The Nivelle offensive (16 April – 9 May 1917) was a Franco-British operation on the Western Front in the First World War which was named after General Robert Nivelle, the commander-in-chief of the French metropolitan armies, who led the offensive. The French part of the offensive was intended to be strategically decisive by breaking through the German defences on the Aisne front within 48 hours, with casualties expected to be around 10,000 men. A preliminary attack was to be made by the French Third Army at St Quentin and the British First, Third and Fifth armies at Arras, to capture high ground and divert German reserves from the French fronts on the Aisne and in Champagne. The main offensive was to be delivered by the French on the Chemin des Dames ridge (the Second Battle of the Aisne).[a] A subsidiary attack was to be made by the Fourth Army (the Third Battle of Champagne).[b] The final stage of the offensive was to follow the meeting of the British and French armies, having broken through the German lines, to pursue the defeated German armies towards the German frontier.
The Franco-British attacks were tactically successful; the French Third Army of Groupe d'armées du Nord (GAN, Northern Army Group) captured the German defences west of the Hindenburg Line (Siegfriedstellung) near St Quentin from 1 to 4 April, before further attacks were repulsed. The British Third and First armies achieved the deepest advance since trench warfare began, along the Scarpe river in the Battle of Arras, which inflicted many casualties on the Germans, attracted reserves and captured Vimy Ridge to the north. The main French offensive on the Aisne began on 16 April and also achieved considerable tactical success but the attempt to force a strategically decisive battle on the Germans was a costly failure and by 25 April the main offensive had been suspended.
The failure of the Nivelle strategy and the high number of French casualties led to mutinies, the dismissal of Nivelle, his replacement by Philippe Pétain and the adoption of a defensive strategy by the French, while their armies recuperated and rearmed. Fighting known as the Battle of the Observatories continued for local advantage all summer on the Chemin des Dames and along the Moronvilliers heights east of Reims. In late October, the French conducted the Battle of La Malmaison (23–27 October), a limited-objective attack on the west end of the Chemin-des-Dames, which forced the Germans to abandon their remaining positions on the ridge and retire across the Ailette valley. The British remained on the offensive for the rest of the year fighting the battles of Messines, 3rd Ypres and Cambrai.
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The Nivelleoffensive (16 April – 9 May 1917) was a Franco-British operation on the Western Front in the First World War which was named after General...
wasting French lives. He gives his name to the NivelleOffensive. Following the successes at Verdun, Nivelle was promoted to commander-in-chief of the French...
significant US involvement was the Meuse–Argonne offensive in late September 1918. In December 1916, Robert Nivelle replaced Pétain as commander of French armies...
over 350,000 casualties fighting the NivelleOffensive. In the spring of 1917, after the failed NivelleOffensive, there were a series of mutinies in the...
the 1917 campaign in the First World War, which had begun with the NivelleOffensive. The French captured the village and fort of La Malmaison and took...
the main action in the NivelleOffensive in April 1917. The new French commander of the armies in France, General Robert Nivelle, had promised a decisive...
Offensive and conquered almost all of Romania. In 1917, the German army in the west survived the large British and French offensives of the Nivelle Offensive...
bataille de l'Aisne, 16 April – mid-May 1917) was the main part of the NivelleOffensive, a Franco-British attempt to inflict a decisive defeat on the German...
needed for the forthcoming offensive on the Somme; Mangin was limited to one division for the attack with one in reserve. Nivelle reduced the attack to an...
000,000 to 1,500,000 men for the period from June to December 1916. Nivelleoffensive Brusilov writes about this in his memoirs All reinforcements deployed...
assault of the NivelleOffensive. The objective was to draw German reserves away from the French forces, preparing for a crucial offensive along the Aisne...
rationing, and stimulated farming. After supporting the disastrous French NivelleOffensive in 1917, he had to reluctantly approve Field Marshal Haig's plans...
between Soissons and Rheims was reinforced to become the main offensive. The NivelleOffensive was planned to begin with a British attack on the Bapaume salient...
historians since 1917 include the wisdom of pursuing an offensive strategy in the wake of the NivelleOffensive, rather than waiting for the arrival of the American...
being assembled to defend the Aisne front against the Franco-British NivelleOffensive, preparations for which were barely concealed. Soon after taking over...
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deployment of armour, Nivelle hoped that the tanks produced could be made of some use by letting them assist his planned offensive. Ultimately, the Germans...
counter-offensive following the First Battle of the Marne Second Battle of the Aisne (16 April–9 May 1917), main component of the NivelleOffensive Third...
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Mangin captured it during the Second Battle of the Aisne (in the NivelleOffensive). Operation Blücher-Yorck was planned primarily by General Erich Ludendorff...
against Germany was imminent. He was initially reluctant to go as the NivelleOffensive was underway. On 6 April the United States Congress declared war on...
in the NivelleOffensive; with news of the Russian Revolution affecting morale within the French Army following the failure of that offensive, the 1st...
Bayonne 7 Toulouse 6 5 4 3 Nivelle 2 1 The Battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813) took place in front of the river Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular...
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