The Battle of Cambrai: A Turning Point in World War I

the Battle of kombre in late 1917 marked the first time in the first world war that church bells rang out across Great

Britain to celebrate a victory in the first successful use of mass tanks British troops broke through German

lines and forced the Germans back but despite the celebrations the war would rage for almost another year after

kombre but it was a key moment in the development of modern combined arms Warfare and anti-tank tactics and both

the British and Germans learned very different lessons at cabre that would help decide the outcome of the Great War

by November 1917 the first world war had been raging for more than three years but victory for either side still seemed

as far off as ever on the Western Front the fighting in 1914 had resulted in a grinding stalemate characterized by

trench warfare the technology of the time in terms of weapons communication and transport very much favored the

defensive since modern rifles machine guns and especially artillery meant it was certain deaths to remain in the open

and operations meant to penetrate the entire enemy defense system usually failed so armies on both sides dug in a

complex network of trenches took shape one that made it even easier to defend and harder to attack especially once

many more machine guns thickets of barbed wire and reinforced underground shelters were added to the defenses

the British the French and the Germans all made many attempts to find a solution to the problem of trench

warfare or stellen's Krieg as the Germans called it the Germans tried to poison gas and flamethrowers in 1915

before turning their attention to the Russian front the British and French tried well pretty much everything they

could think of attacking on a wide front attacking on a narrow front hand grenades trench Motors more artillery

different uses of artillery breakthrough plans attrition plans and even that most famous of new weapons the tank

as time went by the Allies who were under political pressure to attack and drive the Germans out of France and

Belgium had become better at waging trench war but so had the Germans it wasn't until the Battle of kombre which

took place in November 1917 that both the British and the Germans each Drew their own lessons that would change the

face of war the next year 1917 had been a bad year for the Allies Russia had suffered two revolutions and was in a

state of collapse the French army had mutinied as a result of heavy casualties and poor generalship and Italy had been

defeated at the Battle of caporeto the British had also failed at passchendale in the summer and the early fall

German Innovations and defensive tactics seem to stifle every Allied Innovation to break the deadlock the Germans had

gone over to the defensive in 1917 and it made a partial Retreat to a new and even more powerful defensive system

called the Hindenburg line by the British and the ziegfried stelong by the Germans it was considered so strong that

weaker German formations were sent there to recover from fighting elsewhere of the 54th division recalled

the sector was excellently fortified with very broad exceptionally strong wire entanglements and good deep dugouts

it was therefore called the sanatorium of the West if the Allies hadn't been able to break

through the German positions before the task might seem even more daunting now especially given the pressure on the

British to carry more of the load even during the years of stalemate the British were also learning and adapting

even as they fought battles of attrition and failed to sustain breakthroughs of German defenses the Battle of kombre is

famous for being the first large-scale tank battle in history but it was not the first time the tanks were used the

British had first put tanks in the field in September 1916 at the Battle of the song but the new weapon made little

difference there were too few of them they were slow and they were extremely unreliable particularly in muddy

conditions the Brits also use tanks in the spring 1917 offensive around Aras and Vimy

Ridge but they were not decisive there either by late 1917 though they were available

in much larger numbers and 476 new Mark IVs would be ready for the next offensive tank Corps commanders were

anxious to have another chance to show what their new weapons could do and tank Corps staff officer JFC Fuller began

developing plans for a local attack in the combre sector which had been relatively quiet this sector was held by

General Sir Julian Bing's third Army whose artillery Commander General Henry Tudor had been developing offensive

plans of his own these plans were combined and expanded into what would turn into the Battle of kombre in

November 1917. now tanks get a lot of attention but they were only one component of the British Army in 1917.

the Infantry the Cavalry and especially the artillery would all play their part in the coming offensive and this

combined arms Warfare would come together for the first time at Cambridge and change the nature of War on the

Western Front in 1918. coordinating the efforts of the different branches of the army wasn't

new but it was extremely difficult and constantly changing technology made it even more so this was especially true in

terms of the artillery the British had a lot more and critically a lot more heavy artillery in late 1917 than they had

before light field artillery like the 18 pounder was effective at firing at

infantry but heavy guns like the six and eight inch pieces could destroy trenches and fortifications and the British had

started to use heavy artillery differently the old technique had been to spend days pounding the German

positions to destroy them and allow the Infantry to then walk in against light resistance the artillery would conquer

and the Infantry would occupy but there were problems with this tactic there could be no element of surprise and it

limited the number of British guns that could Target German batteries to suppress them when they did Target

