The Battle of Cambrai 1917

        Over the years several misconceptions have grown around the Battle of Cambrai.  It is often erroneously remembered as the first time tanks were used in battle, or as the first tank-vs-tank battle, or other similar “firsts” concerning tanks, most of which are not true.  The “first” that the battle does actually represent however is the first time a combined arms force of tanks, artillery, infantry, and aircraft were used in concert to execute a breakthrough on the battlefield.  In that respect the battle does represent the birth of modern armored warfare and the principles of modern combined arms that would be used to shock the world again some twenty-two years later in the hands of the rebuilt German Army.

          In November 1917 the European powers were still locked in bloody, stagnant trench warfare.  The tremendous firepower of the machine gun had literally forced armies underground early in the war, and major offensives on both sides since that time had gained little ground for unsustainably high casualty rates.  To break the deadlock of the trenches Great Britain began developing “landships” in February 1915.  These machines, developed in secrecy, were long and rhomboid-shaped to maximize their trench-crossing abilities.  The first production model, the Mark I, weighed 28 tons, was operated by a crew of 8, and could cross 8’ wide trenches.

          Great Britain first fielded their Mark I tanks in September 1916 during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, but they were portioned out in small “penny packets” to support the infantry and on the soft, muddy, shell-cratered ground of the battlefield many quickly foundered and broke down.  Despite that loss of face the stalemate of the trenches forced commanders to look for any way to break the impasse.  In July 1917 the British Army created an independent Tank Corps, and its leaders, Colonel John Fuller and Brigadier-General Hugh Elles, quickly began formulating their own tank doctrine.  They agreed that if tanks were concentrated in sufficient numbers on firm ground and coordinated with infantry and air units, they could spearhead an assault through the German trenches and into the territory beyond. 

          With British industry making tanks at a rapid rate, Fuller and Elles began searching for a suitable place to launch their plan.  They quickly settled on the Cambrai area, but were vetoed by the Army Chief of General Staff.  The commander of the Third Army, Sir Julian Byng, picked up on it however and began lobbying for in their favor.  The Flanders campaign then underway distracted everyone’s attention, but by October it was clear that the small gains made in that campaign were not worth the cost and times were growing desperate.  British high command wanted to attack the Germans again somewhere to sustain the pressure, but the French Army needed time to rebuild itself.  The time was right for a few officers to test out their “crazy” theories in a quiet sector of the front.

      With the newly formed Tank Corps under the command of Byng’s Third Army, planning began in earnest in October 1917.  Basically the tanks were to set out for the German trenches and crush the tangled belts of barbed wire before them, paving a path for the infantry on foot behind them.  Once they reached the enemy trenches they would cross them by dropping in fascines; large, primitive bundles of sticks carried on top of the tanks that could be dropped into the trenches and rolled across like makeshift bridges.  Fighters overhead would strafe the trenches, covering the tanks and infantry below.

          Preparations for the attack were difficult; nearly 500 tanks, hundreds of new artillery pieces, hundreds of thousands of shells and some 10,000 horses had to be stockpiled in a narrow area, all while maintaining absolute secrecy!  Regular bombardments were carried out to maintain the illusion of the status quo.  Finally at 2 am on November 20^th the tanks were fired up and driven out of their hiding places.  At 3 am the men were issued tea and rum, and at 6:10 am on the morning of November 20^th, the tanks started towards the German lines.

          Initially the plan worked perfectly.  The first belts of German barbed wire were crushed under the tracks of the tanks, allowing the trailing infantry to walk through.  In most places the first line of German trenches were easily overwhelmed.  Surprised German soldiers crept out of their dugouts to see mechanical monsters lumbering towards them in the morning mist.  III Corps did extremely well, reaching its first day’s objectives in less than five hours.  Enemy defenses that would have exacted horrible casualties were overrun or surrendered.  By mid-day the German lines had a huge hole punched in them, and the entire Gruppe in the area had been virtually either wiped out or taken prisoner.  At the end of the 20^th, British forces rested some three to four miles deep into German territory across a six mile front.

          In Britain, church bells rang out as the press trumpeted a great victory.  In actuality however the triumph was short-lived.  Literally half of the tanks that started out on that day were lost, many to the enemy but most to mechanical breakdown.  The British were not prepared to exploit the battlefield beyond the trenches.  Artillery could barely keep up with the tanks and cavalry, nor could precious supply units.  The 21^st saw the British push further and make more gains, but the Germans stiffened and the going got tougher.  On the 22^nd the few operational tanks left were doled out in small groups, but by now the Germans had devised tactics to defeat them.  What had started as a combined arms blitzkrieg had devolved into an infantry and cavalry effort.  To stem the bleeding the German High Command had brought in all of its reserves, and with many of the British troops exhausted and running low on supplies, the tide began to turn.  The British got as far as Fontaine, but inevitably had to pull back.  A huge German counterattack was launched on December 1^st, but it too ran out of steam and by the 7^th the lines had consolidated with the British only a couple of miles closer to Berlin – this achieved at the cost of approximately 45,000 casualties per side.

          While strategically Cambrai ended as a minor, pyrrhic British victory, it was the battle that gave birth to modern armored warfare.  Those with any imagination at all could see the day when armored vehicles would restore mobility to armies that had been forced underground by the machine gun.  The Mark IV tanks at Cambrai were clumsy, unreliable, and slow, but they were the forerunners of what was to come.