Amabel Williams-Ellis

THE FIRST BATTLE OF CAMBRAI

PART I

I

All through the later part of the Ypres struggle the Tank Corps had turned their eyes towards certain other parts of the line with a longing as for The Delectable Mountains.

They imagined places in dry rolling chalk country where a Tank could travel on the surface of the ground. They dreamed of battles in which the artillery had neither given the enemy weeks of warning nor helped him to reduce the ground to a swamp or the likeness of an ash heap.

A starving man does not picture every circumstance of a meal, a drowning man the sensations of warmth and solidity, more vividly than did the Tank Corps call up their dream battle.

General Elles and his Staff had several places in mind in which such a battle might be fought. Perhaps they dwelt most affectionately on the thoughts of some sector of the Hindenburg line, some high rolling chalk plateau anywhere south of Arras.

Several such delightful spots lay in the domain of General Sir Julian Byng’s 3rd Army. Perhaps he had some sort of operation in view already! In September General Elles hopefully paid him a visit as he lay at Albert. They conferred.

The Army Commander had, indeed, an idea of attacking.

More, he had already independently worked out the place, and many of the details, of just such an attack as the Tank Corps had been sighing for.

Together the two Generals worked at the scheme and a draft plan was forwarded to G.H.Q.

G.H.Q., however, could not allow the attack for the present. The Ypres affair must first be thrashed out, but when that was ended, say by early November, then such an attack would have their blessing.

Meanwhile the two conspirators waited eagerly, all the while working out and perfecting their plans.

At last, on October 20, the scheme was finally sanctioned, and Z day was fixed for November 20. Still only four members of the Tank Corps Staff knew of the project, and these four immediately stole off to our lines near Havrincourt to make a preliminary survey of the new site.

II

The First Battle of Cambrai was to be a single-minded battle. It was to fulfil in the simplest way the prime function of war, that is, to destroy the forces of the enemy.

To attain this end it was to rely upon surprise, audacity, and rapidity of movement.

Its main action was to be completed in about twenty-four hours, during which time it was proposed to penetrate the Hindenburg Line, which here consisted of four systems of trenches. Territorial gains were not to be so much considered as were the destruction and capture of enemy personnel and material. In other words, we were out to kill and chivvy Germans. The system of attack was to be one completely new for a full-dress battle. There was to be no artillery preparation whatever. To all appearance the front line was to be perfectly normal up to the very moment of attack, when two Army Corps and three Brigades of Tanks were suddenly to hurl their whole weight against the enemy.

Such tactics demanded that the most complete secrecy should be maintained up to zero hour itself, and for the second time in the history of the Tanks a vital secret was successfully kept.

The area to be raided lay just south of Cambrai. It was an open rolling chalk plateau, which had lain uncultivated for two years, and was now covered with a thin growth of wan grey grass.

From north-west to south-east the low ridges ran, save where the dominating hump of Bourlon’s wood-crowned Hill ran across the grain of the country.

On either flank of this area, sometimes at right angles to the curve of our lines, sometimes running parallel to the German lines, ran the Canal du Nord and the Canal de l’Escaut.

The slopes were nowhere very steep, but the levels were everywhere varied by spurs and—so-called—“ravines.” One of these, which lay just within the German lines, and parallel to our front, for some time gave grave concern both to the Tanks and to other arms, who apparently coupled it in their minds with the Grand CaÑon of Colorado. Its name sounded so formidable, and it was marked so large on the map! It might well prove a serious obstacle to the progress of Tanks. A series of exhaustive reconnaissances carried out by the Tank Corps, however, dispelled this alarming legend and the “Grand Ravine” stood revealed as being no more than a shallow dry field ditch which could be jumped by any rabbit of reasonable activity.

The German defences, the famous Hindenburg Line, lay wide and strong across the spurs. The main line of resistance had been everywhere well placed on the reverse slopes of the main ridges, and was invisible from our lines. Only from the air and from rare posts of vantage could we see a length of it. There were three lines of trenches, each trench anything up to 15 ft. wide, with an outpost line thrown forward to screen these main defences. In front of the main line lay band upon band and acre upon acre of dense wire; nowhere was it less than 50 yards deep, and here and there it jutted out in great salients flanked by batteries of machine-guns. Never had we before been faced with such a wilderness of wire.

