The Battle of Cambrai gave the Tank Corps the chance to lift low morale and prove the worth of new fighting machines designed to crush enemy defences
“Just a line. A big battle has begun and we are taking the leading part. In fact, it could not have taken place without us,” wrote Lieutenant-Colonel JFC “Boney” Fuller, on the staff of the Tank Corps, to his mother on November 20, 1917. “I believe the attack was one of the most magnificent sights of the war, great numbers of Ts forging ahead in line of battle followed by infantry . . . Elles our General led the battle in a T, flying our colours. I am glad to say he has returned safely, though the flag has been shot to tatters.”
The Battle of Cambrai was born of the disappointments of Third Ypres (Passchendaele). In July, just before the opening of his great
Meanwhile, on the other side of no man’s land, the German chief-of-staff, General Erich Ludendorff, an infantryman, was convinced that “trench warfare offered no scope for cavalry”. He wanted to dismount them and give their horses to the artillery and transport: “The wastage in horses was extraordinarily high, and the import from neutral countries hardly worth the consideration.”
While Ludendorff saw the Western Front as siege warfare on an industrial scale, Haig, as a fellow general put it, regarded it as “mobile operations at the halt”. Having succeeded Sir John French (also a cavalryman) as commander-in-chief in December 1915, Haig had sought a return to the war of movement of 1914. As Field Service Regulations — the army’s bible — stated, “Decisive success in battle can be gained only by a vigorous offensive”, the chief factor in which was “a firmer determination in all ranks to conquer at any cost”.
In Haig’s view this meant an offensive leading to breakthrough and then rapid exploitation, with cavalry of the utmost importance.
Both sides had tried to break through in 1915, but without success. Their cavalry was left champing at the bit in frustration. It was the same in 1916. First the Germans at Verdun, and then the British and French on the Somme. Fortunately, away from the front, minds had been at work on the problem of how to penetrate the German lines.
