page_title: Battle of Arras (1917)
section_title: Casualties
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Arras (1917) / Aftermath / Casualties
caption_attribution_description: Church of the Assumption, Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland English: Detail of the right light of the stained glass window titled The Madonna with Sts Aidan and Adrian by Harry Clarke (1889–1931) with the dedication and his signature. The dedication reads: IN·LOVING·MEMORY·OF LIEUT·WILLIAM·HENRY O'KEEFE·R·F·A AGED·21·YEARS·KILLED IN·ACTION·IN·FRANCE MAY·19TH·1917 GIVE·HIM·ETERNAL·REST O·LORD This window was commissioned by Mrs O'Keefe in memory of her son Lt William Henry O'Keefe who had been killed in the Battle of Arras in 1917. It was completed in May 1919. (See Lucy Costigan and Michael Cullen: strangest genius: The Stained Glass of Harry Clarke, ISBN&#160;978-1-84588-971-5, p. 245.) Harry Clarke &#160;(1889&#8211;1931)&#160;&#160;&#160;Alternative names Henry Patrick ClarkeDescriptionBritish artistDate of birth/death 17 March 1889&#160; 6 January 1931&#160;Location of birth/death Dublin ChurAuthority control : Q981851 VIAF:&#8201;64809213 ISNI:&#8201;0000 0000 7729 3084 ULAN:&#8201;500005071 LCCN:&#8201;n80127749 NLA:&#8201;35207551 WorldCat creator QS:P170,Q981851
context_page_description: The Battle of Arras was a British offensive on the Western Front during World War I. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the Western Front. The British achieved the longest advance since trench warfare had begun, surpassing the record set by the French Sixth Army on 1 July 1916. The British advance slowed in the next few days and the German defence recovered. The battle became a costly stalemate for both sides and by the end of the battle, the British Third and First Army had suffered about 160,000 casualties and the German 6th Army about 125,000.
  For much of the war, the opposing armies on the Western Front were at stalemate, with a continuous line of trenches from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. The Allied objective from early 1915 was to break through the German defences into the open ground beyond and engage the numerically inferior German Army in a war of movement. The British attack at Arras was part of the French Nivelle Offensive, the main part of which was the Second Battle of the Aisne 50 miles to the south.
context_section_description: The most quoted Allied casualty figures are those in the returns made by Lieutenant-General Sir George Fowke, Haig's adjutant-general. His figures collate the daily casualty tallies kept by each unit under Haig's command. Third Army casualties were 87,226; First Army 46,826 (including 11,004 Canadians at Vimy Ridge); and Fifth Army 24,608; totalling 158,660.
  German losses are more difficult to determine. Gruppe Vimy and Gruppe Souchez suffered 79,418 casualties but the figures for Gruppe Arras are incomplete. The writers of the German Official History Der Weltkrieg, recorded 78,000 British losses to the end of April and another 64,000 casualties by the end of May, a total of 142,000 men and 85,000 German casualties. German records excluded those "lightly wounded". Captain Cyril Falls (the writer of the Official History volume on the battle) estimated that 30 per cent needed to be added to German returns for comparison with the British. Falls made "a general estimate" that German casualties were "probably fairly equal". Nicholls puts them at 120,000 and Keegan at 130,000.
caption: Stained glass window by Harry Clarke in Wexford dedicated to the memory of Lt William Henry O'Keefe who was killed in action.
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