It was calculated that to cut it with artillery would have taken five weeks and cost twenty millions of money.

Not only was the actual “ditch” of the trench believed to be in most places some 12 ft. wide and 18 ft. deep, but at either side, the parados and parapet (each about 2 ft. 6 in. high) were, we had reason to believe, so sloped as to increase the effective width to about 16 to 18 ft.

These were the dimensions of some trenches captured by us at Arras, and for such trenches we had to be prepared.

The space to be cleared was too wide for a Tank. A special means of crossing was, however, devised by the Staff of the Central Workshops at Erin.

This was a special huge fascine made of about seventy-five ordinary bundles of brushwood, strongly compressed and bound by heavy chains.

It was carried on the nose of the machine, and could be released by a touch from inside the Tank by a specially ingenious releasing gear, and dropped neatly into the trench.

The manufacture of the 350 fascines and the fitting of the Tanks with the releasing gear was a piece of work of which the Central Workshops have reason to be proud. They received the order for 350 fascines and 110 Tank sledges on October 24, when they had already for some months been working at high pressure, chiefly upon Tanks salved from the Salient.

To fulfil the new order the shops worked day and night for three weeks.

To make the fascines, 21,000 ordinary stout bundles of brushwood, such as are used for road repairing, were unloaded at the Central Workshops.

Here eighteen Tanks had been specially fitted up, for binding and fastening these into bundles of sixty or seventy.

The Tanks acted in pairs, pulling in opposite directions at steel chains which had been previously wound round and round the bundles.

So great was the pressure thus exerted that, months afterwards, an infantryman in search of firewood, who found one of these fascines and gaily filed through its binding chain, was killed by the sudden springing open of the bundle.

When they were ready, each bundle weighed a ton and a half, and it took twenty of the Chinese coolies employed at the Central Workshops to roll one of them through the mud. On one occasion 144 fascines had to be loaded on to trucks within twenty-four hours. Concurrently with the fascines the Central Workshops achieved the making of the 110 Tank sledges. The whole of the timber needed for this work had to be sawn out of logs. Besides this they repaired and issued 127 Tanks.

III

Each Tank could only carry one fascine, and once it had dropped it into a trench had no means of picking it up again. There were, however, three broad trenches to be crossed.

This circumstance had to be taken into account in the general scheme of attack. Every detail of this plan had been most ably worked out either by Lieut-Colonel Fuller himself (G.S.O.I. to the Tank Corps), or by the Staff whom he inspired. Every movement and formation which we are going to describe had been reduced to an exact drill, several special exercises being evolved for the occasion. One of them, a simple platoon drill for the infantry, was, we are told by an official historian, based upon a drill described by Xenophon in the CyropÆdia, and attributed by him to Cyrus of Persia (circa 500 B.C.).

Very briefly the main plan was as follows:—

The whole line of attack was divided into areas for three Tanks who formed a section and worked together.

Of these one was an “Advance Guard Tank,” and the other two were “Infantry Tanks.”

The advance guard Tank was to go straight forward through the enemy’s wire, and, turning to the left without crossing it, to shoot along the fire trench which lay in front of it.

Its object was to keep down the enemy and protect the two infantry Tanks. These the while both made for one selected spot in the trench; the left-hand one cast in its fascine, crossed the trench on it, turned to the left and worked down the fire trench; the right-hand Tank crossed the fire trench on the first Tank’s fascine, and made for the second trench, dropped in its fascine, and crossing, worked down this second trench. Meanwhile the advance guard Tank had swung round and crossed over the first and second trenches on the fascines of the two infantry Tanks, and it therefore moved forward with its own fascine still in position for the third line.

The infantry were also divided into three forces and worked in single file. The first force were “Trench Clearers.” They worked with the Tanks, and helped to clear up trenches and dug-outs. They carried small red flags with which they marked the paths which the Tanks had made through the wire. The second were the “Trench Stops,” who, as it were, played the net over the rabbit hole to the Tank’s ferret. The third force were the “Trench Garrisons,” who took over the trenches as they were captured.

