BYNG'S IV THWARTED THRUST AT CAMBRAI HELP FROM AMERICAN ENGINEERS November 21, 1917-December 13, 1917 N November 21, when the Entente world had by turns Ridge, only to be dejected by anarchy in Russia and severe defeat for the Italians on their northeastern frontier, with Venice in real peril, word suddenly came that the great Hindenburg defense line east of Arras, upon which the German commander-in-chief had built hopes of holding the British from making inroads into the open territory beyond had been smashed, and that the task to all appearances had been an easy one. Attacking over a front of thirty-two miles, extending from the Scarpe River to St. Quentin, Haig, with English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh troops, had made one of the most rapid and spectacular drives of the war, catching the Germans by surprize, capturing numerous positions which were considered impregnable and taking in addition some thousands of prisoners and numerous guns. The apex of the offensive was centered on Cambrai, an important railway junction, between Arras and St. Quentin, and when Marcoing, Anneux, Graincourt and Noyelles were taken the victorious troops found themselves only about four miles from Cambrai, or well within gun range of the city, whence railroad lines and roadways branch out toward all points of the compass. The drive was begun without the usual artillery prelude, but with tanks, which made their way through wire-entanglements and pushed into German first positions followed by infantry and cavalry, the surprized enemy sending up myriads of signal rockets calling for assistance. Germans fled in disorder, leaving all kinds of equipment behind. In most cases they did not take time to apply the torch to the villages they evacuated. The British casualties were extremely light, while German dead covered the ground as the British advanced. The depth of the first penetration exceeded five miles; next day it was eight miles. This offensive was under direct command of General Sir Julian Byng. General Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American forces in France, was an interested observer of it. Cavalry were used and not since the famous retreat of the Germans along the Ancre and the Somme in the spring of 1917 had horsemen been engaged in battle on this front. Without any warning, without sign of any unusual strength in men and guns behind the British front, without a single shot fired before the attack, and with great belts of wire still intact, British troops led by great numbers of tanks suddenly assaulted at dawn, smashed through wire, passed to the trenches, and penetrated in many places the main Hindenburg line. Philip Gibbs thought it was "the most sensational and dramatic episode of this year's fighting, brilliantly imagined and carried through with the greatest secrecy." Not a whisper of it had reached men like himself. It was probably "the best kept secret of the war. At a moment when the world was saying that surprize-attacks were no longer possible, when the Prussians were thinking the same thing while sleeping soundly in their comfortable dugouts, without the faintest suspicion that anything was brewing, British tanks leading British infantry, rose up from the ground like magic and swung forward with their attack. GENERAL SIR JULIAN BYNG There had been no artillery preparation. The lumbering tanks pulverized a way through, their ponderous movements making an easy passage to infantry waiting immediately behind them. They crashed over wire-entanglements, over artfully concealed chevaux-de-frise, and over trenches, and then the walking "Tommies" followed. Since the battle of Arras, the Cambrai sector had dozed in peace and quiet. The German line had seemed impregnable. Germans had been told this so often by their commanders that they were certain of it, confident that it would take weeks of highexplosive shell-preparation and wire-cutting expeditions, as well as an unprecedented barrage, to "do the trick." So they dozed and slept and took life easy. No more demoralized human beings were ever seen than the Germans as they crawled out of their dugouts, the sleep barely out of their eyes, at the sound of the crunching, lumbering juggernauts above them, only to find British soldiers swarming everywhere. They raised their arms in shrill cries of "Kamerad! Kamerad!" and ran hither and thither, dazed and terrorstricken. Guns that had not fired a shot in this battle were seized by the "Tommies," or crusht into the yielding earth by the weight of tanks, and cement emplacements and steel bound roofs of dugouts were crashed in. Some time in the night a large number of tanks had taken up berths behind the lines. The Germans didn't hear them and it was too dark for them to see. In the early morning the monsters crawled forth in a hazy dawn, a smoke barrage concealing their camouflaged sides. The Germans didn't know the tanks were in action until they rumbled and wheezed over their heads. The Hindenburg line, the impregnable, the never-yielding, the last word in defenses, was taken, therefore, without a preparatory cannon shot. complete was the surprize was evidenced by the fact that at one point a German division was in process of relieving another at the moment of the attack.12 The British had tried an experiment which had for its object the breaking of a line solely through the element of surprize, reliance being placed on tanks to open gaps in wire-entanglements through which infantry could pass. Before the Germans knew an attack was pending, tanks were straddling their trenches, wire-entanglements were gone, and 12 William P. Simms, United Press correspondent. a considerable stretch of the line was thrown into complete panic. The territory gained was of vital importance in that it shook the Hindenburg line from St. Quentin northward. Cambrai had been the necessary link in the line, and German possession of Cambrai was threatened. The attack seemed primarily designed to take off pressure from Italy by compelling Germany to recall troops and guns either sent or marked for sending to Italy. It was a natural and logical military step. It would have been successful, even if little ground had been gained, provided it had lessened the pressure on the Piave line. It resulted in the largest gain of ground—that is, in the most considerable forward push-in the whole period of trench-warfare. The German force quivered and shook at the suddenness of the thing. The steel monsters that battered through cement and earth and human walls were "fearsome giants," said Mr. Simms, and the yelling fiends who followed them were "gnomes who suddenly sprang to life out of the ground.' Men from whose heads the lethargy of sleep had hardly passed, blinkingly, dazedly, crowded out of dugouts. Blankets and cots were still warm from sleepers' bodies and breakfast-tables for officers, daintily set, still smoked appetizingly. Sleepers in bunks and on cots had leapt to their feet in the first terror of the moment and fled without hats, blouses, or guns. Stores of choice wines were found in officers' quarters. 66 One saw that memorable late November morning just before dawn great droves of tanks assembled and bedizened. They seemed a herd of gentle-looking, stolid creatures that browsed on grass-covered battlefields, sheltered somewhat by trees whose branches showed no nipping by shells." One could imagine the tanks either as bovine herds or as clustered, dingy-looking, neglected farm machinery scattered about. Only a few desultory shells exploded in the distance -the regular, monotonous, every morning interchange-but column after column, mass after mass of men, machines, horses and paraphernalia had slid through the night shadows and lined up for the great war-drama about to start. The German is a creature of habit. He knew it was customary for artillery preparation to precede an attack. As there |