German guns they had to fire off a few rounds to adjust their aim a practice called ranging which gave the Germans

time to react the most that could be achieved was a limited byte and hold tactic of grabbing a small piece of

tactically valuable land which had been done throughout 1917. to get over these problems several

Innovations came together in time to be used at Cambray teams of spotters tracked the muzzle flashes of German

guns and the sound of the guns being fired through careful triangulation the location of the German guns could be

worked out without any ranging fire giving away the British intentions coupled with evidence from aerial

photography detailed maps of the entire front were produced which the Gunners could then use to Target their fire when

the attack began and not before for kombre the barrage would be a surprise would be short and would Target enemy

guns accurately as well as support the Infantry so the artillery worked with the Royal

flying core and with the Infantry but the Infantry in the tanks would also have to work together much more closely

than they'd ever done before how exactly the tanks should be used was a point of contention between third Army

Commander Julian Bing and tank core staff officer JFC Fuller and we asked the curator of the tank Museum David

Whaley to tell us more about the meticulous preparations of the tank core before the battle of kombre

now Fuller argues with Bing's headquarters staff saying why haven't we got a reserve of Tanks to exploit any

gaps made but from Bing's point of view the headquarters at third army they are looking at the tank as a means of

getting the Infantry and then the Cavalry Through the Wire so it's really important for them that all the tanks

are made available to make as many Gap Through the Wire as possible so Fuller loses the argument of having a reserve

all tanks are going to be used in that initial attack to try and break through the three layers of the Hindenburg line

Fuller comes up with these new tactics new drills and his argument is he's got only a maximum of 10 days for each

infantry unit to train with their accompanying tank force so he thinks of it that he says he wants this to be Like

A Clockwork battle and he's going to to reduce the tactics down to a drill and by doing so he's trying to simplify how

the tanks and the Infantry are going to operate together and to make sure they go forward literally together so that

they don't lose the benefits of each other's systems of fighting so the Infantry to be able to point out targets

to be able to actually hold ground that the tanks can capture from that point of view and of course the tanks are there

to suppress that wire to get that wire out of the way and to also then take on a machine gun pose to allow the Infantry

to actually advance Fuller's idea is to have the tanks in two sections Advanced tanks in the main

body tanks and if you boil it down to a section which at this time they're looking at three tanks so one tank in

the advance that would be the advanced tank followed by two other tanks now the first tank would approach the German

line having crushed wire as it's going through it it would then reach the German front line turn left

and machine gun into that trench whilst the two main body tanks go forward one of them then drops it's facing into the

hole it crosses the German trench advances to the next line turns left it's followed by its second main body

tank and that advanced tank will then go back along the German line cross over the fasting there and Advance again

behind where the two main body tanks have always made it Way Forward ready to then drop another fast scene and

continue forward now they should be being followed about 50 yards behind by what Fuller calls worms or platoons of

infantry but behind each tank that are in single file so they're gaining some protection from the tank and they're

going in the tracks of the tank so in other words the wire is not going to be a problem for them and these sections

are then separated into blocking parties bombing parties so they can secure the trenches that hopefully the tanks have

got them to now that training goes on units get together in some areas that training is very very successful before

the attack dummy trenches are made tank Crews get to meet their equivalents on the ground the officers go off for a

drink in the evening you know there's a purpose need there to get the bonding going on because the Infantry many

haven't seen tanks before they were still a new thing on the Western Front and if they had work with tanks maybe

because of those earlier battles they're not that impressed by them but this was to build confidence between the two arms

the two units so they will work in conjunction when the actual attack comes now I've mentioned the word fascin

that's this great bundle on the top of the mark IV tank these are put together the idea is by Sir who's a technical

officer at tank Corps headquarters it's an old idea bundle as a Brushwood or chestnuts paling you pull it together

thousands of yards a chain are brought over from Britain backer Erin the tank core headquarters a thousand Chinese

