The offensive began on 9 April, when the British began the Battle of Arras. The reserve was obtained by creating 22 divisions by internal reorganisation of the army, bringing divisions from the eastern front and by shortening the western front, in Operation Alberich. The advance had failed to reach objectives which were to have fallen by 9:30 a.m. but 7,000 German prisoners had been taken. Le secteur de front choisi pour laffrontement est le Chemin des Dames, dans le départem… [20], The British Fourth Army was unable to assist the French with an attack, due to a lack of divisions after transfers north to the British Third Army but was able to assist with artillery-fire from the north and kept a cavalry division in readiness to join a pursuit. [6], When Hindenburg and Ludendorff took over from Falkenhayn on 28 August 1916, the pressure being placed on the German army in France was so great that new defensive arrangements, based on the principles of depth, invisibility and immediate counter-action were formally adopted, as the only means by which the growing material strength of the French and British armies could be countered. On 10 May, another German attack at Chevreux was defeated and the French advanced north of Sancy and on the night of 10/11 May, and the following day, German attacks were repulsed on the Californie Plateau and at Cerny. The defeat of the 37th Division restored the German defences between Loivre and Juvincourt. Qui plus est, avant l'attaque, les Allemands ont abandonné leurs premières tranchées et construit un nouveau réseau enterré à l'arrière, plus court, de façon à faire l'économie d'un maximum de troupes : la ligne Hindenburg. Le 16 avril 1917 débute au Chemin des Dames l’offensive française commandée par le Général Robert Nivelle. On 26 May German attacks on salients east and west of Cerny were repulsed and from 26–27 May, German attacks between Vauxaillon and Laffaux Mill broke down. [5] The German withdrawal forestalled the attacks of the British and Groupe d'armées du Nord (GAN) but also freed French divisions for the attack. The road connects the N2 and D1044 and is commonly known as Chemin des Dames. Le plateau parcouru par le Chemin des Dames a fait l'objet de plusieurs batailles au cours de l'histoire de France. Next day another advance was conducted north of the mill. [44] A 2003 web publication gave 108,000 French casualties, 49,526 in the Fifth Army, 30,296 casualties in the Sixth Army, 4,849 in the Tenth Army, 2,169 in the Fourth Army and 1,486 in the Third Army. General Robert Nivelleplanned the offensive in December 1916, … On 3 May, the French 2nd Division refused orders, similar refusals and mutiny spread through the armies; the Nivelle Offensive was abandoned in confusion on 9 May. On the night of 2/3 June, two German divisions made five attacks on the east, west and central parts of the Californie Plateau and the west end of the Vauclerc Plateau. The artillery bombardment of the area actually cracked some of the overlying cliffs, which can be seen today. In six weeks all were lost and the Germans were left clinging to the eastern or northern edges of the ridges of the summits. An attack on Brimont on (4–5 May), the capture of which would have been of great tactical value, was postponed on the orders of the French government and never took place. The British prolonged the Arras offensive into mid-May, despite uncertainty about French intentions, high losses and diminishing returns, as divisions were transferred northwards to Flanders. The Germans attacked in waves, at certain points advancing shoulder-to-shoulder, supported by flame-thrower detachments and gained some ground on the Vauclerc Plateau, until French counter-attacks recovered the ground. [46], The Battle of La Malmaison (Bataille de la Malmaison) (23–27 October) led to the capture of the village and fort of La Malmaison and control of the Chemin des Dames ridge. By the time the offensive began in April 1917, the Germans had received intelligence of the Allied plan and strengthened their defences on the Aisne front. The Second Battle of the Aisne (French: Bataille du Chemin des Dames or French: Seconde bataille de l'Aisne, 16 April – mid-May 1917) was the main part of the Nivelle Offensive, a Franco-British attempt to inflict a decisive defeat on the German armies in France. South of the river, the Fifth and Tenth armies on the plain near Loivre, had managed to advance west of the Brimont Heights. [1] The French Prime Minister Aristide Briand supported Nivelle but the war minister Lyautey resigned during a dispute with the Chamber of Deputies and the Briand government fell; a new government under Alexandre Ribot took office on 20 March. Their names are as follows: [19], The main attack by GAN was planned as two successive operations, an attack by XIII Corps to capture Rocourt and Moulin de Tous Vents south-west of the city, to guard the flank of the principal attack by XIII Corps and XXXV Corps on Harly and Alaincourt, intended to capture the high ground east and south-east of St. Quentin. Le 16 avril 1917 la vallée de l’Aisne voit se jouer le début de la plus grande offensive française depuis 1914. Témoignages sur le chemin des Dames Un témoin raconte le 16 avril 1917 : Paul