Battle of Arras (1917)

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Battle of Arras (1917)
Part of: First World War
Mark II tanks at Arras
Mark II tanks at Arras
date April 9 to May 16, 1917
place Near Arras , France
output British partial success
Parties to the conflict

United Kingdom 1801United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom Canada Australia
Canada 1868Canada 
AustraliaAustralia 

German EmpireThe German Imperium German Empire

Commander

United Kingdom 1801United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Douglas Haig Edmund Allenby Henry Horne Arthur Currie
United Kingdom 1801United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
United Kingdom 1801United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Canada 1868Canada

German EmpireThe German Imperium Erich Ludendorff Ludwig von Falkenhausen
German EmpireThe German Imperium

Troop strength
on April 9th
16 infantry divisions &
3 cavalry divisions
2817 guns
by April 30th:
27 infantry divisions &
4 cavalry divisions
on April 9th
12 infantry divisions
1016 guns

from April 12th
21 divisions
losses

150,000 men

100,000 men

The Battle of Arras (referred to on the German side as the "Spring Battle of Arras") was a battle on the western front of the First World War that lasted from April 9 to May 16, 1917. British and Canadian troops succeeded in taking a strategic ridge near Vimy from the German troops , but without achieving any decisive success. The latter part of the battle went down in Canadian history as the Battle of Vimy (English Battle of Vimy Ridge ) .

prehistory

The Western Front 1917

At the Chantilly Conference in November 1916, the British and French Commanders in Chief had agreed on a common strategy for 1917. Accordingly, another offensive was to take place on the Somme in the spring of 1917 , followed by another offensive in Flanders . With the replacement of Joffres by Nivelle as French commander-in-chief in December 1916, these plans became obsolete. Since the area on the Somme was unsuitable for a breakthrough offensive, Nivelle planned to conduct the main attack at Chemin des Dames instead , while the British were to launch a diversion offensive a week beforehand at Arras and on the Vimy Ridge. If the breakthrough was successful, the attacking leaders of the British and French should unite in the German hinterland. The February Revolution in Russia meant that the Russian army could not launch a simultaneous offensive as planned.

In February and March 1917, the German troops in the Somme area withdrew to the Hindenburg line ( company Alberich ). This did not particularly affect the Allied plans, as the well-developed German retreat position was exactly between the planned attack points of the British and French.

planning

British artillery position near Arras (April 1917)

The Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in France, General Douglas Haig , had primarily deployed over 200,000 soldiers east of Arras for the offensive on April 9. Of the 180 battalions at the first meeting, 44 were of Scottish descent. The attack was to be carried out by the southern wing of the British 1st Army under General Henry Horne and the entire 3rd Army under Edmund Allenby . Primarily 16 infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions were assigned to attack to the east. The forceps arm in the north was formed by the Canadian corps under Julian Byng , which was supposed to force the breakthrough on Douai . Two corps commands and twelve infantry divisions stood in the second line as reserves, so that the total armed forces in the Arras area reached almost half a million men.

General Julian Byng in April 1917

Opposite them stood the German 6th Army under Ludwig von Falkenhausen in the front with twelve divisions and 1016 artillery, behind them five intervention or releasing divisions, a total of around 300,000 men.

The preparatory artillery fire started on March 20 ( Z – 20 ). From April 2, it became an annihilation fire and was to be aimed for a week with 2817 guns on a sector of 40 kilometers in length and, among other things, destroy barbed wire obstacles and shut down German batteries . The artillery density per kilometer of the front line was about three times as high as on the first day of the Battle of the Somme last year. In this phase poison gas was also used, which was supposed to decimate the front German lines. For this purpose, 2340 Livens projectors were provided. The attack on the Vimy Ridge was then to be led by the newly formed Canadian Corps under Julian Byng , which belonged to the right wing of the 1st Army. The main thrust on both sides of the Scarpe and from the Arras area to the east was to be carried out by the 3rd Army. Tunnels were driven up to the German positions for the attack troops, and the German positions were partially undermined and should be blown up before the attack. For the actual attack of the infantry, a short barrage and then a cylinder of fire was provided in front of the troops ahead. 60 tanks ( tanks ; 45 of the type Mark II and 15 of the type Mark I ) were to support the attack.