One feature of the combined Tank and infantry training for this battle was particularly interesting.

They had not very long to work together, yet it was essential that the infantry should have confidence in the trench-spanning and wire-cutting power of the Tanks.

Infantry units were therefore invited by the Tank Corps to build their own defences and entanglements, the Tanks guaranteeing to cross the trenches and chew up the wire of their best efforts.

Some very formidable and ingenious defences were made.

The Tanks, however, everywhere carried out their guarantee, to the great edification of the infantry.

The following table gives briefly the allocation of Tanks and infantry to the various objectives:

The part to be played by the artillery was carefully worked out. There was to be no preliminary bombardment, but as soon as the attack was launched the heavy guns were to begin counter-battery work and were to shrapnel the bridges along the Canal.

At the same time a jumping barrage of smoke shells and H.E. was to cover the advance of the Tanks and infantry.

The secrecy of the attack made it impossible for any registering shots to be fired, and the ranges could be worked out in theory only.

Several squadrons of the R.A.F. were to co-operate, flying low; their especial work being to bomb enemy Headquarters.

The cavalry were also billed to co-operate.

Special wire-pulling Tanks fitted with grapnels were employed to clear convenient broad lanes through the wire for them, and their needs were throughout carefully considered.

For one reason and another, however, the cavalry did not, after all, find it possible to take much part in the fighting.

The preparations for the battle were of the thorough and laborious kind always requisite for a “full-dress” attack.

An immense amount of railway movement was necessary in order to bring up the three Tank Brigades, whose component parts were a good deal scattered. Thirty-six trainloads of twelve Tanks each had to be dealt with, and their stores besides.

For the sake of secrecy all this movement was done after dark. There were only two minor accidents, otherwise the whole scheme was worked out exactly to programme.

The usual huge dumps of petrol and grease and special stores had to be formed. Most of them were made in neighbouring woods, where the Tanks also lay up. Havrincourt Wood and Desert Wood were, for instance, used for main dumps, and as lying-up places for the 1st and 2nd Brigades, for in these woods the hornbeam undergrowth had not yet shed its leaves and the Tanks and their stores could lie in perfect secrecy.

For the 3rd Brigade, however, there was no wood conveniently near, and the Tanks lay out in a village with camouflage clothes thrown over them, painted to represent bricks and tiles.

For the forward dumps splendid work was done by the 3rd Army’s light railways, who handled astonishing masses of stores; for example, 165,000 gallons of petrol, 541,000 rounds of 6-pounder ammunition, and 5,000,000 rounds of S.A.A.

Beyond the light railways the Tank fills were transported by supply Tanks.

All these preparations had to be carried out as secretly as possible. Moves were made after dark.

No new wheel tracks must be made. There must be no reference to the battle over the telephone. There must be no extra horse or mechanical transport seen about in daylight.

The concentration of Tanks in the background was explained by the establishment of an alleged new training area. Tank Corps Headquarters established with the army at Albert was disguised under the plausible alias of “The Tank Corps Training Office.”

There must be no increase in aeroplane activity for reconnaissance purposes.

The same troops were to continue to hold the line, the attacking forces passing through them, and those in the line were as far as possible to be kept in the dark as to the new operations. There was always a danger of men in the trenches being taken prisoner in some raid, and the less they knew the better. Oosthoek Wood had not been forgotten.

All the Reconnaissance Officers and the Tank Staff who had to frequent the line wore non-committal burberries and discreet tin hats; one well-known Staff Officer even went to the length of affecting blue glasses; in fact, in the matter of disguise the line was only drawn at ginger whiskers. The cars they came in had their distinguishing badges taken off, and their drivers were carefully primed with cock-and-bull stories with which to explain their presence. Staff and Reconnaissance Officers slunk about, above all avoiding Headquarters and those other social centres which etiquette enjoins must be first called upon by all who visit other people’s trenches. Friends were stealthily avoided, and a curious jumble of assorted and obvious lies was gradually put into circulation.

