Second Battle of Artois 1915
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 9 May 1915 – 18 June 1915 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1915 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War I era (1914–1918) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Western Front | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | French Third Republic, German Empire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 50.5000, 2.7500 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Second Battle of Artois (French: Deuxième bataille de l'Artois, German: Lorettoschlacht) from 9 May to 18 June 1915, took place on the Western Front during the First World War. A German-held salient from Reims to Amiens had been formed in 1914 which menaced communications between Paris and the unoccupied parts of northern France. A reciprocal French advance eastwards in Artois could cut the rail lines supplying the German armies between Arras and Reims. French operations in Artois, Champagne and Alsace from November–December 1914, led General Joseph Joffre, Generalissimo (Commander in Chief) and head of Grand Quartier Général (GQG), to continue the offensive in Champagne against the German southern rail supply route and to plan an offensive in Artois against the lines from Germany supplying the German armies in the north.
Field Marshal Sir John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), co-operated with the French strategy to capture Vimy Ridge by planning British attacks against Aubers Ridge. The attacks would confront the German 6th Army with a joint offensive, on a 70 mi (110 km) front, eastwards into the Douai plain, where an advance of 10–15 mi (16–24 km) would cut the railways supplying the German armies as far south as Reims.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Second Battle of Artois (revision 1375346442), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Western Front
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- Rearguard Affair of Le Grand Fayt 1914
- Siege of Antwerp (1914) 1914
- Siege of Namur (1914) 1914
- Battle of Hartmannswillerkopf 1915
- Battle of Kitcheners' Wood 1915
- Battle of Loos 1915
- Battle of Neuve-Chapelle 1915
- Capture of Hill 60 (Western Front) 1915
All 48 battles of the Western Front →
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