred in the 17th Division. Over the next two days spokesmen were elected in two regiments of the 69th Division to petition for an end of the offensive. By 28 May, mutinies had occurred in the 9th Division, 158th Division, 5th Division and the 1st Cavalry Division. By the end of May more units of the 5th, 6th, 13th, 35th, 43rd, 62nd, 77th and 170th divisions mutinied; revolts occurred in21 divisions in May.[29][30]
The offensive was suspended on 9 May.[30] The army, politicians and public were stunned by the chain of events and on 16 May, Nivelle was sacked and moved to North Africa. He was replaced by the considerably more cautious Pétain, with Foch as chief of the general staff; the new commanders abandoned the strategy of decisive battle for one of recuperation and defence, to avoid high casualties and to restore morale.[31]A record27,000 French soldiers deserted in 1917; Pétain had40–62 mutineers shot as examples and introduced reforms to improve the welfare of French troops, which had a significant effect in restoring morale.[32]
Grand Quartier Général (GQG), the French general headquarters had predictedc. 10,000 casualties and French medical services were overwhelmed when the offensive began.[33] In 1919, Pierrefeu gave French casualties from 16 to 25 April as118,000, of whom28,000 were killed,5,000 died of wounds,80,000 were wounded,20,000 of whom were fit to return to their units by 30 April and5,000 were taken prisoner.[34] In 1920, Hayes wrote that British casualties were160,000 and Russian casualties5,183 men.[35] In 1939, Wynne wrote that the French suffered117,000 casualties including32,000 killed in the first few days but that the effect on military and civilian morale was worse than the casualties.[36]
In 1962,Gerald Nicholson, the Canadian official historian, recordedc. 163,000 German casualties and187,000 French casualties.[37] Most of the new FrenchSchneider tanks were destroyed by artillery fire. In 2005, Doughty quoted figures of134,000 French casualties on the Aisne from16 to 25 April, of whom30,000 men were killed,100,000 were wounded and4,000 were taken prisoner, the casualty rate being the worst since November 1914. From 16 April to 10 May the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Tenth armies took28,500 prisoners and187 guns. The advance of the Sixth Army was one of the largest made by a French army since trench warfare began.[33]
After the substitution of limited objectives in favour of breakthrough attempts, a French attack on 4 and 5 May by two regiments captured Craonne and took the edge of theCalifornie plateau but was not able to cross the Ailette River. An attack by the Tenth Army took Vauclair and the I Colonial Corps took the ruins of Laffaux Mill, before operations were suspended again on 8 May. The Germans began a counter-offensive from Vauxaillon at the west end of the Chemin des Dames, to the Californie plateau between Hurtebise and Craonne, beyond the east end of the Chemin des Dames and against the Moronvilliers Heights east of Reims, which lasted throughout June. German attacks on 30 to 31 May prompted a French counter-attack on 18 June and another German attack on 21 June. The main German effort was made in the centre, with five attacks against the Californie plateau from 3 to 6 June, followed by another German attack on 17 June.[38]
On 25 June, a French attack by the 164th Division, supported by flame-throwers, captured the 70 ft (21 m)-deep Dragon's Cave shelter at Hurtebise and adjacent positions, from which they repulsed a German counter-attack at the end of June. The capture of the Dragon's Cave marked the beginning of the Battle of the Observatories proper, which lasted all summer as both sides fought for possession of the high ground on the Chemin des Dames. At Vauxaillon at the west end of the Chemin des Dames, German attacks took place on20, 22 and 23 June with French counter-attacks on21 and 24 June.[38] On 4 July, a German attack began on a 11 mi (17 km) front between Craonne and Cerny, followed by French counter-attacks on7 and 9 July; from 5 May the Germans attacked seventy times in eighty days.[39]