At the Lyceum the villain conducts his affairs in this sort of way without arousing the least suspicion in any one, but in real life, and particularly in the line where a look-out must constantly be kept for spies, such conduct is apt to cause remark.

Before Cambrai embarrassing situations frequently arose which could be elucidated only by the drawing aside of some justly indignant Commanding Officer for a few minutes’ whispered conversation.

At the 1st Brigade Headquarters in Arras there was a locked room with “No admittance” written large upon the door. Here were ostentatiously hung spoof maps of other topical districts and a profusion of plans lay spread about.

The Reconnaissance Officer always hoped that this room was duly ransacked by the “unauthorised person,” for whose visit he had taken such pains to prepare.

One more precaution was most carefully observed in the line itself. Exactly the amount of artillery fire to which the enemy was accustomed must be continued, and from guns of the calibre which he expected. It was considered that more or less shooting, or the use of guns to which he was not accustomed, would be sure to alarm him.

For more than a week before the battle there was no rain. Low, creeping mists screened our movements and made it almost impossible that the enemy should have seen us from the air.

But the time was, nevertheless, an anxious one.

On the night of the 18th-19th the enemy raided our line and captured some of our men.

We were uncertain how much these men knew, and how much information they would give under examination.

If under prompt examination they gave away the gist of our plans the enemy would have twenty-four hours in which to bring up reserves. There was, however, nothing to be done except to await the event.

There was yet one other particular in which the Battle of Cambrai was to differ from other battles.

In modern warfare the place of the General commanding any considerable body of troops is almost invariably in the rear at some point where communications are good and whence he can effectively control his reserves.

His leadership is more a matter of the spirit and moral which he can infuse into his troops, than of his actual presence in the forefront of the battle. But General Elles had determined to lead his Tanks in person. All the available machines were to be used, there would be no reserves for him to handle. He would be best placed, he argued, in his Flag Tank where he could keep his hand on the pulse of the battle. It must have been with great satisfaction that he perceived that he would here once more be able to indulge his remarkable penchant for battles, a penchant from whose gratification his responsibilities as a commander had now long (officially) debarred him.

On the evening before the attack he issued his Special Order to the Tank Corps. It was not the incitement to “do their damnedest” which the contemporary Press fathered upon him. That spurious fosterling he hated the worse, the more he perceived its popularity.

His authentic Order was as follows:—

The statement that the G.O.C. was to lead the attack came as a great surprise to every one; it was probably a greater surprise to some of the authorities than it was even to the Tank Corps themselves. This decision was generally accepted with pleasure by the fighting troops, but many of the more thoughtful were filled with very great anxiety. It was clear that the General’s Tank, the “Hilda,” was going to be thrust close behind the barrage in a conspicuous position flying the flag; the dangers that it ran were, therefore, greater than those run by any of the other Tanks. On the other hand, it was generally realised that the Tank Corps had, in this action, a very great deal at stake; it risked not merely machines and the lives of its officers and men, but its very existence. If the Tanks failed to make good this time there is little doubt that this type of mechanical warfare would have been abandoned for some time at least. On November 20, therefore, the Tank Corps was “all in” in every sense of the word.

IV

At 4.30 on the morning of the 20th a heavy burst of firing from the enemy made us fear for the integrity of our secret, but to our great relief it died away, and for an hour before zero (6 a.m.) quiet reigned along almost the whole front of attack.

From documents captured during the battle we found that up to the 18th the Germans had issued such reports as “The enemy’s work is confined to the improvement of his trenches and wire.” But the prisoners whom the Germans had taken on the night of the 18th had yielded more interesting information. On the strength only of their preliminary examination the Germans moved reserve machine-guns up to FlesquiÈres.

At the last moment a higher enemy authority seems to have again examined the prisoners, and, too late, an urgent warning was sent down to all units in the line to maintain a sharp lookout and to issue armour-piercing bullets immediately.

This message we found half transcribed in a front-line signal dug-out.

Six o’clock had struck.