Clerfeuille « Ce matin, 16 avril 1917, date qui restera historique dans l’histoire (nous sommes prêts depuis la veille), après une nuit sans sommeil due aux préparatifs, dans l’inquiétude, les ordres, les contre-ordres, puis enfin dernier [48] In four days the attack had advanced 6 mi (9.7 km) and forced the Germans from the narrow plateau of the Chemin des Dames, back to the north bank of the Ailette Valley. Le Chemin des Dames. The front line then remained static until March 1917, during which time several thousand soldiers died in local attacks or coup de main operations. Such methods required large numbers of reserve divisions ready to move to the battlefront. The Third Army began French operations, with preliminary attacks on German observation points at St. Quentin on 1–4 and 10 April. General Philippe Pétain, who had opposed this offensive, was called in to take over from Nivelle and to re-establish order. On the first day, French infantry and some colonial Senegalese troops progressed to the top of the ridge in spite of intense German artillery counterfire and poor weather conditions. Le nom de Craonne, situé au cœur de la bataille du Chemin des Dames, a été popularisé par A French attack at Verdun in August recaptured much of the ground lost in 1916 and in the Battle of La Malmaison in October captured the west end of the Chemin des Dames and forced the Germans to withdraw to the north bank of the Ailette. Furthermore, the agonizingly slow evacuation of the French wounded also demonstrated a lack of logistical preparations. 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. [18] East of the Oise and north of the Aisne, the Third Army took the southern and north-western outskirts of Laffaux and Vauxeny. By the end of the day the 26th Division had held on to 100 yd (91 m) of the German front trench and the 25th Division had been forced back to its jumping-off trenches. Après l'attaque du Chemin des Dames, au c… During World War I, the caves were used by both French and German forces as field hospitals and command posts, sometimes simultaneously. Casualties had reached 20 percent in the French armies by 10 May and some divisions suffered more than 60 percent losses. Accablement, « jambes pâles ». The D18 road runs from east-west on the Chemin des Dames, a plateau and ridge delineated by the Aislette Valley to the north and the Aisne Valley to the south. [33], At 8:30 p.m. on 23 May, a German assault on the Vauclerc Plateau was defeated and on 24 May, a renewed attack was driven back in confusion. Elle est l'une des plus meurtrières de la Grande Guerre et sera directement à l'origine des grandes mutineries de 1917 dans l'armée française. On 13 April at 5:00 a.m., XIII Corps attacked with two divisions; the 26th Division on the right took the German first line and then defeated two German counter-attacks but the 25th Division on the left was repulsed almost immediately by uncut wire and machine-gun fire, despite French field artillery being advanced into no man's land at the last minute to cut the wire. Nivelle was superseded by General Philippe Pétain, who adopted a strategy of "healing and defence", to resume the wearing-out of the German Army while conserving French infantry. [10] 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. On 2 June a bigger German attack began, after an intensive bombardment of the French front, from the north of Laffaux to the east of Berry-au-Bac. Defending infantry would fight in areas, with the front divisions in an outpost zone up to 3,000 yd (2,700 m) deep behind listening posts, with the main line of resistance placed on a reverse slope, in front of artillery observation posts, which were kept far enough back to retain observation over the outpost zone. La bataille du Chemin des dames ou seconde bataille de l'Aisne ou « offensive Nivelle», commence le 16 avril 1917 à 6 heures matin par la tentative française de rupture front allemand entre Soissons et Reims vers Laon,sous les ordres du général Nivelle. La bataille du Chemin des Dames (1917) HistoireMotion. Laffaux was captured and then lost to a counter-attack before changing hands several times, until finally captured on 19 April. [c] On the left flank, V Corps was stopped at the Bois des Boches and the hamlet of la Ville aux Bois. The Entente strategy was to conduct offensives from north to south, beginning with an attack by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) then the main attack by two French army groups on the Aisne. The Second Battle of the Aisne began on 16 April but the duration and extent of the battle have been interpreted differently. [26], 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. Le plan prévoit une concentration maximale de … By late March, GAN had been reduced by eleven infantry, two cavalry divisions and 50 heavy guns, which went into the French strategic reserve. It received its name following its use by the two daughters of Louis XV in the eighteenth century. English: Media relating to the Second Battle of the Aisne, also known as the Third Battle of Champagne, Battle of Chemin des Dames and the Nivelle Offensive, France 16 April - 27 October 1917. The failure had a traumatic effect on the morale of the French army and many divisions