MOREAU Paul Henri, Mort pour la France 21 septembre 2015 à Roclincourt (62)

Witness of Lt. Luis Caujolle of the 209th Infantry on the 23rd Sptember 1915."On arrival at Roclincourt, we were met by a storm of iron, a hail of 105mm timed shells and other percussives which on falling pulverised the last remnants of any walls left standing. We advanced across communication trenches filled with sticky mud, bogged down to the knee. You slid, you fell and at any moment had to be prepared to drop down to avoid sprays of shrapnel and stone propelled by the shells. It was useless to try and stay together in formation."

The Third Battle of Artois is also known as the Loos–Artois Offensive and included the big British offensive, known as the Battle of Loos. This was the last attempt of 1915 by the French commander-in-chief Joffre to exploit an Allied numerical advantage over Germany. Joffre's plan was for simultaneous attacks in the region to capture the railways at Attigny and Douai to force a German withdrawal from the Noyon salient.

Following a four-day artillery bombardment starting on 21 September, infantry of the French Tenth Army attacked. By 26 September, the XXXIII and XXI corps had taken the village of  Souchez but the III and XII corps had made little progress south-east of Neuville-St. Vaast.  The French failed to breach the German second line of defence and a breakthrough could not be achieved. Joffre sent the French IX Corps to assist the British attacks at Loos but this action also yielded little of strategic value. The German Official Historians of the Reichsarchiv recorded German casualties to the end of October as 51,100 men. The French Official History to record 48,230 casualties, which was fewer than half of the casualties of the second battle of Artois from April to June. J. E. Edmonds, the British Official Historian recorded 61,713 British and c. 26,000 German casualties at the Battle of Loos.
Source: Wikepedia.

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