The French part of the offensive was intended to be strategically decisive by breaking Bodily_harm through the German defences on the Aisne front within with casualties expected to be around A preliminary attack was to be made by the French Third Army at St Quentin and the British First , Third and Fifth armies at Arras , to capture Conquering high ground and divert German reserves from the French fronts on the Aisne and in Champagne .

The French part of the offensive was intended to be strategically decisive by breaking Bodily_harm through the German defences on the Aisne front within with casualties expected to be around A preliminary attack was to be made by the French Third Army at St Quentin and the British First , Third and Fifth armies at Arras , to capture Conquering high ground and divert German reserves from the French fronts on the Aisne and in Champagne .

The main offensive was to be delivered Military_operation by the French on the Chemin des Dames ridge ( the Second Battle of the Aisne , , and ) , with a subsidiary attack by the Fourth Army ( Third Battle of Champagne , Battle of the Hills , Battle of the Hills of Champagne ) .

The main French offensive on the Aisne began Process_start on 16 April and also achieved Achieve considerable tactical success but the attempt to force Causation a strategically decisive battle on the Germans was a costly failure and by 25 April the main offensive had been suspended Process_end .

The line ran Self_motion from Arras to Laffaux , near Soissons on the Aisne .

Labour was transferred Military_operation south in February 1917 to work Being_in_operation on the from La Fère to Rethel and on the forward positions Placing on the Aisne front , which the Germans knew Know were due to be attacked Attack by the French .

Divisions released Military_operation by Operation Alberich and other reinforcements increased Cause_change_of_position_on_a_scale the number of divisions on the Aisne front to early April .

The Hindenburg Line was attacked Attack several times in 1917 , notably at St Quentin , Bullecourt , the Aisne and Cambrai and was broken Bodily_harm in September 1918 , during the Hundred Days Offensive .

The Race to the Sea ( ; , ) took place Process_start from about 1914 , after the Battle of the Frontiers ( ) and the German advance Motion into France , which had been stopped at the First Battle of the Marne and was followed by the First Battle of the Aisne a Franco-British counter-offensive .