mutinied. Et cela, aussi bien du côté du neuf que des produits Chemin Des Dames 1917 occasion. All are named after the river which flows on the south side of the ridge. The Third Battle of the Aisne came as a complete surprise to the Allies, including British troops who had been sent there to rest in a quiet sector. [10], In a new manual of 1 December 1916, Grundsätze für die Führung in der Abwehrschlacht im Stellungskrieg (Principles of Command for Defensive Battle), the policy of unyielding defence of ground regardless of its tactical value, was replaced by the defence of positions suitable for artillery observation and communication with the rear, where an attacking force would "fight itself to a standstill and use up its resources while the defenders conserve[d] their strength". On the morning of 1 June, after a heavy bombardment, German troops captured several trenches north of Laffaux Mill and lost them to counter-attacks in the afternoon. Such a decentralised battle by large numbers of small infantry detachments would present the attacker with unforeseen obstructions. On 20 May, a counter-offensive to retake the French positions from Craonne to the east of Fort de la Malmaison, was mostly defeated by artillery-fire and where German infantry were able to advance through the French defensive barrages, French infantry easily forced them back; 1,000 unwounded prisoners were taken. [47], From 24–25 October the XXI and XIV corps advanced rapidly and the I Cavalry Corps was brought forward into the XIV Corps area, in case the Germans collapsed. General Franchet d'Espèrey called La Malmaison "the decisive phase of the Battle...that began on 16 April and ended on 2 November....". Deux frères axonais avaient fouillé le site dit du tunnel de Winterberg, sur le Chemin des Dames, en début d’année pour trouver les dépouilles des 270 soldats allemands morts en 1917. The 25th Division was ordered by the army commander, General Humbert to attack again at 6:00 p.m. but the orders arrived too late and the attack did not take place. Second, don’t fall in love with your new concept: If it fails stop. The French infantry had suffered many casualties and few of the leading divisions were capable of resuming the attack. On 25 January 1915 German forces captured the Creute farm (today La Caverne du Dragon or the Dragon's Lair), the last remaining French position on the plateau. It is some thirty kilometres long and runs along a ridge between the valleys of the rivers Aisne and Ailette. Le Chemin des Dames (mai - juin 1917) Samedi 5 mai 1917. The IX Corps and XVIII Corps took over between Craonne and Hurtebise and local operations were continued on the fronts of the Fourth and Fifth armies with little success. The new French strategy was not one of passive defence; in June and July the Fourth, Sixth and Tenth Armies conducted several limited attacks and the First Army was sent to Flanders to participate in the Third Battle of Ypres. [45] In 2005, Doughty quoted figures of 134,000 French casualties on the Aisne from 16–25 April, of whom 30,000 men were killed, 100,000 were wounded and 4,000 were taken prisoner; the rate of casualties was the worst since November 1914. [49], This article is about the 1917 battle. Carte du Chemin des Dames, en novembre 1917. The VI Corps advanced its right flank west of the Oise–Aisne Canal but its left flank was held up. The German defenders suffered much less, but lost some 20,000 prisoners, 40 cannons, and 200 machine guns. He was replaced by the considerably more cautious Pétain with Foch as chief of the General Staff, who adopted a strategy of "healing and defence" to avoid casualties and to restore morale. The French made a conscious effort to do this for the Chemin Des Dames offensive. The French War Minister, Hubert Lyautey and Chief of Staff General Henri-Philippe Pétain opposed the plan, believing it to be premature. This he did without harsh collective punishments. The penetration broke into open country and fighting went on from 27 May to 6 June 1918, but ran out of energy owing to lack of a strategic objective and lengthening supply lines. During the summer of 1917, the Battle of the Observatories was a series of local attacks and counterattacks to gain control of high positions commanding the views between Craonne and Laffaux. [39], The operations in Champagne on 20 May ended the Nivelle Offensive; most of the Chemin-des-Dames plateau, particularly the east end, which dominated the plain north of the Aisne had been captured. Positions necessary for the new method were defined in Principles of Field Position Construction (Allgemeines über Stellungsbau). Their names are as follows: During World War I, the Chemin Des Dames lay in that sector of the Western Front held by the French Army. Behind the main line of resistance was a Grosskampfzone (battle zone), a second defensive area 1,500–2,500 yd (1,400–2,300 m) deep, also placed as far as possible on ground hidden from enemy observation, while in view of German artillery observers. Ils sont toujours là, et par tous les temps ..... Chemin des Dames - Avril 1917. The best-known battle, called the Second Battle of the Aisne, took place between 16 April and 25 April 1917. [37] The politicians and public