The attack was also supported by intensive preparatory aerial reconnaissance , which mainly served to map the German trench systems and to monitor artillery. In March 1917 several German hunting squadrons , including the Jasta 11 under Manfred von Richthofen , were relocated to the Arras sector. They significantly increased the rate of loss of British aviators: in the so-called Bloody April , the Royal Flying Corps lost 316 of 730 pilots.

British march

General Edmund Allenby, Commander-in-Chief of the English 3rd Army
General Arthur Currie

The attack in the north was led by the right wing of the 1st Army:

In the middle the 3rd Army was to attack with all three corps at the same time:

In the south, the northern wing of the 5th Army under General Hubert Gough had to conduct a strong diversionary attack with a time lag of one day .

The German Defense

Colonel General Ludwig von Falkenhausen

As reserves, Colonel General von Falkenhausen stood behind his front with three intervention divisions, with the 1st Army two divisions, which could be brought in after the start of the battle. On April 9th ​​the part of the German 6th Army attacked in the front numbered seven divisions; three attack divisions and two releasing divisions came to the front on the same day. The number increased by six more intervention divisions by the evening of the following day and strengthened the army to 19 divisions. On April 12th, after taking over the Queant group, the army had 21st divisions.

The five corps groups connected to the south were involved in the fight:

From April 12th, the left wing of the army was formed by the AOK 1, which was taken over from the departed AOK 1

course

The breakthrough at Vimy

Overall situation on April 9, 1917
Canadian infantry advancing through no man's land
Starting positions and course of the battle

The attack took place on Easter Monday , April 9th ​​at 5:30 a.m. on both sides of the Scarpe on a 25-kilometer front, with 16 divisions, supported by 60 tanks. At this point, snow and fog led to poor visibility. After the attack began, the British quickly gained space. The defensive strength of the attacked German groups Souchez, Vimy and Arras was over 508 field guns and 323 heavy guns. Some of the German troops were surprised in their positions in the front main battle line . Behind the ten position divisions, five intervention divisions ( 111th ID , 1st GRD , 4th GD in the northern section ) were ordered forward. The villages in the combat area, where the Germans had holed up with machine guns while they quickly withdrew from most of the front trenches, turned out to be major obstacles. Within a few hours, 9,000 prisoners were brought in and a break-in of two to five kilometers was achieved.

Canadian machine gunmen dig into shell holes on Vimy's ridge.
German prisoners of war in British custody

The attack of the Canadians on the Vimy Ridge was particularly successful, the positions of the three divisions deployed between Givenchy-Thelus and St. Laurel (16th Bavarian, 79th Reserve and 1st Bavarian Reserve Division) were muddy from constant rain. the obstacles in front of it had been pounded into the ground by enemy fire. The 14th Bavarian Division (Lieutenant General von Rauchberger ), which had arrived here as a replacement , had just made the backward movement towards the Siegfried Line and was now surprised. In the first attempt, the four assigned divisions of the Canadian corps were able to penetrate the position of the 79th Reserve Division under General Ernst von Bacmeister and conquer the heights of Vimy. The attack led by the 2nd Canadian Division was supported by eight tanks, three were shot and the rest got stuck in the area. The reserves, which were too far behind, were still in the Wotan position and could only intervene in the fighting the next day. The first available forces of the 18th and 17th divisions, coming from Douai , Vitry and Lecluse, were immediately assigned to the wavering group Vimy.

In the southern section of the British 3rd Army's attack, at VII Corps, 22 tanks with infantry from 14th and 56th Divisions had advanced. The breakdowns amounted to 18 vehicles after a very short period of use, mostly caused by German artillery fire or by getting stuck in the area. In the section of the 17th Reserve Division (Major General von Reuter), the survivors of the artillery strike offered some resistance in the front trenches and were then overrun. Between Tilloy and Neuville-Vitasse, the German front was broken up using 16 tanks. Most of the British VI. and XVII. attached tanks got stuck in the soggy terrain. The deep break-in at the front of the 11th Division (Lieutenant General von Schoeler ) on the right wing of the Arras group forced the front line to be abandoned at Blangy, the remnants of the crew fought back on Monchy , 40 of 52 heavy artillery pieces were lost. After an eventful battle, in which parts of the British 37th Division also intervened, the line at Monchy was completely lost to the Germans. The 16th Bavarian Division (Major General Möhl ), which was withstood at Givenchy, was able to draw on its reserves more quickly to support the depressed south wing.

