Battle of Malmaison
Front line before and after the battle
| date | October 23, 1917 to October 25, 1917 |
|---|---|
| place | Aisne department , on the Chemin des Dames ridge , near Fort da la Malmaison and the town of Laffaux |
| output | French victory |
| Territorial changes | Chemin des Dames temporarily under French control again |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
38th, 66th and 67th divisions
27th, 28th and 129th divisions
13th and 43rd divisions |
14th , 37th and 52nd divisions 13th Division , 2nd and 5th Guard Divisions |
| Commander | |
|
Paul Maistre |
Max von Boehn
|
| Troop strength | |
| 8 divisions | 7 divisions |
| losses | |
|
approx. 14,000 men |
about 28,000 men |
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|
) in the "red zones" of the French western front
The Battle of (La) Malmaison , also known as the Battle of Laffaux ( Battle of the Laffaux Corner ) or October Battle of the Aisne , was a battle of the First World War that took place at the end of October 1917 on the Chemin des Dames ridge in northern France between French and Germans Troops was carried out. The battle takes its name from the former fortress Fort de la Malmaison , which was in the center of the battle area.
In the course of the battle, France succeeded in pushing back the German troops and thus temporarily bringing the strategically important, strongly fortified Chemin des Dames back under French control, which had failed six months earlier in the Battle of the Aisne .
Battlefield
The war zone in the Aisne department in northern France belongs to the western front of the First World War. The closest major cities are Laon in the north and Soissons in the south.
The battlefield lies on the ridge of the Chemin des Dames ridge , which stretches between the valleys of the rivers Ailette in the north and Aisne in the south. The Chemin des Dames is one of the most competitive areas of the First World War (French " zone rouge " ).
The French attack during the battle was concentrated on an approximately 12 km wide section of the front between Ostel ( 49 ° 25 ′ 45.6 ″ N , 3 ° 33 ′ 56.9 ″ E ) in the southeast and Vauxaillon ( 49 ° 28 ′ 37.6 ″ N , 3 ° 24 ′ 22.6 ″ E ) to the northwest.
In the center of the fighting area were the Ferme de la Malmaison farm and the Fort de la Malmaison fortress ( 49 ° 27 ′ 39.5 ″ N , 3 ° 31 ′ 21.3 ″ E ). The fact that the battle took place near the fort was more of a coincidence, because the fort was almost insignificant as a defensive facility during World War I. It dates from the end of the 19th century (type " Vauban " / " Système Séré de Rivières "). Its walls did not offer adequate protection against the explosive force of the explosive shells of the First World War; it was therefore disarmed before the war and damaged during exercises and demolition tests by the French (see aerial photo).
Southwest of Malmaison, near the village of Laffaux ( 49 ° 26 ′ 54.9 ″ N , 3 ° 25 ′ 35.8 ″ E ), the front line described a sharp arc. From the German side, this section of the front was referred to as the "Laffaux corner". Since the main attack took place from here, the battle is sometimes named after this place in German.
course
Starting position
The battle followed the (Second) Battle of the Aisne , which had been fought nearby in April and May 1917, and in which the attacking French were still held back by the Germans. Due to the small gains in land and the massive losses suffered by the French side, the French soldiers began to openly rebel against their leadership, there were numerous refusals of orders up to open mutiny, so that the French had to break off their offensive. As a result, the unsuccessful French Commander-in-Chief Nivelle, who was heavily criticized by the troops , was deposed in mid-May 1917 and replaced by Philippe Pétain . This should change the French strategy towards a more prudent style and a more careful use of resources, especially the lives of his soldiers. The French side desperately needs a victory to improve the morale of the troops.
Skirmishes
Before the battle, the French pulled together a concentrated firepower of guns and ammunition at Soissons. At the same time, they carried out intensive reconnaissance from the air and on the ground.
From October 17, the French artillery occupied the German positions with a six-day barrage in preparation for the attack, in order to soften their defense . (About 3 million projectiles were fired within 6 days; i.e. 50% more than in the Nivelle offensive, which was much more extensive in both time and space.) In addition to explosive projectiles, large quantities of poison gas were also used in the run-up to the battle.
