Map of the plan for the Allied Offensive in France showing the situation on September 24, the eve of the infantry assault. An Anglo-French would attack eastward in Artois (with the British at Loos) as the French attacked northwards in Champagne. From 'Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos' by Brigadier-General J.E. Edmonds.
Situation, 24th September 1915Showing direction of the Allied offensive
"Despite poor visibility, artillery firing began on October 11 [1915] at 1400 hours, and the infantry assault occurred at 1615. The daily log in Foch's headquarters recorded the result: 'progress was almost nil, and the attack did not yield the expected results. Preparation by heavy artillery insufficient. Attack conducted by exhausted or already sorely tried troops. Enemy forewarned and strongly reinforced with artillery, unleashing at the slightest indication of attack terrible [artillery] barrages.' . . . In a letter to Joffre, Foch blamed the failure on 'insufficient' preparatory fire. He explained that Tenth Army had fired 73,000 rounds of heavy artillery for the attack on September 24-25 but only 21,600 rounds on October 10-11."
French Commander Joffre's great offensive of autumn 1915, while having some success, had failed to achieve the breakthrough he had hoped for in the French offensive in Champagne and the Anglo-French attacks in Artois. French General Foch wrote of the failure in the Third Battle of Artois. It had already become clear that extensive preliminary artillery bombardments were required for attacks. But in the autumn battles, even if adequate shells were available on the first day, they were lacking in followup attacks.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, pp. 200, 201, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
1915-10-11, 1915, October