Under cover of the mist the whole line of 350 Tanks moved forward, led by General Elles’ Flag Tank, the “Hilda.” As they moved a thousand concealed guns hailed down their fire upon the German line. Even through the din of the barrage and the clamour of their own engines the Tank crews could hear, as they advanced, the tearing and snapping of the German wire as they trampled it under them. The bewildered enemy was overwhelmed. He had only one last hope. Perhaps the wide trenches themselves would hold back this inexorable company!

But when each of the second line of Tanks stopped, ducked its head, laid its “stepping stone” in the trench and crawled easily over it, the enemy completely lost his balance.

All along the line men fled in panic. Only at a few tactical points did our onrush meet with any real opposition. The surprise, the novel tactics, the crushing onrush of the Tanks proved too much in those first confounding minutes for one of the best fighting armies the world had ever seen.

The “Hilda” reached the outposts line in the van of the battle; the resistance here was only slight, but General Elles succeeded in picking up a few targets which he pointed out to the gunners. It is reported that he did most of his observing with his head thrust up through the hatch in the roof of the Tank, using his feet in the gunner’s ribs to indicate targets.

Once the Tanks were astride the enormous Hindenburg ditch, the enemy only offered resistance in a few places. The “Hilda,” still carrying the flag which had been several times hit but not brought down, went on to her first objective line, which included the main Hindenburg front, and support lines.

But the General’s holiday was over. The great problem had been triumphantly solved.

The next most pressing need would be for reorganisation.

If any of the Tanks were required to operate again the next day, that reorganisation must be begun at once. So reluctantly leaving the “Hilda” to carry on to further objectives, the General came back on foot, somewhat impeded by various parties of “unmopped up” Germans who insisted on surrendering to him. By the afternoon, General Elles was back at his Headquarters, functioning by telephone and shorthand-typist in the manner usual to Generals.

Here and there, after the first rush, a desperate handful of the enemy would be rallied by their officers to defend some point of vantage.

At Lateau Wood on the right of the attack heavy fighting took place, including a duel between a Tank and a 5.9 in. howitzer. Turning on the Tank the howitzer fired, shattering and tearing off most of the right-hand sponson of the approaching machine, but fortunately not injuring its vitals; before the German gunners could reload, the Tank was upon them, and in a few seconds the great gun was crushed in a jumbled mass amongst the brushwood surrounding it.

A little to the west of this wood the Tanks of “F” (the 6th) Battalion, which had topped the ridge, were speeding down on MasniÈres. One approached the bridge, the key to the Rumilly-Seranvillers ridge, upon the capture of which so much depended. The bridge had, as the Tank Commander knew, been damaged either by shell-fire or by the German sappers. It was, however, most important that he should cross, and he very pluckily, therefore, went for it. As the Tank neared the centre of the bridge, there was a rending of steel girders—the bridge had broken, and as it collapsed the Tank disappeared into the waters of the canal. Other Tanks arriving, and not being able to cross, assisted the infantry to do so by opening a heavy covering fire.

The Tank that had fallen into the canal had been let down quite gradually into the water as the bridge slowly subsided.

There was but one loss. The wig of one of the crew got knocked off as his head emerged from the manhole, and it floated away down the canal and was never seen again. Lost to view, its memory was kept green for many months by its injured owner’s claims for compensation.

The dilemma which most cruelly racked the official mind was the question whether a wig came under the heading of “Field Equipment,” “Loss of a Limb,” “Medical Comfort,” “Clothing,” “Personal Effects,” or “Special Tank Stores.” Finally, however, its owner did receive monetary compensation for his loss.

But the genius of Comedy had not done with the Tanks.

These absurd camp followers remained for long the most cherished possessions of the Battalion, and accompanied them wherever they went.

At FlesquiÈres the 51st Highland Division, which was using an attack formation of its own, was held up; it appears that the Tanks outdistanced the infantry, or that the tactics adopted did not permit of the infantry keeping close enough up to the Tanks. As the Tanks topped the crest, they came under direct artillery fire at short range and suffered heavy casualties.

No less than sixteen Tanks were knocked out by a single field gun.

