"French Sixth Army, which contained British or Dominion forces: Refer following section titled ""Divisions"" for brigades, regiments and battalions associated with each division participating in the listed battles. Battle nomenclature and participating units information taken from source British Army Council Command Notice 1138 unless stated. <br> A majority of the French Divisions were triangular divisions – that is comprising three regiments, with each regiment containing three battalions. During the Battle of Verdun, General Pétain had rotated the French Divisions through the battle – resulting in a large number of divisions entering the battle with experience. List of Army/Corp/Divisions involved taken"
"Offensive, the entry of Romania into the war and the French counter offensive at Verdun had already overstretched the German army. General Erich von Falkenhayn the German Chief of the General Staff was dismissed on 29 August 1916 and replaced by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, with First ""Generalquartiermeister"" General Erich Ludendorff as his deputy. The new supreme command (OHL) ordered an end to attacks at Verdun and the dispatch of troops from there to Romania and the Somme front. On 5 September proposals for a new shorter defensive position to be built in France were requested from the commanders"
"from Verdun for the Second Battle of Champagne In October 1915, building began on trench lines known as the first, second and third positions and in January 1916, an inspection by General Noël de Castelnau, Chief of Staff at French General Headquarters (GQG), reported that the new defences were satisfactory, except for small deficiencies in three areas. The fortress garrisons had been reduced to small maintenance crews and some of the forts had been readied for demolition. The maintenance garrisons were responsible to the central military bureaucracy in Paris and when the XXX Corps commander, General Chrétien, attempted to inspect"
"defences and recover the lost territory. In late 1914 and in 1915, offensives on the Western Front had failed to gain much ground and been extremely costly in casualties. According to his memoirs written after the war, the Chief of the German General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, believed that although victory might no longer be achieved by a decisive battle, the French army could still be defeated if it suffered a sufficient number of casualties. Falkenhayn offered five corps from the strategic reserve for an offensive at Verdun at the beginning of February 1916 but only for an attack on"
"and the Battle of Verdun. In July 1915, the French Commander in Chief Joseph Joffre held the first inter-Allied conference at Chantilly. In December, a second conference resolved to conduct simultaneous attacks by the French, Russian, British and Italian armies. The British theatre of operations was in France and Flanders but in February 1916, Haig accepted Joffre's plan for a combined attack astride the Somme river, around 1 July; in April, the British Cabinet agreed to an offensive in France. The nature of a joint offensive on the Somme began to change almost immediately, when the German army attacked Verdun"
"Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun ( ; ), fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916, was the largest and longest battle of the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies. The battle took place on the hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France. The German 5th Army attacked the defences of the Fortified Region of Verdun (""RFV, Région Fortifiée de Verdun"") and those of the French Second Army on the right bank of the Meuse. Inspired by the experience of the Second Battle of Champagne in 1915, the Germans planned to"
"as necessary into its defence. Ironically, France had substantially weakened Verdun's defences after the outbreak of the war, an oversight that would contribute to the removal of Joseph Joffre from supreme command at the end of 1916. The attack was slated to begin on 12 February, then 16 February, but the snow forced repeated postponements. Falkenhayn massed artillery to the north and east of Verdun to precede the infantry advance with intensive artillery bombardment. His attack would hit the French positions on the right bank of the Meuse. Although French intelligence had warned of his plans, these warnings were ignored"
"the Battle of Verdun on the Meuse on 21 February 1916, French commanders diverted many of the divisions intended for the Somme and the ""supporting"" attack by the British became the principal effort. The first day on the Somme (1 July) saw a serious defeat for the German Second Army, which was forced out of its first position by the French Sixth Army, from Foucaucourt-en-Santerre south of the Somme to Maricourt on the north bank, and by the Fourth Army from Maricourt to the vicinity of the Albert–Bapaume road. The first day on the Somme was, in terms of casualties,"
