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Born-Friern Barnet

The Battle of Cambrai

This was a major British offensive on the Western Front that was launched on 20th November, 1917 and lasted through to the beginning of December. As the name suggests it was an attack towards the city of Cambrai and the important German railhead there, which it was hoped would be captured. The battle was notable for two things: the massed use of tanks for the first time and the success of the first day’s fighting when the formidable Hindenburg Line was breached and gains of five miles were made in places. In celebration the church bells throughout Britain were rung. However this success was short lived. The tanks were not reliable and the German defence stiffened as the fighting progressed and when they counter attacked in force on 30th November, the British came under so much pressure that they were forced to withdraw from many of the positions they had captured earlier on. Both sides suffered around 45,000 casualties during the course of the fighting.

On the night of 22nd/23rd November, 40th Division took over newly won front line positions near Graincourt in the northern part of the Cambrai battlefield and on the following day, 23rd November, they launched an attack on Bourlon village and Bourlon Wood. At 10.30am, zero hour, 20th Middlesex on the right and 13th Yorkshire on the left moved forward behind an artillery barrage. 21st Middlesex followed 13th Yorkshire with the task of forming a defensive flank on the left and 12th Suffolk began the day in reserve. Also attacking was 119 Brigade who managed to get into the wood but the attack by 121 Brigade against the village was disrupted by machine-gun and artillery fire from the start. Nevertheless by 11.30am some had managed to reach a spur to the west of the wood and south of the village, while others had entered the village with the help of the  seven tanks that accompanied the attack During the afternoon there was a lot of confused fighting involving 20th Middlesex and 13th Yorkshire and 21st Middlesex, but with most of the tanks by now out of action, there was little prospect of driving the Germans out of the wood, even with the appearance of 12th Suffolk from reserve. Unable to proceed further a line was dug and consolidated just short of the village. This had been a less than successful operation and it claimed the lives of many who were involved in the attack. Many of the casualties from 21st Middlesex, including Joseph Grimsey, are shown as 24th November but this is likely to have been when they were officially recorded and it was almost certainly the case that he was killed on 23rd November.