The Second Battle of the Aisne began as part of the ‘Nivelle Offensive’. After a week of diversionary attacks by the British to the north at Arras, 19 Divisions of the French Fifth and Sixth Armies went into battle along an 80 km front from Soissons to Reims. Losses were horrendous and by the end the French had suffered 187,000 casualties, triggering mutinies within the French Army and the replacing of Nivelle by General Petain.
Following the Twenty-Second 