Battle of Cambrai (1917)

Battle of Cambrai (1917)
Part of the Western Front of the First World War
German soldiers recovering a British Mark IV tank
Date 20 November – 7 December 1917; 2 weeks and 3 days Location Cambrai, France 50°10′36″N 03°14′08″E / 50.17667°N 3.23556°E / 50.17667; 3.23556 Result See Aftermath section Territorial changes British capture Havrincourt, Flesquières, Ribécourt-Dreslincourt Germans capture Gonnelieu
Belligerents
United Kingdom  India[1]  Newfoundland[2]  France  United States (30 November)	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Douglas Haig Julian Byng William Pulteney	Georg von der Marwitz Otto von Moser Hugo von Kathen
Strength
2 corps 476 tanks (378 combat tanks)	1 corps
Casualties and losses
75,681 (10,042 killed) 180 tanks	54,720 (8,817 killed)

The Battle of Cambrai (Battle of Cambrai, 1917, First Battle of Cambrai and Schlacht von Cambrai) was a British attack in the First World War, followed by the biggest German counter-attack against the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) since 1914. The town of Cambrai, in the département of Nord, in France, was an important supply centre for the German Siegfriedstellung (known to the British as the Hindenburg Line) and capture of the town and the nearby Bourlon Ridge would threaten the rear of the German line to the north. Major General Henry Tudor, Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA), of the 9th (Scottish) Division, advocated the use of new artillery-infantry tactics on his sector of the front. During preparations, J. F. C. Fuller, a staff officer with the Tank Corps, looked for places to use tanks for raids. General Julian Byng, commander of the Third Army, decided to combine both plans.^[a] The French and British armies had used tanks en masse earlier in 1917, although to considerably less effect.^[4]

After a big British success on the first day, mechanical unreliability, German artillery and infantry defences exposed the frailties of the Mark IV tank. On the second day, only about half of the tanks were operational and British progress was limited. In the History of the Great War, the British official historian Wilfrid Miles and modern scholars do not place exclusive credit for the first day on tanks but discuss the concurrent evolution of artillery, infantry and tank methods.^[5] Numerous developments since 1915 matured at Cambrai, such as predicted artillery fire, sound ranging, infantry infiltration tactics, infantry-tank co-ordination and close air support. The techniques of industrial warfare continued to develop and played a vital part during the Hundred Days Offensive in 1918, along with replacement of the Mark IV tank with improved types. The rapid reinforcement and defence of Bourlon Ridge by the Germans, as well as their counter-attack, were also notable achievements, which gave the Germans hope that an offensive strategy could end the war before American mobilisation became overwhelming.^[6]

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