Cambrai (Flesquieres Ridge)

Both leading brigades of the 51st Highland Division, after overcoming the German front line machine gun positions, watched with high hopes, as their tanks were pressing on alone towards the crest of the Flesquieres Ridge. The Germans, on the other …

1917-11-20

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Both leading brigades of the 51st Highland Division, after overcoming the German front line machine gun positions, watched with high hopes, as their tanks were pressing on alone towards the crest of the Flesquieres Ridge. The Germans, on the other hand, had prepared a little surprise for the British, by dragging a number of field gun batteries into position on the other side of ridge. So as the tanks made the top of the ridge, the German guns opened fire. One by one the British tanks, as they attempted to turn around, were decimated. The British attack in this section, at this point, was stopped in its tracks.

Flesquieres, France

The Battle of Cambrai was a British attack followed by the biggest German counter-attack against the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) since 1914, in the First World War. The town of Cambrai, in the département of Nord, was an important supply point for the German Siegfriedstellung 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 techniques 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 British Third Army, decided to combine both plans. The French and British armies had used tanks in mass earlier in 1917, although to considerably less effect.

Wikipedia: Battle of Cambrai (1917)

German

British