Battle of La Malmaison

Battle of La Malmaison
Part of the Nivelle Offensive on the Western Front in the First World War

La Malmaison and the Laffaux Salient, October 1917
Date23–27 October 1917
Location49°28′17″N 03°29′10″E / 49.47139°N 3.48611°E / 49.47139; 3.48611
Result French victory
Belligerents
 France  German Empire
Commanders and leaders
French Third Republic Paul Maistre German Empire Max von Boehn
Strength
6th Army
(XI Corps
XIV Corps
XXI Corps)
7 divisions
1,845 guns
64 tanks
7th Army
Casualties and losses
12,000–14,000 18,000–50,000
La Malmaison is located in France
La Malmaison
La Malmaison
La Malmaison, a commune in the Aisne department, northern France

The Battle of La Malmaison (Bataille de la Malmaison) from 23 to 27 October, was the final French action of the 1917 campaign in the First World War, which had begun with the Nivelle Offensive. The French captured the village and fort of La Malmaison and took control of the Chemin des Dames ridge. The German 7th Army (General Max von Boehn) had discovered French preparations for the attack and also identified the date and time. Boehn chose to defend the front positions, rather than treat them as an advanced zone and to conduct the main defence north of the Oise–Aisne Canal. The German artillery was outnumbered three-to-one and on the front of the 14th Division, 32 German batteries were confronted by 125 French, which silenced most of the German guns before the attack. Gas from French bombardments on low-lying land near the Oise–Aisne Canal in the Ailette valley, became so dense that it was impossible to carry ammunition and supplies forward or to remove the wounded.

Battalions from specialist German counter-attack divisions (Eingreifdivisionen) had been distributed along the front line and were caught in the French bombardments, German infantry shelters having been identified by French air reconnaissance and systematically destroyed. After the four-day bombardment was extended by two more days because of bad weather, the French XIV, XXI and XI corps of the Sixth Army, attacked on a 12.1 km (7.5 mi) front with six divisions.[a] 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 the French start time was moved forward to 5:15 a.m.

The French infantry advanced behind an elaborate creeping barrage but the earlier zero hour meant that the attack began in the dark. Rain began to fall at 6:00 a.m. and the 63 attached Schneider CA1 and Saint-Chamond tanks were impeded by mud and 27 bogged behind the French front line. Fifteen tanks were immobilised crossing no man's land or in the German front line but the 21 remaining tanks and the infantry reached the German second position according to plan. The 38th Division captured Fort de Malmaison and XXI Corps took Allemant and Vaudesson. From 24 to 25 October, XXI and XIV corps advanced rapidly; the I Cavalry Corps was brought forward into the XIV Corps area, ready to exploit a German collapse. The German 7th Army conducted the Bunzelwitz Bewegung (Bunzelwitz Manoeuvre), a retirement from the Chemin-des-Dames to the north bank of the Ailette on the night of 1/2 November.


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