This gun was at the west end of the village, and from its position the Tanks were each outlined against the sky as they topped the ridge. Its story is told in Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch, with a generosity which might well have encouraged what the Tank crews considered a most undesirable spirit in enemy gunners:

There was stiff fighting at Havrincourt, and before nightfall the 62nd Division and its Tanks had captured Graincourt. Several Tanks even pushed on beyond towards Bourlon Wood and the Cambrai road, but by this time the infantry were too exhausted to follow.

By 4 p.m. on November 20 one of the most astonishing battles in all history had been won, and as far as the Tank Corps was concerned, tactically finished.

There were no reserves of Tanks, and the crews that had fought all day were now very spent and weary.

The infantry were still more exhausted and a further advance was impossible. The night was spent by Tank crews and infantry in resting, and by the Staff in planning a renewed attack for the next day.

A letter home from a Tank officer describes a typical scene:

V

The next day (November 21) saw composite companies of Tanks fighting in co-operation with new infantry.

But though the infantry was new, it was unfortunately not fresh. Sir Julian Byng had no rested troops at all at his disposal. It may be said that the whole of the subsequent history of the battle and its sequel hinges upon these two points. All our infantry was weary in the extreme, and most of it had never co-operated with Tanks before.

Consequently many strong points, though they were finally captured, gave us more trouble than they should.

On the 21st, Tanks attacked several villages and strong points with success.

Thirteen Tanks of “B” (2nd) Battalion surrounded the village of Cantaing. They met with a stubborn resistance as they closed in upon it. To this they replied vigorously with machine-gun and 6-pounder fire, and by noon the enemy had been driven out.

Two Tanks also, of “B” Battalion, were sent for by the infantry, who were held up by heavy machine-gun fire outside Noyelles. In half an hour they succeeded in crushing all resistance, setting fire to an ammunition dump and patrolling the village till the infantry took over.

Neither Tank was in the least hurt, and there were no casualties among the crews.

Twelve Tanks of “H” (8th) Battalion received orders soon after 8 a.m. to attack Fontaine-Notre-Dame.

The village was six miles distant, and the Tanks came in for severe fighting on the way there.

They reached their objective at about 4.30. By 5.30 they had captured it and were withdrawn after handing it over to the infantry.

But next day a furious German counter-attack dislodged our garrison.

We were determined to possess it, and on the 23rd attacked again in force.

The enemy was prepared, and a desperate battle ensued among the houses. Twenty-four Tanks from “B” and “H” Battalions had entered the village first, whereupon the enemy retired to the tops of the houses and rained down bombs and bullets upon the roofs of the machines.

The Germans were in force, and in the narrow streets it was difficult for the Tanks to bring an effective fire to bear upon them.

The infantry was too weary to clear the place, and after patrolling the streets the Tanks withdrew, as soon as darkness covered their retreat.

On the same day thirty-four Tanks of the 1st Brigade supported a brilliant attack made by the 40th Division upon Bourlon Wood. The wood was captured after a sharp struggle. The Tanks then pressed on towards the village, but as at Fontaine, the infantry, who had suffered severe casualties in the taking of the wood, was too exhausted to follow up.

On November 25 and 26 we renewed our attack upon Fontaine-Notre-Dame and again tried to capture Bourlon Village.

In the end, however, both these important points remained in enemy hands.

A week had now elapsed since the launching of the battle.

According to the original scheme, the action should not have been continued for more than three days, but in spite of our original “Self-Denying Ordinance” as to ground, when desirable posts of vantage were actually in our hands, we had fallen a prey to “land hunger,” and had still fought on and continued to advance in order to consolidate these new and delightful possessions.

But now we held the extremely important tactical point formed by the heights of Bourlon Wood, and it was plain that to take Fontaine and Bourlon Village would cost us more than they were worth to us.

We had done all and more than all we set out to do. The troops urgently needed resting. They had had no proper rest before the battle, and now despite their sense of victory they were extraordinarily spent.

The Tanks’ crews, too, were almost fought to a standstill, and owing to the constant daily necessity there had been for hurrying composite companies into action, their units had become inconveniently disorganised.

So on November 27 we rested from our labours and counted the spoil.

