Battle of Arras (1917)

The Battle of Arras was a British offensive on the Western Front during World War I. The British achieved the longest advance since trench warfare had begun, surpassing the record set by the French Sixth Army on 1 July 1916. By the end of the battle, the British Third and First Army had suffered about 160,000 casualties and the German 6th Army about 125,000. After the Second Battle of Bullecourt, the Arras sector became a quiet front, that typified most of the war in the west.

About Battle of Arras (1917) in brief

The Battle of Arras was a British offensive on the Western Front during World War I. The British achieved the longest advance since trench warfare had begun, surpassing the record set by the French Sixth Army on 1 July 1916. By the end of the battle, the British Third and First Army had suffered about 160,000 casualties and the German 6th Army about 125,000. After the Second Battle of Bullecourt, the Arras sector became a quiet front, that typified most of the war in the west, except for attacks on the Hindenburg Line and around Lens. At the beginning of 1917, the French and British were still searching for a way to achieve a strategic breakthrough on theWestern Front. The battle became a costly stalemate for both sides and by the end the British had made significant advances but had been unable to achieved a breakthrough. The Battle of Vimy was the last battle of the First World War, ending on 16 May 1917, with the Battle of Cambrai the next day. The Allied objective from early 1915 was to break through the German defences into the open ground beyond and engage the numerically inferior German Army in a war of movement. The French Nivelle Offensive, the main part of which was the second Battle of the Aisne 50 miles to the south, was the aim of the French offensive. At Arras the Canadians were to re-capture Vimy Ridge, dominate the Douai Plain to the east, advance towards Cambrae and divert German reserves from the French front.

The U.S. Congress declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917, but it would be more than a year before a suitable army could be raised and transported to France before a joint offensive could be launched. The United States had intended to launch this joint offensive in the spring of 1917 but this was delayed by political and tactical considerations. In December 1916, along with Hubert Lideand, Hubert de Lyautey and Aristide Briutey resigned over political disagreements over declaring the United States was close to declaring war. In early 1917, seven American merchantmen were killed in the sinking of the RMS Litania in early 1917. The American public was increasingly incensed by U-boat attacks upon shipping, which had begun with sinking of RMS Lusitania and culminated in the torpedoing of seven American Merchantmen in early 1915. The battles consumed enormous quantities of resources while achieving virtually no strategic gains on the battlefield. The cost to Germany of containing the Anglo-French attacks had been enormous and given that the material preponderance of the Entente and its allies could only be expected to increase in 1917, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff decided on a defensive strategy on the western front for that year. In the end, the Allies were unable to take the initiative because of intense German pressure at Verdun until after August 1916, and the war was won by the Germans.

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