The Battle of Cambrai was a World War One Western Front battle that lasted from November 20th to December 7th 1917. It was the first battle in which massed tanks were used.
Tanks were first used at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. They had been used during subsequent battles but with little success and much criticism of their worthiness. The Commander of the Tank Corps, Brigadier General H. Elles wanted to put tanks into action on a flat, dry battleground where they would not get stuck in mud or large shell holes. He suggested an attack on the German held town of Cambrai. Cambrai had a major railway line and was therefore an important supply town for the Germans. It also lay just behind the strong German defensive line known as the Hindenburg Line.
Elles’ plan was taken up by Julian Byng, the Third Army Commander. The attack, which would comprise tanks, infantry and artillery bombardment was scheduled for November 1917. The attack began at 6.20 am on 17th November with an intensive artillery bombardment of the Hindenburg Line which took the Germans by surprise. At the same time around 350 tanks spread out over a 10km began advancing towards the German line. The tanks were closely followed by infantrymen. The combination of surprise, mass use of tanks and superiority in numbers the British managed to break the German line along a 6 mile front in some cases pushing 4 miles ahead.
Unfortunately, troops in the centre of the line had not managed to secure the key village of Flesquieres, partly due to the positioning of German field artillery and partly due to the fact that Major General G M Harper commanding the 51st Highland Division had no faith in tanks and ignored the command to ensure that his men stayed close to the tanks. A lack of reserve troops also meant that Byng could not follow up the successes of the first day. Although some further small gains were made German attacks were increasing.
On 30th November 1917 the German army launched a full scale counter-attack which succeeded in pushing the British back and recovering territories lost on 20th November.
On 4th December 1917 the decision was made for the British to withdraw. The two-week battle saw the loss of 43,000 British and 45,000 German men. Although only a third of the tanks deployed were serviceable by the end of the battle the potential for future use of tanks had been demonstrated.
