The Third Battle of Artois is also known at he Loos-Artois offensive was fought between September 25th and November 4th 1915. It was the major effort by the British together with the French to achieve a breakthrough on the Western Front. The offensive was preluded by a massive artillery bombardment where the French fired over 1.5 million shells at the Germans. The initial French assault near Souchez village was successful breaching the first line of the German defenses but it failed to break the second line of German defenses. The British who were attacking to North, had similar experiences and could not achieve a breakthrough. The cost was very high attacking troops suffered over 40% casualties during their assaults.

Overall the offensive succeeded in advancing the front 3 miles in a small 9 mile area at a cost of 48,000 French casualties and 61,000 British casualties with the Germans who were mostly defending losing 26,000 men.