In St. Nicolas, the northern suburb of Arras, English cavalry masses were recognized, which were already being brought forward to push. On the left wing of the Arras groups, the German forces still defending east of Neuville were also withdrawn to the Monchy-Riegel in the evening.

After a deep break-in by the Canadians at Fampoux in the sector of the 14th Bavarian Division under General von Rauchberger, the southern elevations of Vimy could no longer be held. The towns of Thélus, Farbus, St. Laurent, Athies, Fampoux, Feuchy, Tilloy and Neuville-Vitasse fell into the hands of the British on the first day of the attack. The commanding general von Fasbender therefore decided, after consultation with General von Kuhl , the chief of staff of the superordinate Army Group, Crown Prince Rupprecht , to move his troops about five kilometers back in order to force the English artillery to move to a new position.

However, the fact that the German attack divisions were too far from the front line meant that they could not immediately counterattack in the first few days, as provided for by the principle of "elastic defense". The German Quartermaster General Erich Ludendorff therefore replaced the previous Chief of Staff of the 6th Army, Major General von Nagel zu Aichberg , with the defensive specialist Colonel Fritz von Lossberg on April 11th .

Fight at Bullecourt and Lagnicourt

British tank raid at Bullecourt on April 11, 1917
Combat area in the Bullecourt area

The flank attack of the northern wing of the English 5th Army near Bullecourt , which was launched on April 10 and 11 in the southeast of Arras, was not very successful . The tank attack of the British V Corps with the 62nd Division (Lieutenant General Braithwaite ) and 4th Australian Division (Major General William Holmes) failed before the barbed wire obstacles of the 27th Infantry Division under General von Maur . In the absence of artillery support, which was withheld due to false reconnaissance, and due to German flank attacks, the previous Australians were largely cut off. The Australian infantry brigades 4 and 12 used alone had losses of 3,200 men, plus 1,170 prisoners.

As of April 13, the German front pushed back east of Arras was reorganized. The divisions decimated by the British attack were replaced by fresh units, with the exception of the 18th Reserve Division. The Queant group on the south wing (previously group A of AOK 1 ) had transferred to the 6th Army, so that the defense of the attacked section from Lens to Bullecourt could be united in one hand and organized much better. On the same day the Bavarian I. Reserve Corps moved into the new position from Acheville - Arleux - Gavrelle to the Scarpe near Roeux; Further advances by the British between April 23 and 28 could be rejected here. In the further course of the battle, the Germans brought reinforcements and counterattacked in some places, while the British pulled their artillery and tried to expand their territorial gains.

On April 15, the XIV. Reserve Corps under General von Moser launched a stronger counterattack with four divisions to relieve the corps groups standing north from the front line between Graincourt and Queant. The attack was carried out against the section of the Australians between Lagnicourt and Hermies. The attack by the 2nd Guard Reserve Division penetrated Noreuil and took Lagnicourt. The newly assigned 38th Infantry Division and 4th Replacement Division pushed through to Boursies and Demiecourt. Although 475 prisoners were brought in, the 3rd Guard Reserve Division on the left wing got stuck and the attack was tactically useless.

The second phase of the attack

German soldiers in the trenches
Battle of Arras 1917

In the meantime, the French had started their offensive on the Aisne on April 16, but it quickly turned into a fiasco. The British came under pressure to continue their already suspended attacks, but after the start of the second phase of the battle from April 23, they were only able to achieve minor successes against the now better staggered German defense.

On April 22nd, Colonel General Falkenhausen was appointed successor to the deceased Governor General in Belgium, Colonel General Baron von Bissing . Until his successor, General von Below Infantry, arrived in Tournai on April 28, he retained command of the 6th Army. On the northern attack field, east of Lens, the groups "Loos" and "Souchez", which were viewed as threatened, were reinforced by the 15th and 50th Reserve Divisions .

On April 28, another major attack by the British began on both sides of the Scarpe. Again the Vimy group (now formed from the 111th , 1st Guard Reserve and 208th Divisions ) and the Arras group south of the Scarpe (now formed from the 26th, 221st , 199th and 220th Divisions ) in the main attack area. The 6th Bavarian , 49th, 9th reserve , 207th and 185th divisions served as reserves behind it. In addition, the 4th replacement division was being transported. In the section of the 111th Infantry Division, the village of Arleux was lost and the necessary counterattack could not be launched due to a lack of troops. On the morning of April 29th, the British penetrated Oppy, but were forced out again by a counter-attack by the 1st Guard Reserve Division .

