Slaughtered French troops on the Western Front, ca. 1915.

Slaughtered French troops on the Western Front, ca.

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Today I'll write about the Second Battle of Artois, a major but often forgotten battle on the Western Front, in the shadow of battles like the Somme, Verdun and Passchendaele.
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The Second Battle of Artois from May 9 - June 18, 1915 was the second big Allied attempt to push the Germans off French soil in 1915. The French sought to recapture the Vimy Ridge in Artois. A support attack further north at Aubers Ridge would be launched by the British.
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On May 9, 1915 after a 6-day long artillery bombardment the French attacked the German trenches in Artois. The French made good gains early on, but suffered high casualties. A Moroccan division of shock troops (stormtroopers) managed to capture the Vimy Ridge. Due to a lack of reinforcements, the Moroccans were forced to retreat after a German counter-attack.
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The battle continued to the awful en masse assault after assault, counter-attack after counter-attack which the Western Front would see a lot of, with almost no gains made but thousands upon thousands of casualties.
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The British artillery at Aubers Ridge failed to destroy the German defenses, and they suffered 11,000 casualties and gained nothing. They decided to attack further south at the village of Festhubert on May 16 instead. They managed to take the village, but at a cost of 16,000 casualties.
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The French attempted a final assault on June 15 on some villages at the foot of Vimy Ridge. The assault failed on all villages, resulting in many casualties. The offensive was called off on June 18.
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The French had advanced 3 km on an 8 km wide front at the cost of 102,000 casualties, 35,000 of these being killed. The British had suffered 27,000 casualties and the Germans 73,000.
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The losses of the Second Battle of Artois would be exceeded numerous times in future battles in the First World War