 In this command he participated in the Artois Offensive.In 1916, Fayolle was given command of the Sixth Army, which he commanded at the battle of the Somme, under the command of Ferdinand Foch's Northern Army Group.In preparation for the Somme offensive, the French Sixth Army under Fayolle would attack with 8 divisions, a force reduced from the original 40 divisions because of the French needs at Verdun.