Second Battle of Champagne
The Second Battle of Champagne (Herbstschlacht or Autumn Battle) in World War I was a French offensive against the German army at Champagne that coincided with an Anglo-French assault at north-east Artois and ended with French retreat.
See also: Third Battle of Artois and Battle of LoosBattle[edit]
On 25 September 1915, twenty divisions of the Second Army and Fourth Army of Groupe d'armées du Centre (GAC, Central Army Group), attacked at 9:15 a.m., with each division on a 1,500–2,000 yd (1,400–1,800 m) front. A second line of seven divisions followed, with one infantry division and six cavalry divisions in reserve. Six German divisions held the line opposite, in a front position and the R-Stellung (Rückstellung, Reserve Position) further back. French artillery observers benefited from good weather but on the night of 24/25 September, heavy rain began and fell until midday.[2]
The German front position was broken in four places and two of the penetrations reached as far as the R-Stellung, where uncut barbed wire prevented the French from advancing further. In one part of the line, the French artillery barrage continued after the first German line had been taken, causing French casualties.[3] The French took 14,000 prisoners and several guns but French casualties were also high; the Germans had anticipated the French attack, having been able to watch the French preparations from the high ground under their control. The main German defensive effort was made at the R-Stellung, behind which the bulk of the German field artillery had been withdrawn. A supporting attack by the French Third Army on the Aisne took no ground.[4] German reserves, directed by Falkenhayn, plugged any gaps in the German lines.[3]
The French commander-in-chief, Joseph Joffre, allotted two reserve divisions to the GAC and ordered the Groupe d'armées de l'Est (GAE, Eastern Army Group) to send all 75 mm field gun ammunition, except for 500 rounds per gun, to the Second and Fourth armies. On 26 September, the French attacked again, closed up to the R-Stellung on a 7.5 mi (12.1 km) front and gained a foothold in one place. Another 2,000 German troops were captured but attacks against the R-Stellung from 27 to 29 September, broke through on 28 September. A German counter-attack next day recaptured the ground, most of which was on a reverse slope, which had deprived the French artillery of ground observation. Joffre suspended the offensive until more ammunition could be supplied and ordered that the captured ground be consolidated and cavalry units withdrawn. Smaller French attacks against German salients continued from 30 September to 5 October.[5][6]
On 3 October, Joffre abandoned the attempt at a breakthrough in Champagne, ordering the local commanders to fight a battle of attrition, then terminated the offensive on 6 November. The offensive had advanced the French line for about 4 km (2.5 mi), at a cost of c. 100,000 more French and British (in Artois) casualties than German. The French had attacked in Champagne with 35 divisions against the equivalent of 16 German divisions. On the Champagne front, the Fourth, Second and Third armies had fired 2,842,400 field artillery and 577,700 heavy shells, which, with the consumption during the Third Battle of Artois in the north, exhausted the French stock of ammunition.[1]