"Robert Nivelle Robert Georges Nivelle (; 15 October 1856 – 22 March 1924) was a French artillery officer who served in the Boxer Rebellion, and the First World War. Nivelle was a very capable commander and organizer of field artillery at the regimental and divisional levels. In May 1916, he succeeded Philippe Pétain as commander of the French Second Army in the Battle of Verdun, leading counter-offensives that rolled back the German forces in late 1916. During these actions he and General Charles Mangin were already accused of wasting French lives. Following the successes at Verdun, Nivelle was promoted to"
"heavy artillery and the new Allie tanks for the Verdun sector, but the French commander-in-chief, Joseph Joffre, wasn’t convinced that an attack was imminent. When the German offensive began at Verdun, Joffre partly blamed Dubail, who was fired in March 1916, publicly humiliated. He claimed to have been made a scapegoat for Joffre’s lack of foresight, although he had himself public played down the likelihood of a German attack at Verdun. Dubail was hired again in April 1916, becoming military governor of Paris, a position he kept until June 1918, when he was replaced by General Guillaumat. Dubail died on"
"December 1916 was removed from command by Joffre and sent to command Allied units on the Italian front; Joffre was himself sacked days later. Just a few months later, after the failure of General Robert Nivelle's offensive, General Philippe Pétain, the hero of Verdun, was appointed Chief of the General Staff; Foch hoped to succeed Pétain in command of Army Group Centre, but this job was instead given to General Fayolle. The following month Pétain was appointed C-in-C in place of Nivelle, and Foch was recalled and promoted to chief of the general staff. Like Pétain, Foch favoured only limited"
"which was fighting against the Germans at Verdun, and he took direct control of the army on 1 May 1916. Nivelle is considered to have squandered the lives of his soldiers in wasteful counter-attacks during the Battle of Verdun; only one fresh reserve brigade was left with the Second Army by 12 June. After the Germans captured Fleury on 23 June, Nivelle issued an Order of the Day which ended with the now-famous line: Ils ne passeront pas! (They shall not pass!). Nivelle ordered the employment of a creeping barrage when the French made their initial counter-stroke on 24 October."
"and immensely self-confident gunner"", Nivelle played a key role in defeating German attacks during the Alsace Offensive, the First Battle of the Marne and the First Battle of the Aisne, as a result of the intense artillery fire he organised against them. Consequently, he was promoted to the rank of general in October 1914. In 1916 the Battle of Verdun occurred (21 February – 18 December), during which Nivelle was a subordinate to Philippe Pétain. When Pétain was promoted to the command of the French Central Army Group, Nivelle was promoted to Pétain's previous command of the French Second Army,"
"Georges de Bazelaire Georges de Bazelaire (January 30, 1858 – March 29, 1954) was a Major General in the French Army. During World War I, Bazelaire commanded the 135th Infantry Regiment, the 27th and 38th Infantry Divisions and the 7th Army Corps. In 1916, general de Bazelaire took part in the Battle of Verdun, defending the left bank of the river Meuse: « He was to command the half of the ""Région Fortifiée de Verdun"" west of the river ""Meuse"", including the section of front between Avocourt and the Meuse ». In the first days of March, intense fighting involved"
"Dames. After the costly fighting at the Verdun and on the Somme in 1916, General Robert Nivelle replaced Marshal Joseph Joffre as the commander of the French armies on the Western Front in December. Nivelle claimed that a massive barrage on German lines would bring France victory in 48 hours. The Russian Revolution, the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line and the likelihood of a declaration of war by the USA, made some assumptions of the plan obsolete. At a meeting on 6 April, despite the doubts of other politicians, the army group commanders and the British, Alexandre Ribot, the"
"them!""), the other famous quotation often attributed to him – """"Ils ne passeront pas!"""" (""They shall not pass""!) – was actually uttered by Robert Nivelle who succeeded him in command of the Second Army at Verdun in May 1916. At the very end of 1916, Nivelle was promoted over Pétain to replace Joseph Joffre as French Commander-in-Chief. Because of his high prestige as a soldier's soldier, Pétain served briefly as Army Chief of Staff (from the end of April 1917). He then became Commander-in-Chief of the entire French army, replacing General Nivelle, whose Chemin des Dames offensive failed in April"