were stunned by the chain of events and on 16 May, Nivelle was sacked and moved to North Africa. Vimy Ridge, the Scarpe Heights, the caverns, spurs and plateau of the Chemin des Dames and the Moronvilliers massif had been occupied for more than two years, carefully surveyed by German engineers and fortified to make them impregnable. For other battles of the Aisne, see, Illustration of the German retirement to the, Craonne and the eastern Chemin des Dames, 1917, French territorial gains on the Aisne, Nivelle Offensive, April–May 1917, German retreat from the Chemin des Dames, November 1917, Chemin des Dames Portail official portal, multi-language, Chemin des Dames Virtual Memorial searchable databases soldiers, regiments, battles, cemeteries, monuments and documents, La Caverne du Dragon museum of the 1917 battle at Chemin des Dames multimedia, Armistice between Russia and the Central Powers, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_Battle_of_the_Aisne&oldid=998409631, Battles of the Western Front (World War I), Battles involving the French Foreign Legion, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 5 January 2021, at 07:06. The objective of the attack on the Aisne was to capture the prominent 80-kilometre-long (50 mi), east–west ridge of the Chemin des Dames, 110 km (68 mi) north-east of Paris and then advance northwards to capture the city of Laon. Chemin des Dames, a road named after a king's daughters. [12], "Principles of Field Fortification" (Allgemeines über Stellungsbau) was published in January 1917 and by April an outpost zone (Vorpostenfeld) held by sentries, had been built along the Western Front. [9], During the German withdrawal to the Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line) in March 1917, a modest withdrawal took place in the neighbourhood of Soissons. Three battles were fought along the Chemin des Dames east-to-west ridge located to the north of Paris during the First World War. Europe 1. L'échec de l'offensive est consommé en 24 heures malgré l'engagement des premiers chars d'assaut français (une quarantaine). The route was used during Stage 6 of the 2014 Tour de France as part of the race's tribute to the men killed in the 1914–18 War.[1]. Then, on 16 April, seven French army corps attacked the German line along the Chemin des Dames ridge. Quentin. Chaleur atroce. On the east-facing northern flank near Laffaux, I Colonial Corps was able to penetrate only a few hundred yards into the defences of the Condé-Riegel (Condé Switch trench) and failed to take Moisy Farm plateau. Le 90e anniversaire de l'année 1917, au Chemin des Dames … The French artillery had been reduced to c. 250 guns by transfers south to GAR, which was insufficient to bombard the German defences and conduct counter-batter fire simultaneously. The French should have terminated the offensive after the first day when it became clear that the expected results were not being achieved. The new manual laid down the organisation for the mobile defence of an area, rather than the rigid defence of a trench line. Chemin des Dames literally translates as Ladies' Way. The German retirement was carried out in a rush and many guns were left behind, along with "vast" stocks of munitions. [42] In the 1939 volume of Der Weltkrieg, the German official historians recorded German losses to the end of June as 163,000 men including 37,000 missing and claimed French casualties of 250,000–300,000 men, including 10,500 taken prisoner. Pétain began a substantial programme re-equipment of the French Army, had 40–62 mutineers shot as scapegoats and provided better food, more pay and more leave, which led to a considerable improvement in morale. Pinard à flots. To the north east of the town of Soissons in the Aisne lies a high ridge running west to east and nicknamed the Chemin des Dames: The Ladies’ Road. It acquired the name in the 18th century, as it was the route taken by the two daughters of Louis XV, Adélaïde and Victoire, who were known as Ladies of France. The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line Operation Alberich (Unternehmen Alberich) left a belt of devastated ground up to 25 mi (40 km) deep in front of the French positions facing east from Soissons, northwards to St. Quentin. [40], The French tactic of assault brutal et continu suited the German defensive dispositions, since much of the new construction had taken place on reverse slopes. To the north-east of the hill the advance reached a depth of 1.5 mi (2.4 km) and next day the advance was pressed beyond Mont Haut. [21], The Fifth Army attacked on 16 April at 6:00 a.m., which had dawned misty and overcast. German work on the Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line) continued but the first line, built along reverse-slopes was complete and from which flanking-fire could be brought to bear on any attack. On 25 May, three German columns attacked a salient north-west of Bray-en-Laonnois and gained a footing in the French first trench, before being forced out by a counter-attack. The French were inhibited from firing on St. Quentin, which allowed the Germans unhampered observation from the cathedral and from factory chimneys and to site artillery in the suburbs, free from counter-battery fire.