laborers from the Chinese labor Corps they're hired labor all the way from neutral China they are tasked with

making over 400 vaccines ready for the day and basically chain ties up that great big bundles of about one and a

half tons of wood and they can be let go by a lever in the driver's cab as you reach a German trench it drops in the

trench German trenches as I mentioned about two and a half meters wide the tank alone will not cross them so by

having that Gap filler that fasting the tanks can cross and advance so all this energy all this effort goes

into making sure that we have a system in place that the Infantry and the armor will cooperate the key element being

that the tanks will be going forward to clear the wire they actually get grapnels to rip some of that wire out

with two wire cutting tanks going forward turning apart take away that wire in huge belts as you can see

there's a wonderful description couldn't even push a broom handle through it you know it's that thick this wire but the

aim being then we've cleared away for the Infantry to capture to go through the various lines of the German defenses

and then let the Cavalry arm of exploitation that's been in the wings has been waiting for so long that then

should be able to go through and hopefully go around combri cross the various canals on either side two sides

of of the battlefield and therefore capture what is a communication point and again the famous hey always bring

that Mobility back to the battlefield one of the tank Corps officers who was involved in the training major William

Watson recalled cooperating with the Infantry before kombre we trained with the splendid 51st

division for 10 days working out the plans of our attack so closely that each platoon of Highlanders knew personally

the crew of the tank which would lead it across No Man's Land as far as was humanly possible within the limits of

time we discussed and solved each other's difficulties until it appeared that at least on one occasion a tank and

infantry attack would in reality be a combined operation the Royal flying Corps also trained to

bomb German communication and supply lines artillery batteries and air fields to directly support the ground attack

this would prevent German return fire and allow the Cavalry which was Far faster than the tanks to exploit the

expected breakthrough on the eve of the attack Lieutenant Arthur gold Lee Flew Over the British lines and commented on

the combined arms forces he saw below every village in the forward zone is crowded with troops including artillery

and masses of Cavalry with horse lines everywhere and there are hundreds of tanks around too from the air you see

their tracks sprawling across the countryside obviously a big push is coming anytime now

before that big British push came at conbre the Germans had also been preparing and adapting to Allied tanks

we talked to David Willie again about the various ways that the Germans had in dealing with enemy tanks

when the Germans first saw the tank in September of 1916 there was obviously initial alarm it engendered fright in

some of the front line troops even though it wasn't that successful on those very first tank attacks

it led the German High command to first of all start their own tank program which leads with Hans vulma designing

the a7v tank but they also think they need to find methods of defeating the tank on the battlefield

that entails they get 50 new batteries of 77 millimeter field guns they're made on smaller Wheels this is over a meter

high on this 77 millimeter gun a meter wheel means it's lower they only have four horses to maneuver it instead of

the usual six and they place these new batteries in front line positions with the initial instructions you are not

there for counter battery work or normal bombardments you are only there to be wheeled out or maneuvered out of

emplacements if a tank attack occurs now as we know the British don't use tanks again till the following year Iris and

then later a messing so there is a relaxation in the German attitude of the tank as if

it's maybe not the threat they first thought it was so a lot of these batteries get redeployed and reused as

standard artillery rather than that anti-tank roll now the Germans have already issued a

7.92 smk armor-piercing bullet to Frontline troops they're hard to make they've got a nickel steel core which

can penetrate quite a bit of armor plate and they're in the front line already because they're using them for sniping

at things like sniper Shields that are metal shield sometimes set in embrasures in the front lines in the trench systems

now the Germans capture a Mark II tank at bullacaw a part of the Aris battles and it's taken away for firing trials

now that Mark II does not have proper armor plate on it it is just boilerplate it was actually intended only for

training and not to be used in the front line so the Germans are doing their firing tests against this vehicle and

they say to the front line troops look the SNK bullish alone the 7.92 easily go through the armor protection we don't

think you're going eyes of too much to worry about and again that's a faucet that takes a long time before the