"the anticipated Turkish invasion of Egypt. The large scale losses suffered by the French at Verdun, however, highlighted the need for more Allied troops in France and shortly after the battle it was decided to transfer the Australian and New Zealand infantry divisions to France. On 13 March 1916, under the command of Lieutenant General Sir William Birdwood—the original commander of the ANZAC—the corps began the process of embarking for France. In France the I ANZAC Corps was attached to the British Second Army, and initially positioned in a relatively quiet sector south of Ypres in order to gain experience"
"led in the Champagne Offensive that autumn. He acquired a reputation as one of the more successful commanders on the Western Front. Pétain commanded the Second Army at the start of the Battle of Verdun in February 1916. During the battle he was promoted to Commander of Army Group Centre, which contained a total of 52 divisions. Rather than holding down the same infantry divisions on the Verdun battlefield for months, akin to the German system, he rotated them out after only two weeks on the front lines. His decision to organise truck transport over the ""Voie Sacrée"" to bring"
"of Verdun began on 21 February 1916 after a nine-day delay due to snow and blizzards. After a massive eight-hour artillery bombardment, the Germans did not expect much resistance as they slowly advanced on Verdun and its forts. Sporadic French resistance was encountered. The Germans took Fort Douaumont and then reinforcements halted the German advance by 28 February. The Germans turned their focus to Le Mort Homme on the west bank of the Meuse which blocked the route to French artillery emplacements, from which the French fired across the river. After some of the most intense fighting of the campaign,"
"of attrition against France. Falkenhayn targeted the ancient city of Verdun because it had been one of the last cities to hold out against the German Army in 1870, and Falkenhayn knew that as a matter of national pride the French would do anything to ensure that it was not taken. He expected that with proper tactics, French losses would be greater than those of the Germans and that continued French commitment of troops to Verdun would ""bleed the French Army white"" and then allow the German army to take France easily. In 1916, the Battle of Verdun began, with"
"accompanied other British and Dominion officers attending a series of lectures hosted by the French Army regarding their experiences during the Battle of Verdun. The French counter offensive devised by General Robert Nivelle had been one of a number of Allied successes of 1916. Following extensive rehearsal, eight French divisions had assaulted German positions in two waves along a front. Supported by extremely strong artillery, the French had recovered lost ground and inflicted heavy casualties on five German divisions. On their return from the lectures, the Canadian Corps staff officers produced a tactical analysis of the Verdun battles and delivered"
"been repaired. The (wall bunkers) with Hotchkiss revolver-cannons protecting the moats, were unmanned and over of explosive charges had been placed in the fort to demolish it. In late January 1916, French intelligence had obtained an accurate assessment of German military capacity and intentions at Verdun but Joffre considered that an attack would be a diversion, because of the lack of an obvious strategic objective. By the time of the German offensive, Joffre expected a bigger attack elsewhere but ordered the VII Corps to Verdun on 23 January, to hold the north face of the west bank. XXX Corps held"
"east. Eventually, in the hope that either a massive slaughter would lead Europe's political leaders to consider ending the war or that losses would be less harmful for Germany than for France, Falkenhayn staged a battle of attrition, as claimed in his post-war memoirs, in the Battle of Verdun in early 1916. Although more than a quarter of a million soldiers eventually died and Falkenhayn was sometimes called ""the Blood-Miller of Verdun"", neither side's resolve was lessened. Contrary to Falkenhayn's assumptions, the French were able to limit casualties in the divisions sent to Verdun. General Philippe Pétain kept the divisions"
"After the beginning of the Battle of Verdun (21 February – 18 December 1916), the Tenth Army was withdrawn and the British First Army and Third Army on either flank, took over the French positions. The mine warfare waged by the French and Germans was continued by the British, exploiting the advantage of being on the dip slope and only having to dig horizontally into the ridge to undermine German positions. The Germans, on the steeper scarp slope, had to dig down before they could dig horizontally, a disadvantage made worse by a shortage of manpower and mining equipment. An"
"was decisively defeated at the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914. Castelnau was able to organize a defence at Nancy. In June 1915 he was appointed to command the newly created Central Army Group. Later that year he was made chief of staff to Joffre, and in 1916 he organised the initial defence at the Battle of Verdun, before appointing Philippe Pétain to the command. After the dismissal of Joffre and the appointment of Robert Nivelle in 1916 Castelnau was retired from active service. He was sent on the Allied Mission to Russia in the early months of 1917,"
