Second Battle of Artois
1915 CE.
Shown on the map at 50.500°, 2.750°.
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.
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