The Battle of Cambrai

In World War I, after years of stalemate in the trenches, British Army commander Sir Douglas Haig was coming under increasing pressure from government and public alike to come up with some sort of military success. The plan put to him in September 1917 involved a major attack on the strategically important French town of Cambrai which was protected by the strong defences of the Hindenburg Line.

Plan of the Cambrai battlefield

The somewhat controversial plan involved a massive attack by tanks with infantry and cavalry support. Although tanks had seen limited action earlier in the war, they had yet to prove themselves, and the better ground conditions in the Cambrai area were thought to benefit their movements.

In previous battles, days or weeks of artillery bombardment were a precursor to the offensive. However this tactic was not always a help, because it forewarned the enemy that an attack was to take place, and the shelling had little effect on the barbed wire fortifications. So it was decided that this time there would be no preliminary artillery barrage; therefore precisely at 0620 on November 20th 1917, thousands of British guns opened up and the tanks, which had been secretly moved to the Front, began to roll.

The Battle of Cambrai would go down in history as the first major tank offensive. It wasn't a case of tank versus tank because the Germans at that time didn't have any, but the British committed nearly 500 of the new machines to the battle. The majority were armed with cannon and machine guns, although there were older tanks dedicated to cutting barbed wire and crossing trenches in order to make a path for the rest of the heavy armour and infantry.

British WW1 tank

British First World War tank in action

Accompanying the tanks across a 10 km front were six infantry and two cavalry divisions. In addition, another 1000 guns were made available, and all were supported by the relatively new Royal Flying Corps. Total surprise was achieved. Within just a few hours the Hindenburg Line was broken for the first time in the war and the Germans were forced to retreat almost to Cambrai.

Rapid initial success brought the capture of thousands of prisoners and a large number of guns. But it wasn't all plain sailing, as some cavalry commanders refused to work with the tanks. Thus an opportunity was lost to capitalise on the breakthrough, and after the first day gains were much harder to come by.

After their initial surprise the Germans worked hard to recover lost ground, and launched many counter-attacks. Around 20 divisions were used during theses counter-attacks, and within a week almost all the ground gained by the British offensive had been reclaimed by the Germans.

Both sides suffered high casualties during the Battle of Cambrai. The Germans lost around 50000 men and the British about 45000. The deployment of tanks on such a large scale had failed to achieve the expected breakthrough, although it had demonstrated the potential of this 'new' weapon in warfare. Some tanks which had been abandoned by the British were later recovered by the Germans so that the technology could be analysed. They too recognised the possibilities of the new weapon, and later used the captured machines against the British!

Back in Britain news of the initial breakthrough created a welcome and much-needed boost in public morale, resulting in the ringing of church bells in Britain for the first time during the war.

The Tank Corps of World War I eventually became known as The Royal Tank Regiment. To this day they celebrate 20th November as their annual regimental day, because Cambrai was the first major tank battle in history.