Germans realize even though they later capture a mark IV tank it's quite some time before they realize they were

looking at a training tank with that Mark II in the background there's other ideas

they put together they are looking at using their anti-aircraft guns their flat cave Vehicles these are basically

sometimes wheeled sometimes half track vehicles with an anti-aircraft gun so they're maneuverable behind the front

line they have a 77 millimeter high angle gun they realize they can use those they can deploy them relatively

quickly to where they think tanks might be operating and they are some of those are

used at cornbre they also look at much more simple ideas the Mind thrower the mining Werther that they're using in the

front lines they change the mount for it so it can actually fire its bomb at a lower trajectory straight towards an

oncoming tank say in October of 1917 put in the order for a large anti-tank rifle that becomes

the teak of air firing a 13 millimeter bullet but they also look at ideas very simple ideas making their trenches wider

so the standard length tank would drop into it we end up extending the length of our tanks to counteract that and at

combre there's some of these huge 2.5 meter wide trenches are being built especially to try and trap tanks they

shouldn't be crossable for a tank of course the tank core comes along with a fast scene to help them go over those

trenches they also dig simple tank pits that's a four meter by four meter hole in the ground sometimes filled with

water and the idea is camouflaged or covered with sticks and brush or camouflage net and the idea is where

they think they can Channel tanks because of the landscape or various other blockages they can Channel tanks

that's where you build your tank trap so the tank will actually fall into it so if ever they found themselves in a

desperate close range scenario German troops could also use the Gibraltar lado consisting of several hand grenades

lashed together to increase explosive power but using this kind of ad hoc weapon was very risky but as David

Willie said the most effective anti-tank weapons of all were artillery so several German artillery units underwent

specialized training in anti-tank tactics they would conceal their guns relatively close to the front often on a

reverse slope when the enemy tanks attacked the gun Crews would wheel out their piece and open fire often as the

tanks crested the slope and exposed themselves against the Horizon this kind of training was carried out in secrecy

and the British High command did not know that the German 54th division on the kombre front was specialized in

fighting tanks on the other hand the Germans also didn't know everything about the British

intentions since the element of surprise was to be a vital component on top of that the use of 376 battle tanks

required enormous logistical preparations which needed to be masked David Willie talks about the Creative

Solutions that the British had to come up with other ideas are put together sledges are

built to carry two tons of stores because these tanks are ridiculously thirsty about 35 miles is your absolute

maximum on good going before you've run out of fuel so fuel is going to be needed as well this is a two gallon fuel

can the sort of shape they were using back at that time they were looking at about 30

000 gallons of fuel so about 15 000 of those cans just to get forward to replenish one Brigade once it had gone

forward fifty thousand gallons already out there in the tanks ready for that first attack so Supply and logistic is a

major undertaking as well and this is all done under a veil of secrecy tanks are only brought up to near the

front line at night any movement is tried to be done during the hours of Darkness the art Royal

flying core flies over the areas just to check there's no sign from above of any tank tracks They reckon a hundred

thousand square yards of camouflage netting was ordered up to hide the tanks the ammunition dumps and some of the

troop locations before they battle actually begins this is a very sophisticated program of deception

camouflage the British tend to call this surprise trying to get this surprise Factor they only motor the vehicles

nearer the front line at tick over speed because there is an estimate you can hear a tank engine about 400 yards away

so again that is carefully thought through and they actually get some noisy tanks about 30 miles South six of these

tanks go on a loop they're offloaded near the front line loaded again quietly taken back offloaded again and this loot

system is going on to make it sound like there's a lot of Tanks being assembled near Aris that's a dummy it's a it's a

deception that's going on amongst many others that are put together there as well as this Keen emphasis we do not

want the Germans to know about what's coming so that idea of the secrecy is really important

in terms of the logistics of those tanks you can tend to get 12 tanks on a train to move it forward to one of the sidings

where there are actually offloading them it's somewhere called the plateau area which is near Albert there's sub lines

going out to other assembly points and once those tanks are offloaded from uh they're basically a ramp is built up

they drive all along the 12 flat cars to the front there and normally what happens is where they're offloaded

there's another ramp out of wooden bolsters has been built and they drive forward they perfect this they've been

training it they can do that in a whole section of 12 tanks in about 20 to 30 minutes so actually it's quite a speedy

operation they've trained very well for this the clearance either side is three to

six inches as they're driving along with these huge tanks with their sponsors on and of course with fast scenes above as

well there's stories of them clipping various bits some pieces taking down communication cables as well that way so

they get those tanks in 14 days to the form up points from those form up points mainly hidden in woods camouflaged then

it's a duty of the reconnaissance officers to actually Mark out the roots of where those tanks are going forward

