Franco-British operation in First World War
The Nivelle offensive (16 April – 9 May 1917) was a Franco-British operation on the Western Front in the First World War which was named after General Robert 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 the Aisne front within 48 hours, with casualties expected to be around 10,000 men. A preliminary attack was to be made by the French Third Army at St Quentin and the British First, Third and Fifth armies at Arras, to capture high ground and divert German reserves from the French fronts on the Aisne and in Champagne. The main offensive was to be delivered by the French on the Chemin des Dames ridge (the Second Battle of the Aisne). A subsidiary attack was to be made by the Fourth Army (the Third Battle of Champagne). 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 of (GAN, Northern Army Group) captured the German defences west of the Hindenburg Line 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 the Scarpe river in the Battle of Arras, which inflicted many casualties on the Germans, attracted reserves and captured Vimy 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 to mutinies, the dismissal of Nivelle, his replacement by Philippe 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 the Moronvilliers heights east of Reims. In late October, the French conducted the Battle 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 of Messines, 3rd Ypres and Cambrai.
Background.
Strategic developments.
After the costly fighting at Verdun and on the Somme in 1916, General Robert Nivelle replaced Marshal Joseph Joffre as the commander of the French armies on the Western Front in December. Nivelle claimed that a massive barrage on German lines would bring France victory in 48 hours. The Russian Revolution, the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg 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. Preparing the Nivelle Offensive was a huge and costly undertaking, involving c. 1.2 million troops and 7,000 artillery pieces on a front between Reims and Roye. The principal effort was an attack on the German positions along the Chemin des Dames ridge, in the Second 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 the 7th Army ( Max von Boehn) with divisions released by the retreat to the Hindenburg Line in Operation Alberich.
Prelude.
Franco-British preparations.
Nivelle left Petain in command of (GAC) and established a new (GAR, Joseph Micheler) for the attack along the Chemin des Dames with the Fifth Army (General Olivier Mazel), the Sixth Army (General Charles Mangin) and the Tenth Army (General Denis Duchêne). Forty-nine infantry and five cavalry divisions were massed on the Aisne front with 5,300 guns. The ground at Brimont began to rise to the west towards Craonne and then reached a height of along a plateau which continued westwards to Fort Malmaison. The French held a bridgehead 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.
German preparations.
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 for 150,000 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.
On the Aisne front, German intelligence had warned that an attack on 15 April against German airfields and observation balloons by the was planned. The 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.
Morale.
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. 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 the noria 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. By the beginning of 1917, morale was questionable, even in divisions with good combat records.
Battle.
St. Quentin–Arras.
 on the northern flank of (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 on 1–4, 10 and 13 April, which took some of the German defences in front of the (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. 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 to Tilloy-lès-Mofflaines and Bois des Boeufs, with a final objective of the (Monchy switch line) between Wancourt and Feuchy. The Third Army attack on the German defences either side of the Scarpe river penetrated , 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 around Neuville-Vitasse. The village fell that day, although the German garrisons in some parts of held out for several more days. The Third Army consolidated and then advanced on Monchy-le-Preux.
To the north the First Army attacked from Ecurie north of the Scarpe to Vimy Ridge. The crest of the ridge was captured at about 1:00 p.m. in an advance which penetrated about 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. 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 captured 254 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.
Chemin des Dames.
The Fifth Army attacked on 16 April at 6:00 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 . 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.
The attack on the right flank of the Sixth 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 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 . 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 the (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 took c. 3,500 prisoners but no break-through as achieved and at only one point had the German second position been reached.
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 the , 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 .
Nivelle ordered the Tenth Army forward between the Fifth