G. J. Giddins Studio of Military Art
Military paintings and prints
The Nivelle Offensive, Reims. April 1917
The Nivelle Offensive, Reims. April 1917 by G.J. Giddins.
Elements of the French Reserve Army Group going over the top at Reims during the Nivelle Offensive.
Oil on canvas, ??" x ??"
The hero of the Marne in 1914 and Verdun in 1916, the charismatic General Robert Nivelle managed to convince the French as well as the British War Cabinets that he held the key to success on the Western Front.
Nivelle expected to achieve his strategic aims within 48 hours but failed to maintain secrecy for the attack. He was so confident in success that he promised the British and French War Cabinets that he would call off the attack if no breakthrough was achieved in just three days. Nivelle even stubbornly refused to alter his plans after details were thought to have been captured, and the Germans had re-grouped to the Hindenburg line effectively neutralising the attack.
The main attack by twenty divisions of the French Reserve Army along a 25 mile front, opened at 06:30 hours on the 16th April 1917 and soon overran the lightly held German front line. Facing them were the German Seventh Army supported by their newly formed First Army, which had been rushed forward to face the expected French attack.
The rolling barrage of more than 3,800 guns, which formed the centrepiece of the attack, had a minimal effect on the heavily defended German second line, but left the following infantry exposed to machine guns as they struggled through the mud and barbed wire. Not one of the supporting tanks managed to reach the German front line.
The main attack was cancelled on day three of the offensive. By now the French Reserve Army had suffered 134,000 casualties and any hopes of an independent French victory on the Western Front had gone. Mass mutinies now occurred and only by the replacement of General Nivelle by General Pétain a few days later, prevented a complete collapse of the French Army.
