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Enlisted-Woolwich

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 the 16th London and 5th London battalions of 169 Brigade attacked and captured Tadpole Copse. The 2nd London battalion was in reserve during this operation but on the following day they moved forward and along with the 14th London battalion of 168 Brigade spent six hours attacking the enemy positions to the left of Tadpole Copse. However, their efforts were in vain due to the strength of the German bombing blocks which prevented progress. 14th London, who attacked laterally were able to make better progress and on 24th November 2nd London took over some of the positions that had been gained by 14th London. In the afternoon the Germans launched a fierce counter attack from Inchy Mill which drove back 14th London from some of the ground they had won on the previous day but failed to reach the positions held by 2nd London who consolidated their new position and awaited fresh orders. They remained in here for most of the following day during which, after a quiet morning, there was a heavy artillery bombardment on the brigade line in the afternoon. 2nd London were relieved that evening but not before William Barrow had been killed.