First Battle of Champagne | |||||||
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Part of the Western Front of the World War I | |||||||
Waiting for the attack, in the trench. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
France | German Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Joseph Joffre Langle de Cary |
Erich von Falkenhayn Karl von Einem | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Fourth Army | 3rd Army | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
93,432 | 46,100 | ||||||
The First Battle of Champagne (French: 1ère Bataille de Champagne) was fought from 20 December 1914 – 17 March 1915 in World War I in the Champagne region of France and was the second offensive by the Allies against the German Empire since mobile warfare had ended after the First Battle of Ypres in Flanders (19 October – 22 November 1914). The battle was fought by the French Fourth Army and the German 3rd Army. The offensive was part of a French strategy to attack the Noyon Salient, a large bulge in the new Western Front, which ran from Switzerland to the North Sea. The First Battle of Artois began on the northern flank of the salient on 17 December and the offensive against the southern flank in Champagne began three days later.