Elliot hot black the in charge of reconnaissance for the tank Corps and intelligence they tend to blend those

two things together he has men going out with tape like this with a line through the middle laying out exactly the

pegging out the route that those tanks will be taking forward to their startup points and then sometimes out into no

man's land but they try to keep any sort of visible activities away from the German observation and it seems to work

and that's the great thing about this all these efforts the Germans do think something's going to be happening um but

they are not that concerned and it's only by the capture of a couple of uh prisoners just before the attack that

they start believing that they may well be some numbers of tanks in the area so by the end of 1917 the British had

built up a large Fleet of tanks and gained valuable experience in using them in tandem with infantry and artillery

the Battle of kombre would put these new methods and their German counter methods to the test

the British attack at combri began the morning of November 20th with a short but heavy bombardment of German lions

and artillery positions by 1 000 British guns then the 376 tanks and infantry following behind began to move forward

towards the German lines just as they'd been trained and the combined arms assault worked in most areas

second Lieutenant Edward Lee Jones was surprised at how easy the initial Advance was proving

the wire didn't prove to be any obstacle at all the artillery had done their job very well and the element of surprise

The Heavy Gas shelling no preliminary bombardment at all had made it almost a cakewalk one might say

[Music] once they'd driven over the wire the tanks began to fire on the German

positions to make the Infantry jobs easier as private Eric potton observed the tanks were shooting up the German

trenches then the Infantry coming on behind mopped them up on the German side the success of the

combined arms assault was also clear from the front line to the rear commanders

have the German ninth Reserve division described the effect of the coordinated timing between artillery and tanks

after about an hour the artillery fire went beating towards the rear at once I raised the alarm in the same moment

enemy tanks appeared in our first line German field Marshal Crown Prince would later write about his surprise at the

speed of the British Advance given the modest performance of the tanks in earlier battles

I never expected tanks would be able to break through so fast at first the British made Swift progress

and for the first time in the war the church bells rang out across England to signify a great Victory the Cavalry was

even moved up to exploit the long-awaited Breakthrough but cambre would not be the battle that won the war

and broke the deadlock of trench warfare on the Western Front for good overall the British Advance slowed and

eventually stopped short of its objectives British commanders made mistakes there was a breakdown in

coordination between infantry and tanks caused by Officer casualties half of the tanks were lost on the first day alone

there were not enough reserves after losses in previous battles and the British had to send some units off to

support the Italians British infantry following the tanks also proved just as vulnerable as ever to machine gun fire

as major Douglas Wimberley observed tanks had got into both Village and wood to find them bristling with machine guns

these did not bother the tanks but mowed down the Infantry if they tried to advance and the Bosch machine guns were

too many and well hidden for the tanks to deal with they quietened down when the tank was near or its very limited

field of vision was on them only to fire again when it passed very good and brave work too by the German machine gunners

determine German resistance also helps stop the attack including artillery and infantry units trained in anti-tank

combat engineers who blew key bridges over canals and fresh reserves moved up quickly by rail German anti-tank units

played a particularly important role stopping the British at fleskier Ridge but the resulting Legend of a single

German Soldier taking out multiple tanks is hard to confirm lockdown Fisher of the fusilier Guard regiment recalled how

his men reacted we heard a strange roaring and clanking coming from the wood then from out of a

clearing Spitting Fire and puffing smoke came a male tank initially some men wanted to drop back into the shelter of

the sunken road but they stayed put when they saw that others were holding fast anti-tank ammunition was brought out a

murderous rate of fire was opened up and bundled grenade charges were made ready flare Rockets were fired to inform our

artillery about the appearance and whereabouts of the enemy the response from the fortunately numerous artillery

within range was prompt and accurate the British had broken through the Hindenburg line but could not get Beyond

it the Cavalry never swept past kombre as planned instead a German counter-attack pushed the British back

and by early December had retaken most of the ground that had been lost to do this the Germans used the infiltration

tactics and their famous Stormtroopers the British weren't the only ones who were learning both the British and the

