First Battle of Artois

{{Infobox military conflict

|conflict=First Battle of Artois

|image=File:Vimy Ridge 1915.jpg

|image_size = 250px

|caption=Area of operations, 1914

|partof=the Western Front of the First World War

|date=17 December 1914 – 13 January 1915

|place=Artois, France

|coordinates = {{Coord|50|30|N|02|30|E|type:event_region:FR|display=inline,title}}

|map_type=France

|map_size=200

|map_label = Artois

|map_caption={{centre|Artois, a region of northern France of around {{cvt|4,000|sqkm|sqmi}} around Arras, Saint-Omer, Lens and Béthune.}}

|result=Indecisive

|combatant1={{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}
{{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}

|combatant2={{flag|German Empire}}

|commander1= Joseph Joffre

|commander2= Erich von Falkenhayn
Rupprecht of Bavaria

|strength1=

|strength2=

|casualties1=

|casualties2=

|campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Western Front (World War I)}}

}}

The First Battle of Artois (17 December 1914 – 13 January 1915) was fought during the First World War between the French and German armies on the Western Front. The battle was the first offensive move on the Western Front by either side after the end of the First Battle of Ypres in November 1914. The French attack failed to break the stalemate.

Background

During what became known as the Race to the Sea the Battle of Arras {{nowrap|(1–4 October)}} had been fought, after which local operations, particularly on the Lorette Spur, continued during the First Battle of Flanders to the north.

=Subsequent operations=

In May 1915, the Tenth Army conducted an offensive known as the Second Battle of Artois. The Third Battle of Artois, sometimes called the Artois–Loos Offensive, took place from {{nowrap|25 September to 15 October 1915}}.{{sfn|Doughty|2005|p=}}

Footnotes

References

Books

{{cite book |last=Doughty |first=R. A. |author-link=Robert A. Doughty |title=Pyrrhic victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Belknap Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-674-01880-8}}

{{cite book |title=Haig's Enemy: Crown Prince Rupprecht and Germany's War on the Western Front |last=Boff |first=J. |year=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |edition=1st |isbn=978-0-19-967046-8}}
{{cite book |title=Paths of Glory: The French Army 1914–18 |last=Clayton |first=A. |year=2003 |publisher=Cassell |location=London |isbn=978-0-304-35949-3}}
{{cite book |series=History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence |title=Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915: Winter 1914–15 Battle of Neuve Chapelle: Battles of Ypres |volume=I |last1=Edmonds |first1=J. E. |last2=Wynne |first2=G. C. |year=1995 |orig-year=1927 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |edition=Imperial War Museum and Battery Press |isbn=978-0-89839-218-0}}
{{cite book |editor-last=Haeften |editor-first=Hans von |title=Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918: Militärischen Operationen zu Lande, Achter Band: Die Operationen des Jahres 1915: Die Ereignisse im Westen im Frühjahr im Sommer, im Osten vom Frühjahr bis zum Jahresschluß |trans-title=The World War 1914 to 1918, Military Land Operations Volume Eight: The Operations in the Year 1915: The Events in the West from the Spring into the Summer and in the East from the Summer to the Year's end |volume=VIII |language=de |year=1932 |publisher=Verlag Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn |location=Berlin |edition=online scan |via=Die digitale landesbibliotek Oberösterreich (The Upper Austrian Provincial Library) |url=http://digi.landesbibliothek.at/viewer/image/AC01859921/1/LOG_0003/ |access-date=25 November 2013 |oclc=838300036}}
{{cite book |last=Hoeppner |first=E. |title=Deutschlands Krieg in der Luft: ein Rückblick auf die Entwicklung und die Leistungen unserer Heeres-Luftstreitkräfte im Weltkriege |language=de |trans-title=Germany's War in the Air: the Development and Operations of German Military Aviation in the World War |year=1994 |orig-year=1921 |publisher=K.F. Koehler |location=Leipzig |edition=trans. Battery Press |isbn=978-0-89839-195-4}}
{{cite book |title=Germany's Western Front, 1915: Translations from the German Official History of the Great War |volume=II |editor-last1=Humphries |editor-first1=M. O. |editor-last2=Maker |editor-first2=J. |year=2010 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |location=Waterloo Ont. |isbn=978-1-55458-259-4}}
{{cite book |last=Krause |first=J. |year=2013 |title=Early Trench Tactics in the French Army: the Second Battle of Artois, May–June 1915 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Farnham |edition=1st |isbn=978-1-40945-500-4}}
{{cite book |title=The German Army on Vimy Ridge 1914–1917 |last=Sheldon |first=J. |year=2008 |publisher=Pen & Sword |location=Barnsley |isbn=978-1-84415-680-1}}
{{cite book |title=The German Army on the Western Front, 1915 |last=Sheldon |first=J. |year=2012 |publisher=Pen & Sword |location=Barnsley |isbn=978-1-84884-466-7}}
{{cite book |title=If Germany Attacks: The Battle in Depth in the West |last=Wynne |first=G. C. |year=1976 |orig-year=1939 |publisher=Faber & Faber |location=London |edition=Greenwood Press, NY |isbn=978-0-8371-5029-1}}