On May 3, the next day of major fighting followed, after strong barrages a breakthrough attempt was made by 15 British divisions at a width of 30 kilometers between Acheville - Ouéant, which even exceeded the previous attacks in force. The English were able to penetrate south of the Scarpe at Cherisy and Riencourt in the section of the Queant group (now Gen. Kdo. Guard Reserve Corps ). North of the Scarpe, the towns of Roeux and Fresnoy fell into the hands of the British. A German counterattack was able to push the opponent out of Cherisy and Roeux again during the day. The attack on Gavrelle and Oppy, carried out in five waves, was successfully repulsed by the Vimy group . The hotly contested town of Fresnoy was lost, was briefly retaken in a counterattack, but ultimately fell to the Canadians. As a success of the day, the English only had possession of the village of Fresnoy and an approximately 500 meter wide strip of land between Riencourt and Bullecourt. In nightly fights on May 4th, Cherisy changed hands several times, but in the end remained with the Arras group .

The British attacks finally ebbed in mid-May. The German troops had dug themselves back into permanent positions that could be sufficiently strengthened. The battle ended in a strategic stalemate, the result of which was a return to the usual trench warfare . The outbreak of the Battle of Messines drew the attention of the opposing army command to Flanders.

consequences

The British casualties during the battle amounted to 150,000 men, the Germans were somewhat lower. Measured by its short duration, the battle was one of the most casualties by the British in World War I. Despite considerable territorial gains and the capture of an important ridge, the battle was, also because of the simultaneous French debacle on the Aisne , an overall failure, since no decisive breakthrough could be achieved. Allenby, the actual planner of the operation, was transferred to the Palestine Front a little later . Falkenhausen, who was governor general in occupied Belgium , was also replaced. Both sides learned important lessons to apply in the battles of Messines and Flanders that followed.

Trivia

The musician Roger Waters dedicated his 1992 album Amused to Death to the soldier Bill Hubbard, who was killed in the battle of Arras .

literature

  • Peter Hart: Bloody April: Slaughter in the Skies Over Arras, 1917. Cassel, 2007.
  • John Keegan : The First World War. A European tragedy. Kindler, 2000.
  • Johnathan Nicholls: Cheerful Sacrifice. The Battle of Arras 1917. Pen and Sword, 2005.
  • Jack Sheldon, Nigel Cave: The Battle For Vimy Ridge 1917. Pen and Sword, 2007.
  • Andrew Wiest: The Western Front 1917-1918: From Vimy Ridge to Amiens and the Armistice. Amber Books, London 2011.

Web links

Commons : Battle of Arras (1917)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b William R. Griffiths, Thomas E. Griess (eds.): The Great War The West Point military history series. Square One Publishers, Garden City Park 2003, ISBN 0-7570-0158-0 , p. 121; and Tony Jaques (eds.): Dictionary of Battles and Sieges. A guide to 8,500 battles from antiquity through the twenty-first century. Volume 1: AE, Greenwood Publishing, Westport 2007, ISBN 0-313-33537-0 , p. 70.
  2. ^ Sanders Marble: British Artillery on the Western Front in the First World War. Ashgate studies in world war history, Farnham 2013, ISBN 978-1-4094-1110-9 , p. 180.
  3. ^ Paddy Griffith: Battle Tactics of the Western Front: The British Army's Art of Attack, 1916-18. Yale University Press, 1994, p. 85.
  4. Enemy reconnaissance from the air on wegedererinnerung-nordfrankreich.com . From around 1916, both sides were able to produce detailed maps of the entire front on a daily basis when the weather was clear. In France, the SHD (Service historique de la Défense) keeps the archives
  5. Arras Memorial on wegedererinnerung-nordfrankreich.com . The Arras Flying Services Memorial is located in the Faubourg d'Amiens cemetery . The names of the 991 soldiers of the British Air Force who were killed on the Western Front during the First World War are on its pillar, the top of which bears a globe.
  6. ^ Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914 to 1918, Volume XII, Mittler & Sohn, Berlin, Appendix 8