|
World
War I |August 1914 |
Recruitment |
Sam Hughes |
To England |To
France | 2nd Battle
of Ypres | Battle of
St Julien | The Navel War
|
Festubert |
Givenchy | Canadian
Corps | The Air War |
Newfoundland |
The Somme |
St Eloi Crater |
Mount Sorrel |
Hill 70 |
Passchendaele | Vimy Ridge
| Amiens |
Cambrai |
Mons | Flanders Fields
| Victory
|
Battle: |
Festubert |
May 15 - 27th,
1915 |
|
Campaign: |
Second
Battle of Artois |
|
|
War: |
World War I |
1914 - 1918 |
| |
|
Where: |
South of Neuve Chapelle |
|
Western Front |
|
France |
| |
| |
Opponents |
|
Belligerents: |
Canada |
Germany |
|
Britain |
|
|
India |
|
| |
|
Commanders: |
|
|
|
Forces: |
6
Divisions, 433 Guns |
3 Divisions |
| |
|
Result: |
Minor British Victory |
|
|
Casualties: |
Canada & Allies |
Opponents |
|
Casualties - 16,000 |
Killed -
? |
|
(of which 2,468 were Canadian
with 661 dead) |
Wounded
- ? |
The Battle of
Festubert which was fought from May 15 - 27, was part of
a larger campaign launched during the spring of 1915
under the French commander Joseph Joffre and know as the
Artois offensive. Sir Douglas Haig who was the commander
of the British, Canadian and Indian troops had just lead
tem in the Battle of Neuve Chappelle on May 9th, was
ordered to launch a second attack upon Festubert to
support the overall offensive.
The attack began on
May 15th with a huge artillery bombardment of over
100,000 shells fired from over 433 artillery pieces
against the German 6th Army. Two Indian divisions moved
forward in the darkness (this was the first British
night attack of the war) and initially made good
progress against the 13th and 14th division but the
Germans dug in again along a new line located directly
in front of Festubert.
The action was not
renewed for 3 days and on May 18, in pouring rain, the
Canadian 3rd brigade and the 51st highland division
launched their attack against the German lines which had
been reinforced during the intervening 3 days and were
ready and waiting. The 2 hour British bombardment was
scheduled to tart at 2:30 AM but was delayed an hour and
when it the Canadian assault began at 5:25 AM the
Germans had machine gun positions, which had been missed
by the big shells, opened up on the Canadians with
devastating effect. The terrain which they were going
across was completely lacking of cover and was fairly
water logged and muddy. The Germans had also focused
their artillery on this area and were able to bombard
the attacking Canadian troops as they moved towards the
German lines. This attack faltered and was halted.
That evening the
Canadian 2nd brigade moved up and took positions on the
3rd brigade's right in the lines. The Germans also
replaced their two divisions with the 4th Guard division
which was an experienced force from the 1914 fighting
and were very tough. On the 19th of May the 2nd and 7th
British divisions were withdrawn from the front due to
heavy causalities and the Canadian division and the
Highland division were placed under the control of the
Indian command. The Canadians were to attack again the
next morning but Brigadier General Currie was unable to
identify his objective and the stiff resistance and
general confusion began to bog down the Canadian
attack until it dwindled out.
After regrouping and
preparing for a new attack the British, Canadian and
Indian troops launched themselves at the Germans on May
20-24th and were able to capture the village of
Festubert with intermittent fighting continuing until
May 27th. As the fighting died down the allies had
advanced less then a kilometre with a loss of over
16,000 troops. |