After preparing from a distance, the French infantry attacked in the early morning of October 23rd. The soldiers were supported by assault tanks (48 × type Schneider CA1 + 20 × type Saint-Chamond ), but these proved to be ineffective due to the difficult terrain and the rainy weather. Nevertheless, the French soldiers advanced quickly, and the fortress of Malmaison (of which only a ruin remained due to the massive fire in the run-up to and during the attack) was taken within a short time on the 23rd.
During October 24th, the French advanced from Vauxaillon, reaching the villages of Pargny and Filain on the 25th, and finally the Ailette river. The Germans withdrew from the western part of the Chemin des Dames via La Royère and Craonne and repositioned themselves on the heights north of the Ailette by November 2nd.
aftermath
By winning the battle, France managed to bring the Chemin des Dames back under French control. Because of the symbolic meaning of the Chemin des Dames , which had previously been regarded as the “bulwark” of the German defense, the victory was greatly acclaimed by the French public despite the small area gained. The army leadership was praised by the French in particular for the comparatively low losses (compared to the battles of the (Second) Aisne Battle in spring 1917 and the (Third) Battle of Flanders in late summer 1917). Because of these symbolic successes, the battle marked a turning point in the war and was of great psychological importance to French morale, which had previously suffered greatly in 1917.
By the end of the First World War, however, the dominance in Chemin des Dames changed twice: From May 1918, the Germans temporarily regained control through the Blücher offensive . It was not until the autumn of 1918, following the Second Marne Battle , that the Germans finally ceded the territory to the French and Italian troops.
See also
- German war cemetery Fort-de-Malmaison . WWII military cemetery.
literature
- W. Volkart: The battle at the Laffaux corner - October 1917 . In: General Swiss Military Magazine (ASMZ) . tape 129 (1963) , no. 6 , p. 325–331 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-40649 .
- W. Volkart: The battle at the Laffaux corner - October 1917 . (Enough). In: General Swiss Military Magazine (ASMZ) . tape 129 (1963) , no. 7 , p. 387-393 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-40652 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d The Battle of La Malmaison (October 1917). In: Chemin des Dames - Le mémorial virtuel. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Alexander Fasse: Under the sign of the "tank kite". The warfare on the Western Front 1916–1918 in the tension between the use of a new kind of weapon of war by the Allies and German efforts to combat it . Dissertation to obtain the academic degree doctor philosophiae (Dr. phil.) At the Philosophical Faculty I of the Humboldt University in Berlin. March 7, 2007, especially Chapter 8: “Tanks are no good on a battlefield”. Tanks and tank defense in the summer and autumn of 1917. ( Online ).
- ↑ The battle for the Laffaux corner. Hubertus Ochsler, accessed on August 22, 2014 .
- ↑ Note: Not to be confused with La Malmaison , about 40 km further east!
- ↑ a b c The battles at Chemin des Dames. In: Chemin des Dames - Le mémorial virtuel. Retrieved August 19, 2018 .
- ↑ Fort de la Malmaison. (No longer available online.) In: Festungsbauten.de. Andreas Liebold, archived from the original on September 4, 2013 ; accessed on August 22, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ For the Fort de la Malmaison see also article in the French language Wikipedia .
- ↑ a b The October Battle of the Aisne (The Battle of Malmaison). Report from the German headquarters of November 23, 1917. In: Stahlgewitter.com - The archive on the 1st World War. (Representations of the fight 1914-1918 from the perspective of the time). Retrieved August 19, 2014 .
- ↑ Riebensahm, Gustav: "Infantry Regiment Prince Friedrich of the Netherlands (2nd Westphalian) No. 15 in World War 1914-18" from 1931 Minden, 504 pages (116 photos and 29 maps).
- ↑ La Malmaison: The 4th Zouaves attack. In: The Soldier's Burden. Retrieved August 22, 2014 .
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