Second Battle of Artois

The Second Battle of Artois (Deuxième bataille de l'Artois or Lorettoschlacht) from 9 May – 18 June 1915 was a battle on the Western Front during the First World War. The course of the fighting in 1914 had created a salient between Rheims and Amiens, from which the German armies menaced communications between Paris and northern France; at Noyon the Western Front as only 55 miles (89 km) from Paris. In the 200 miles (320 km) from Rheims to the North Sea, the German armies were supplied by rail from Cologne and Düsseldorf, along a southern line from Thionville to Longuyon, Mezières, Hirson and Valenciennes, which passed 12 miles (19 km) from Verdun. In the north lines ran for 200 miles (320 km) from the Rhine into the Douai plain and then through Valenciennes to Aulnoye, Douai, Cambrai and St. Quentin. A French advance eastwards in Artois could cut the lines supplying the German armies between Arras and Rheims. Local French operations had been conducted in Artois, Champagne and Alsace during November and December 1914, which led General Joseph Joffre, Generalissimo (Commander in Chief) and head of Grand Quartier Général ("GQG") to continue the offensive in Champagne, to capture the southern rail supply route and to plan an offensive in Artois against the railway lines supplying the German armies from the north, to coincide with the operations in Champagne and then to cut German lines of retreat.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second Battle of Artois