Germans paid a high price for successfully testing their methods 44 000 British and between 40 and 50 000

Germans were killed wounded or captured in just under three weeks mostly because of the mass use of tanks

and early British success cambre has been the subject of much discussion after the war was over Winston Churchill

even held it up as an example of how things could have gone differently earlier in the war

accusing as I do without exception all the great Allied offensives of 1915 16 and 1917 as needless and wrongly

conceived operations of infinite costs I am bound to reply to the question what else could have been done and I answer

it pointing to the Battle of kombre this could have been done some historians have argued that the

threat of tank attacks was a major German worry and caused them to waste valuable resources which Justified

British losses at kombre the reality was far less simple as the tactics of kombre were the result of those previous

offensives and could not have been thought up out of thin air on either side the Germans had also shown that

they could achieve surprise and penetrate British defenses with their Stormtroopers as they had done

successfully in Italy and Russia but they didn't always draw the right conclusions about tanks and some reports

they conveniently blamed the tanks for other failures and in other cases staff officers downplayed the role of the

tanks the third guard's Infantry Division was not overly concerned about them after cabre

the division does not see in tanks a weapon that can achieve the stunning success that the enemy hopes if the

Infantry behaves appropriately for every member of the division the initial effect of the tanks on morale has

disappeared whether the introduction of tanks in a coming offensive of ours is necessary will depend on the quality of

opposing troops and their countermeasures German Army Corps Aras was also not

particularly impressed even though they'd taken the blame for being surprised on the opening day at kombre

despite the unquestionable success of the tanks on November 20th the tanks seemed to be a very doubtful weapon that

does not guarantee success since countermeasures against them can quickly be found

that same report went on to predict that the British would use tanks wherever the terrain allowed it and that there would

not be any more quiet sectors on the front from now on these reactions show that although the

Germans had a healthy respect for the Tank's ability to temporarily frighten their soldiers and achieve some tactical

success overall German commanders underestimated the weapon it's understandable that they wouldn't have

been particularly concerned after the ineffective use of British tanks on the psalm in 1916 or at Aras in early 1917

but kombre should have made the Tank's potential as part of combined arms War more clear the Germans were slow to pick

up unevolving British tank tactics and what these meant for 1918 and they had no idea that the British were also

developing more mobile light tanks to exploit success the Battle of kombre did not end the

Great War and the tanks were not a miracle weapon that could bring about a conclusion on their own but for the

British comedy showed what breaking the deadlock would look like combined arms Warfare involving artillery air support

tanks infantry and Cavalry working together would be the key to Victory and an important sign of the evolution of

warfare a modern style of war that would not seem out of place in any conventional 20th century conflict 1918

would see both sides wage war in similar fashion to how they did at cambre to end trench warfare in the west and determine

the outcome of the first World War looking back over 100 years ago with the birth of combined arms Warfare it seems

puzzling that the Germans initially dismissed the tank or that static Warfare was so hard to overcome of

course the second world war would see entire armies of Tanks play a pivotal role on all sides but towards the end of

the war the stellons Krieg would also rear its ugly head again when the Red Army crossed the Oda River to take

Berlin on April 16 1945 they had to overcome the Zelo Heights and the German Army in prepared defensive positions and

the fighting there has sometimes been compared to the first world war even though the deadlock didn't last as long

and by the way if you're interested in the Battle of Berlin we made a four and a half hour documentary series about it

called 16 days in Berlin and of course we cover the battle of the Zelo Heights in the series but also much more

unfortunately we couldn't upload this documentary series to YouTube because our uncompromising portrayal of the

second world war would buy violate their content guidelines instead you can watch 16 days in Berlin on nebula a streaming

service that we built together with other creators and where we don't have to worry about advertisers we want to

thank David Willie and the tank museum for their help with this episode if you want to learn more about the Battle of

kombre check out the tank Museum's documentary filmed on the actual Battlefield and featuring more veteran

accounts you can find it over on their YouTube channel I'm Jesse Alexander and this is a production of real-time

history the only YouTube History Channel with a Gibraltar ladong of History