Battle of Cambrai (1917): The First Mass Tank Attack in History

The Battle of Cambrai was a British offensive on the Western Front from 20 November to 7 December 1917, famous as the first battle in which tanks were used in mass. On the first day, around 470 tanks and six infantry divisions broke through the German Hindenburg Line south-west of Cambrai to a depth of several miles, but a powerful German counter-attack ten days later recovered most of the ground.

Background

By late 1917 the British army was exhausted by the long and costly Battle of Passchendaele in Flanders. Commanders were looking for a way to break the deadlock of trench warfare without weeks of preliminary bombardment, which churned up the ground and warned the enemy where an attack would come.

The Tank Corps had used tanks since the Battle of the Somme in 1916, but in small numbers and on ground ruined by shellfire. Its staff officer, Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. C. Fuller, proposed a large raid on firm, unbroken chalk ground near Cambrai. General Sir Julian Byng, commanding the British Third Army, expanded the idea into a full offensive aimed at capturing Bourlon Ridge and opening a way towards Cambrai.

The sector was part of the Hindenburg Line, a deep German defensive system built in 1916–1917 with wide trenches, belts of barbed wire and concrete shelters. It was thinly garrisoned, because the Germans regarded it as a quiet area.

New methods

Cambrai combined several innovations. Tanks would lead the infantry and crush paths through the wire. Each fighting tank carried a fascine, a huge bundle of brushwood that could be dropped into a wide trench so the tank could cross. Tanks worked in groups of three to clear trenches in turn.

Just as important was the artillery. Instead of firing ranging shots in advance, which would have revealed new gun positions, British gunners used “predicted” fire based on careful survey, maps and weather calculations. This allowed more than 1,000 guns to open fire without warning at the moment of attack. Aircraft supported the advance as well.

The Mark IV tank weighed about 28 tonnes and moved at little more than walking pace. Its crew of eight worked in deafening noise and great heat, breathing petrol and exhaust fumes, and many men emerged sick or exhausted after a few hours. Steering required several crew members working together, and the commander could see the battlefield only through narrow slits. These limits help explain why so many tanks broke down or became stuck.

The attack on 20 November

At 6:20 a.m. on 20 November 1917 the barrage began and the tanks moved forward through morning mist. Surprise was almost complete. Across most of the front the German defenders were overwhelmed, and the British advanced as much as 6–7 km (about 4 miles), an extraordinary distance by Western Front standards. Several thousand German prisoners and many guns were captured.

The exception was the centre, at Flesquières, where the 51st (Highland) Division met determined resistance. German field guns firing over open sights destroyed a number of tanks as they came over the crest, and the village held out until the Germans withdrew that night. Bridges over the St Quentin Canal at Masnières were also lost or damaged, halting the planned cavalry breakthrough.

By the end of the day around 179 tanks were out of action from gunfire, mechanical breakdowns and ditching. In Britain the news of the advance was celebrated by the ringing of church bells, the first such celebration of the war.

Bourlon Wood and the German counter-attack

The British did not have enough reserves to exploit the breakthrough. Many divisions and guns had been sent to Italy after the Italian defeat at Caporetto, and the troops at Cambrai were tired. Over the following days the fighting centred on Bourlon Wood and Bourlon village on the ridge overlooking Cambrai.

From 23 to 28 November British infantry, supported by the remaining tanks, fought a costly battle for the wood. They captured much of it but could not secure the whole ridge. German reinforcements arrived steadily.

On 30 November the German Second Army, under General Georg von der Marwitz, launched a counter-attack against both flanks of the British salient. After a short, sharp bombardment that included gas and smoke, German assault troops used infiltration tactics, moving quickly past strongpoints. Low-flying aircraft attacked British positions.

In the south the Germans broke through and recaptured Gouzeaucourt before a British counter-attack, including tanks and the Guards Division, retook the village. Over the next week Byng withdrew from the most exposed ground. When the battle ended on 7 December the Germans had regained most of the territory lost on 20 November and even held some trenches that had been British before the battle.

By the numbers

Key people

• Julian Byng (1862–1935): commander of the British Third Army, previously in charge of the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge.
• Hugh Elles (1880–1945): commander of the Tank Corps, who led the attack from his own tank, Hilda.
• J. F. C. Fuller (1878–1966): Tank Corps staff officer and later an influential theorist of armoured warfare.
• Georg von der Marwitz (1856–1929): commander of the German Second Army, who directed the counter-attack.

Consequences and legacy

Cambrai disappointed contemporaries. A court of inquiry examined how the British had been surprised on 30 November. Yet the battle proved that a combination of tanks, predicted artillery fire, infantry and aircraft could break the strongest defences without warning. These methods were developed further in 1918, notably at the Battle of Amiens.

The German counter-attack also showed the power of infiltration tactics, which Germany used on a much larger scale in the Spring Offensive of March 1918. The Newfoundland Regiment’s conduct at Masnières contributed to its being granted the title “Royal” in December 1917, a distinction very rarely granted in wartime.

In 1998 the remains of the Mark IV tank D51 Deborah, knocked out at Flesquières on the first day, were excavated. The tank is now displayed in a museum at Flesquières.

Myths and facts

Myth: Cambrai was the first tank battle. Tanks had fought since September 1916. Cambrai was the first mass use of tanks, and historians stress that its success depended as much on artillery and surprise as on armour.

Myth: a single German gunner destroyed many tanks at Flesquières. British reports created a legend of one heroic German officer. In fact several German batteries were responsible for the losses.

Timeline

• 1917, August: Fuller proposes a tank raid near Cambrai.
• 1917, 20 November: The British attack with about 476 tanks and break into the Hindenburg Line.
• 1917, 21 November: Flesquières is occupied after the German withdrawal.
• 1917, 23 November: Church bells ring in Britain; fighting for Bourlon Wood intensifies.
• 1917, 30 November: The German Second Army launches its counter-attack.
• 1917, 3–7 December: The British withdraw from the most exposed positions; the battle ends.

Why it matters

Cambrai marked the arrival of a new kind of warfare. Its first day showed how surprise, tanks and scientific artillery could break a fortified front, while its last days showed how quickly such gains could be lost without reserves.