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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.

56th Division had not been involved in the first two days of fighting but by 22nd November they had moved into the line in the northern part of the battlefield which was completely dominated by the Bourbon Ridge. This they were ordered to capture and the first steps towards achieving this took place on the morning of 22nd November, when 169 Brigade attacked Tadpole Copse. They made some progress and 14th London of 168 Brigade continued the attack the following day, 23rd November and managed to capture Tadpole Copse, only to lose it the next day when the enemy counter-attacked in strength. That night 4th London and 12th London, also of 168 Brigade, relieved 14th London and the following day, 25th November, at 1pm, they launched their own counter-attack. Some progress was made as 12th London attacked up a communication trench from the front line and a company of 4th London fought its way along the support trench, but the Germans made repeated counter-attacks and the final objectives were not reached. They spent the next day under shell fire, consolidating the gains that they had made which was just as well because on 27th November, while they were still in these forward positions, the enemy launched a strong counter-attack on Tadpole Copse. Some of 13th London were called up to assist and eventually order was restored. But there were of course casualties and one of these was William Hawkins of 12th London, who was killed in action.