German attacks were conducted againstCôte 304 andMort Homme on29 and 30 June, beginning a period of attack and counter-attack which continued into July and August. From 20 to 26 August the French conducted the2ème Bataille Offensive de Verdun (Second Offensive Battle of Verdun).[38] The French captured Bois d'Avocourt, Mort-Homme, Bois Corbeaux and theBismarck,Kronprinz andGallwitz tunnels, which had connected the German front lines to the rear at Mort-Homme andCôte 304.[40] On the right bank, Bois Talou, Champneuville,Côte 344, part of Bois Fosse, Bois Chaume and Mormont Farm were captured. Next dayCôte 304, Samogneux and Régnieville fell and on 26 August the French reached the southern outskirts of Beaumont. By 26 August the French had captured9,500 prisoners, thirty guns,100 trench mortars and242 machine-guns.[41] By 9 September, the French had taken more than10,000 prisoners; fighting continued with German counter-attacks on21, 22, 27 and28 August, 24 September and 1 October. Ludendorff wrote that the French army had "quickly overcome its depression".[42]
The Battle of La Malmaison (Bataille de la Malmaison23–27 October 1917) led to the French capture of the village and fort ofLa Malmaison and control of the Chemin des Dames ridge. Boehn chose to defend the front positions, rather than treat them as an advanced zone and conduct the main defence north of theCanal de l'Oise à l'Aisne. Gas bombardments on low-lying land near the canal dispersed very slowly and became so dense that the carriage of ammunition and supplies to the front was made impossible.Eingreif divisions were distributed in battalions along the front line and caught in the French bombardments, where the infantry shelters had been identified by French air reconnaissance and systematically destroyed.[43]
Zero hour had been set for5:45 a.m. but the French intercepted a German message ordering the front garrisons to be ready at5:30 a.m. and changed zero hour to5:15 a.m.[44] It began to rain at6:00 a.m. and a forceof 63 Schneider CA1 andSaint-Chamond tanks many bogged down in mud. The French infantry and21 tanks reached the German second position according to plan; the 38th Division capturedFort de Malmaison and XXI Corps took Allemant and Vaudesson.[45] On 25 October the village and forest of Pinon were captured and the line of theCanal de l'Oise à l'Aisne was reached.[45] In four days the French advanced 9.7 km (6 mi) and forced the Germans off the Chemin des Dames, back to the north bank of theAilette valley by the night of1/2 November. The French took11,157 prisoners,200 guns and220 heavy mortars forc. 10,000 casualties from 23 to 26 October.[46]
Since mid-1915, the British had been covertly diggingmines under the German positions on the ridge.[47] Nineteen mines were fired on 7 June at3:10 a.m.British Summer Time. The final objectives were largely gained before dark and British losses in the morning were light, although the planners had expected casualties of up to50 per cent in the initial attack. When the infantry advanced over the far edge of the ridge, German artillery and machine-guns on the valley floor had direct observation and the British artillery was less able to provide covering fire.[48] Fighting continued on the lower slopes on the east side of the ridge until 14 June.[49] The attack prepared the way for the main attack later in the summer, by removing the Germans from the dominating ground on the southern face of the Ypres salient, which they had held for two years.[50]
The British conducted a series of attacks in Flanders, beginning with the Battle of Pilckem Ridge (31 July – 2 August), followed by the Battle of Langemarck (16–18 August), The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (20–25 September), The Battle of Polygon Wood (26 September – 3 October), The Battle of Broodseinde (4 October) The Battle of Poelcappelle (9 October) The First Battle of Passchendaele (12 October) and The Second Battle of Passchendaele (26 October – 10 November) for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city ofYpres (Ieper) inWest Flanders. The next stage of the Allied strategy was an advance toTorhout–Couckelaere, to close the German-controlled railway running through Roulers and Thourout. Further operations and a British supporting attack along the Belgian coast from Nieuwpoort, combined with anOperation Hush, an amphibious landing, were then to reach Bruges the Dutch frontier via Bruges.[51] The resistance of the German4th Army, unusually wet weather, the onset of winter and the diversion of British and French resources to Italy, following the Austro-German victory at theBattle of Caporetto (24 October – 19 November) allowed the Germans to avoid a general withdrawal, which had seemed inevitable to them early in October.[52] The campaign ended in November when theCanadian Corps captured Passchendaele.[53] The German submarine bases on the coast remained but the objective of diverting the Germans from the French further south, while they recovered from the failure of the Nivelle Offensive, succeeded.[54]
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