Tuesday 20th
November 1917
A massive
attack has been delivered today, driving towards the town of Cambrai. Readers
may remember the 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, mentioning that they had
seen scores of tanks yesterday and, it is understood, it is these which have
spearheaded the attack.
From all we
have heard tremendous progress has been made and a breakthrough achieved. Often
we at the front hear rumours of impending assaults, but nothing about this,
which seems to have taken the enemy similarly by surprise.
As dawn was
breaking the fury of a thousand guns pounded the German lines. Six divisions
then went forward, along with over four hundred tanks. This huge blow drove
like a steam-roller through the defences of the much-vaunted Hindenburg Line
and we believe that, in some places, our men have advanced five miles. The
villages of le Pave, la Vacquerie, Ribecourt, Marcoing, Havrincourt, and
Graincourt have all fallen, though, annoyingly, Bourlon Ridge remains in enemy
hands. 20th (Light) Division was about to cross the Escaut MasnieresCanal and attack
Masnières but the weight of one of the tanks brought down the bridge it was
crossing.
Only our
friends the 51st (Highland) Division have encountered serious and stiff
opposition. They have been held up attacking the village of Flesquières where,
it has been reported, the enemy has been particularly effective at destroying
and disabling the tanks. It is unknown whether they have some new weapon which
has enabled them to hold up the land dreadnoughts(1). However this may be, old
military hands have remarked that Flesquières now seems all but surrounded by
the success achieved on both flanks and that the Germans will have to evacuate
it or risk surrender.
Such a
decisive stroke, it is hoped may finally land the knock-out punch which ruptures
the enemy lines and results in widespread cavalry operations in the enemy rear.
We have heard
from the adjutant of 8th Bedfords, part of 6th Division, which seized Marcoing
and Ribecourt. The story of their day is as follows: they were ready for the
attack before five o’clock this morning and just after six the tanks began
their advance. Ten minutes later the artillery opened up “with a deafening roar
and in blaze of fire”. The Germans were able to put only a feeble barrage into
no-man’s land and at 6.35 the first wave of infantry passed over the line of
enemy outposts “the Battalion going over well, men lighting pipes and
cigarettes on their way” as the adjutant remarked.
By 6.45 the
Hindenburg Line was in sight and just after seven, word came back that the
Battalion had taken its first objective which was the main Hindenburg Line -
front line and support trenches on a frontage of 650 yards running east from
the road from Villers-Plouich to Ribecourt. At 7.20 a German officer and six of his men arrived as prisoners
at Battalion Headquarters. Just before 8 o’clock B Company under Captain N C F
Nixon had captured all its objectives. At ten minutes past eight another 23
prisoners arrived at headquarters which, a few minutes later re-located to the
captured German trenches in the Hindenburg Line. Prisoners were now coming in thick and fast and the
enemy was undoubtlessly on the run. Eventually five German officers and two
hundred other ranks were captured by the Bedfords, including a battalion
commander, a medical officer and a staff lieutenant. The Battalion now began to
consolidate its position.
About 1.30 pm
a pack animal convoy arrived with water and ammunition. As stock was taken it
transpired that the 8th Battalion had lost one officer killed and two wounded,
ten other ranks killed and 38 wounded or missing. The fine weather of the
morning then began to turn to rain. The adjutant finished his report by saying:
“A very successful day and all ranks in high spirits quite ready for further action.
The tanks did very good work”.
An air of
excitement prevails here, behind the lines. There will be many a sleepless
night and when fitful sleep comes, it will be with fitful dreams of final
victory.
Source: X550/9/1
(1) The
Germans here, who knocked out 28 tanks, had trained especially in anti-tank
tactics and had experience in fighting against French tanks en-masse in the
Nivelle Offensive of Spring 1917. In addition 51st Division’s commanding
officer, Major-General George Montague Harper, over-ruled the tactics which the
Tank Corps employed elsewhere on the battlefield. It has long been thought that
in supplanting these tactics with some of his own invention that Harper
materially assisted in the poor performance at Flesquières, though some have
now questioned this. He was promoted to command IV Corps in March 1918.
