page_title: Nivelle Offensive
section_title: Battle of La Malmaison
hierarchical_section_title: Nivelle Offensive / Aftermath / Subsequent French operations / Battle of La Malmaison
caption_attribution_description: English: Map showing German fortifications in the Laffaux Salient and the Chemin-des-Dames in October 1917
context_page_description: The Nivelle Offensive, was a Franco-British operation on the Western Front in the First World War. The French part of the offensive was intended to be strategically decisive by breaking through the German defences on the Aisne front within 48 hours, with casualties expected to be around 10,000 men. A preliminary attack was to be made by the French Third Army at St Quentin and the British First, Third and Fifth armies at Arras, to capture high ground and divert German reserves from the French fronts on the Aisne and in Champagne. The main offensive was to be delivered by the French on the Chemin des Dames ridge, with a subsidiary attack by the Fourth Army. The final stage of the offensive was to follow the meeting of the British and French armies, having broken through the German lines, then the pursuit of the defeated German armies towards the German frontier.
  The Franco-British attacks were tactically successful; the French Third Army of Groupe d'armées du Nord captured the German defences west of the Hindenburg Line near St. Quentin from 1 to 4 April, before further attacks were repulsed.
context_section_description: The Battle of La Malmaison (Bataille de la Malmaison 23–27 October 1917) led to the French capture of the village and fort of La Malmaison and control of the Chemin des Dames ridge. Von Boehn chose to defend the front positions, rather than treat them as an advanced zone and conduct the main defence north of the Canal de l'Oise à l'Aisne. Gas bombardments on low-lying land near the canal dispersed very slowly and became so dense that the carriage of ammunition and supplies to the front was made impossible. Eingreif divisions were distributed in battalions along the front line and caught in the French bombardments, where the infantry shelters had been identified by French air reconnaissance and systematically destroyed.
  Zero hour had been set for 5:45 a.m. but a German message ordering the front garrisons to be ready at 5:30 a.m. was intercepted and zero hour was moved forward to 5:15 a.m. Rain began to fall at 6:00 a.m. and a force of 63 Schneider CA1 and Saint-Chamond tanks, were impeded by mud and many bogged down. The French infantry and 21 tanks reached the German second position according to plan, the 38th Division captured Fort de Malmaison and XXI Corps took Allemant and Vaudesson. On 25 October the village and forest of Pinon were captured and the line of the Canal de l'Oise à l'Aisne was reached. In four days the French advanced 9.7 km (6 mi) and forced the Germans off the Chemin des Dames, back to the north bank of the Ailette valley, by the night of 1–2 November. The French took 11,157 prisoners, 200 guns and 220 heavy mortars for losses of c. 10,000, from 23–26 October.
caption: Malmaison and the Laffaux Salient, 1917
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:01 21:01:14", "Image ExifOffset": "2202", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4420", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2135", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "47BE846BA6A24CCE92F51D8799D09C56", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}