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Second Battle Of Champagne - The First World War - 1915

The Second Battle of Champagne occurred in 1915 from 25th September to 6th October, although the attack was briefly renewed and the whole plan was not officially neglected until 6th November. The battle started because Joffre's lack of success in the battle of the Artois that had occurred earlier that year. He planned to attack the German salient, and also of course to attack Artois.

In the Battle heavy bombardments were used that lasted up to 3 days. This was followed by the French Second Army (Petain) and the 4th army (Angle de Cary) moving westwards on a 15-mile front towards the Argonne Forest on 25th September. 500,000 men overwhelmingly out numbered the German armies, but the Germans had 2 advantages: higher ground and advance warning on attack. In some places the Germans were pushed back up 3,000 yards but their second line of defence still stood like a brick wall. However some of the men were killed in the German counter attack on 30th October. On the other hand The French had not tactical significance although they did take 25,000 prisoners and 150 guns. When the battle was called of on 28th September the French had lost up to 145,000 men with Germans approximately half as many.

The text relating to the battle of Champagne is taken from Sohail Saber's work on the the First World War. Sohail is a year 9 student at Laisterdyke High School.