Despite failures throughout the year to break the German lines, the allied forces, by the summer of 1915, were confident that they would succeed in achieving the decisive blow to end the war. Following the failure of the Neuve Chapelle campaign, the French began an offensive to the to the south of La Bassee, which would come to be known as the second battle of Artois. The British stayed relatively stagnant for a time, replenishing their forces which had been crippled during the battle of Neuve Chapelle and the second battle of Ypres.
By May, Gen. Haig felt that his forces were strong enough to undertake another offensive. The target chosen by the British was Aubers ridge, just north of Neuve Chapelle. Once again, the Germans held the high ground, facing the British with a very difficult advance. To make matters worse, the area was saturated from the heavy spring rains making trench digging near impossible. Artillery support was very limited because of shortages of guns and ordnance. Despite all these terrible conditions, the attack was scheduled for May 9.
In the early morning hours on the 9th, the artillery began a short but heavy bombardment. Within a half an hour, the British infantry was advancing into a hail of machine gun and small arms fire. They were soundly beaten back to their starting positions. Gen. Haig ordered a follow up attack later in the day, which ended in the same result. By this point, the British had lost some 11,000 men. Haig was persuaded by his field commanders to abandon any further attack against the ridge.
To the south, the French army continued its suicidal attacks on the German stronghold of Souchez. Haig decided to shift the focus of the British offensive south of Aubers Ridge, to the German positions near the town of Festubert. This time, the British would change their tactics in an attempt to match the might of the German defenses. A larger artillery barrage was to be used as well as a night attack.
Near dusk on May 15, the artillery opened up on the German positions around Festubert. The shells did little damage to the German positions as would be found out by the advancing infantry. Under the cover of darkness, two territorial divisions, mostly made up of Indians, attacked. Confusion set in almost immediately and the British were cut to pieces by the German gunners. The end result of the battle showed the British casualties to be over 16,000 with no territory gained. The tactics were changed for the worse following the failure to involve more guns and more men in operation such as this, which would have disastrous results for the British in the years to come.
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