Western Front
Front
(489)1917
January
February
March
- 17
- British take BapaumeOn 17 March 1917 the Australians entered burning Bapaume, goal of the Somme battle. The Germans gave it up without a fight, falling back to the Hindenburg Line.
- French take RoyeOn 17 March 1917 the French advance guard entered Roye, ruined by the Germans. About 800 inhabitants whom the occupiers had not deported awaited the troops.
- Airship L 39 destroyedAt dawn on 17 March 1917, after a failed raid on England, French anti-aircraft guns shot down the airship L 39 over Compiègne. The whole crew was killed.
April
- 09
- Key eventBattle of Arras (1917) beginsOn Easter Monday, 9 April 1917, the British and Canadians attacked at Arras. In one day they advanced 5 km and took thousands of prisoners.
- Key eventAssault on Vimy RidgeOn 9 April 1917, in a snowstorm, four Canadian divisions attacked Vimy Ridge. By evening they held almost all of it except the highest point, Hill 145.
May
- 03
- Key eventThird Battle of the Scarpe beginsAt 3.45 a.m. on 3 May 1917, still in darkness, three British armies struck again at Arras. They failed almost everywhere. Only the Canadians succeeded.
- Key eventBattle of Bullecourt beginsOn 3 May 1917 the Australians broke into the Hindenburg Line east of Bullecourt. The 6th Brigade held the breach, but the British 62nd Division's attack failed.
- Key eventStart of the French Army mutiniesOn 3 May 1917 near Soissons about 1,000 men of the 2nd Colonial Division shouted "Down with the war!". After Nivelle's defeat, mutinies swept the army.
- 04
- French retake CraonneOn 4 May 1917 the French 36th Division took the ruins of Craonne and broke onto the Californie plateau, one of the last successes of the Nivelle offensive.
- Third Battle of the Scarpe endsOn 4 May 1917 the British pulled the last troops out of the failed Scarpe attack. In Paris Haig and the French agreed the time for a breakthrough had passed.
June
- 13
- Key eventGotha raid on LondonOn 13 June 1917 fourteen Gothas bombed the City and East End by day, killing 162 people, 18 of them children at a Poplar school. No bomber was lost.
- Pershing in FranceOn 13 June 1917 Gen. John Pershing and his staff landed at Boulogne. That evening crowds greeted him in Paris, and in the next days Poincaré, Joffre and Pétain.
July
August
September
- 25
- End of the Battle of the Menin Road RidgeOn 25 September 1917 the Germans attacked at Ypres south of Polygon Wood and pushed back the 33rd Division. Plumer still kept the attack set for the morning.
- Boulogne conferenceOn 25 September 1917 at Boulogne Lloyd George and Painlevé agreed that the British would take over more front and the guns sent to Italy would return.