It was a weary but satisfied body of men that General Elles inspected at Havrincourt on November 29 when the party broke up.

The 1st and 3rd Brigades were entraining immediately for Mult and Bray respectively, and the 2nd was to follow them in a few days’ time.

Good-byes were exchanged, and, as every one thought, the curtain rung down upon the First Battle of Cambrai.

Part II
(November 30)

In order to understand the events that followed, we have to imagine a victorious but very weary British Army holding a newly consolidated salient against an enemy whom they have just roused to a revengeful fury by a sudden stinging slap in the face.

The enemy had been horribly frightened, and now that he had recovered he realised how urgently his prestige demanded signal vindication. We were, it would seem, half expecting in a tired unimaginative sort of way that he might hit at us on the new Bourlon Wood flank of our salient. On the Gouzeaucourt side were old-established defences. These we held thinly—it never entering our heads apparently that he would attack an old piece of the line.

But the German Army Commander, General von der Marwitz, had an ambitious scheme in his mind. He meant to pinch off our salient and, if possible, to capture the entire third and fourth Corps, who held it. His right wing was to operate from Bourlon southward, and his left from MasniÈres westwards, the two attacks converging on Havrincourt and Metz.

The attack was launched shortly after daylight on November 30, and failed completely on the right against Bourlon Wood; here the enemy was caught by our artillery and machine-guns and mown down by hundreds. On the left, however, the attack succeeded; first, it came as a surprise; secondly, the Germans heralded their assault by lines of low-flying aeroplanes, which made our men keep down and so lose observation. Under the protection of this aeroplane barrage and a very heavy trench mortar bombardment the German infantry advanced and speedily captured Villers Guislain and Gouzeaucourt.

It was not till nearly ten o’clock on November 30 that Brigadier-General Courage of the 2nd Tank Brigade received a telephone message warning him of the attack.

The Tanks had been definitely “dismissed,” and were busy refitting, and at that moment every machine was in complete dÉshabillÉ. Many of the engines were in process of being tinkered with, and not a single Tank was filled up or contained its battle equipment. Those whom some emergency has obliged to get out an ordinary car on a cold winter’s morning when it has neither petrol, oil, nor water in it, and has half its engine strewn about the garage, will understand the difficulties that faced the Tank Corps. They will realise that when no less than twenty-two Tanks of “B” (2nd) Battalion had started for the battle by 12.40, a very smart piece of work had been done. Very soon fourteen Tanks of “A” (1st) Battalion followed them, and by two o’clock twenty Tanks of “H” (8th) Battalion were able to move up in support.

In the words of Sir Douglas Haig’s Despatch, “Great credit is due to the officers and men of the (2nd) Tank Brigade for the speed with which they brought their Tanks into action.”

By the time the first twenty Tanks reached Gouzeaucourt, however, the Guards, who had been hurried up with all speed, had managed to retake it, and the Tanks were therefore pushed out as a screen to cover their consolidation.

Here they remained all day, beating off enemy counter-attacks.

All day along both sides of the salient the enemy hammered fiercely at our lines. Here and there he penetrated them. Cooks, servants, and signallers, every available man, was given a rifle and put into the line, and the Despatch tells of wonderful individual deeds that were done as the battle surged and eddied confusedly. We did not propose to allow the Germans to hold their new possessions, the points of vantage out of which they had hustled us.

On December 1, Tanks, Guards, and dismounted Indian cavalry hit back against Villers Guislain and Gauche Wood.

“Tanks were,” the Despatch notes, “in great measure responsible for the capture of the wood. Heavy fighting took place for this position, which it is clear that the enemy had decided to hold at all costs. When the infantry and cavalry finally took possession of the wood, great numbers of German dead and smashed machine-guns were found. In one spot four German machine-guns, with dead crews lying round, were discovered within a radius of twenty yards. Three German field guns, complete with teams, were also captured in this wood.

“Other Tanks proceeded to Villers Guislain, and in spite of heavy direct artillery fire three reached the outskirts of the village, but the fire of the enemy’s machine-guns prevented our troops advancing from the south from supporting them, and the Tanks ultimately withdrew.”