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battle of arras
T
he
F
ailure
oF
The
n
ivelle
o
FFensive
Thursday, 3
rd
May 1917
Effectively the French failure on the Aisne let the Germans off the hook.
Originally intended as a diversion to assist General Nivelle, the Battle of
Arras soon became the main event and had to be maintained, at least
in part, in order to allow the French to recover. Although Field Marshal
Douglas Haig had agreed to support the French, Arras was not his main
priority. With the Battle of Messines now just a few weeks away, Haig
needed to keep fighting at Arras in order to distract German attention
away from his own offensive at Ypres, aimed at clearing the Belgian coast,
which was planned to start in July.
Once it became apparent that the French attacks on the Aisne had
failed the Germans were free to focus all their attention on Arras, which
made the British task increasingly costly and difficult.