"Sea. He then took command of the defence of Arras, the ""key to the sea"" and again halted the German advance there, which led to the stabilization of the front and the beginning of trench warfare. Nominated colonel, he took command of the 90th Brigade which witnessed on April 22, 1915 the first chemical attack of military history. His troops stood firm in the following weeks and took back the lost ground. He was made ""general de brigade"" in 1916 and took command of the 24th division of infantry, which would take part in the battle of Verdun and to"
"stances chosen by the sides. Strategically, while the Germans only mounted one major offensive, the Allies made several attempts to break through the German lines. In February 1916 the Germans attacked French defensive positions at the Battle of Verdun, lasting until December 1916. The Germans made initial gains, before French counter-attacks returned matters to near their starting point. Casualties were greater for the French, but the Germans bled heavily as well, with anywhere from 700,000 to 975,000 casualties suffered between the two combatants. Verdun became a symbol of French determination and self-sacrifice. The Battle of the Somme was an Anglo-French"
"Joseph Joffre Marshal Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre (; 12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931), was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 1916. He is best known for regrouping the retreating allied armies to defeat the Germans at the strategically decisive First Battle of the Marne in September 1914. His political position waned after unsuccessful offensives in 1915, the German attack on Verdun in 1916, and the disappointing results of the Anglo-French offensive on the Somme in 1916. At the end"
"The artillery supporting the infantry focused more on suppressing German troops as opposed to destroying specific objects. These tactics proved effective: French troops re-took Fleury on 24 October, as well as Fort Douaumont, whose capture by the Germans on 25 February 1916 had been highly celebrated in Germany. Nivelle's successful counter-strokes were an important factor behind the decision to appoint him to become the commander-in-chief of the French armies on 12 December 1916. The then French Prime Minister Aristide Briand was extremely impressed by Nivelle, telling the other leaders at the Rome Conference (January 1917) that during his Verdun attacks"
"original French trench lines of February. The sector again became a relatively inactive one as the allied focus shifted to the Somme and the Germans adopted a defensive stance. While generally regarded as a tactical victory for the French, the battle caused massive losses on both sides. French casualties had been higher but the original German objective of taking Verdun while destroying the defending army through a battle of attrition had not succeeded. In October 1916, troops under Robert Nivelle's command captured Douaumont and other Verdun forts, making him a national hero. Nivelle formulated a plan using his ""creeping barrage"""
"and unambiguous methods and our men and officers were enthusiastic about him.» Georges de Bazelaire received several military citations for his services in World War I Georges de Bazelaire Georges de Bazelaire (January 30, 1858 – March 29, 1954) was a Major General in the French Army. During World War I, Bazelaire commanded the 135th Infantry Regiment, the 27th and 38th Infantry Divisions and the 7th Army Corps. In 1916, general de Bazelaire took part in the Battle of Verdun, defending the left bank of the river Meuse: « He was to command the half of the ""Région Fortifiée de"
"of the 11th Army, made the next day. Battery 1 briefly fired on Smederevo Fortress, but the fortress was undamaged when it surrendered on 11 October. KMK Batteries 1 and 4 were transferred back to the Western Front in early 1916. The latter bombed Forts Douaumont and Vaux without effect while the former inflicted serious damage on a French railway viaduct east of Belfort. At the beginning of that year, all 42cm guns were assigned to the 5th Army for the upcoming Battle of Verdun. The battle began on 21 February with an intense, nine-hour artillery barrage. The 42cm guns"
"Günther von Pannewitz, the commander of XVII Corps, for ordering the corps to withdraw to the third position close to Péronne. The German offensive at Verdun had already been reduced on 24 June to conserve manpower and ammunition; after the failure to capture Fort Souville at Verdun on 12 July, Falkenhayn ordered a ""strict defensive"" and the transfer of more troops and artillery to the Somme front, which was the first strategic effect of the Anglo-French offensive. The Chief of the German General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn intended to split the British and French alliance in 1916 and end the"