Ironclads of Cambrai: The First Great Tank Battle [Paperback]

Bryan Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cassell Military Paperbacks | Publication Date: October 28, 2002

On November 20, 1917, just as the slaughter at Passchendaele reached stalemate, the British unleashed the power of 378 tanks on the German trenches at Cambrai. By morning, the battle was won. Despite the subsequent successful counter-attack, the stage was set for 1918, when once again the Germans could not respond to the new weapon. Based on eyewitness reports and interviews with survivors.

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About the Author

Bryan Cooper was born in 1932 in Paris. He began his writing career as a journalist, working for the RAF REVIEW magazine during his National Service. On becoming a fulltime writer he wrote books on military history, novels and plays for radio and television. He now lives in Deal.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Cassell (October 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0304363634
• ISBN-13: 978-0304363636
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,677,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Successful Experiment, March 1, 2003

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R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ironclads of Cambrai: The First Great Tank Battle (Paperback)

The Ironclads of Cambrai: The First Great Tank Battle was written in 1967 and re-issued by Cassell in 2002. This book has weathered the last 35 years fairly well and is still a valuable and insightful account of the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Of all the battles of the First World War, Cambrai stands out not for its size, duration or the casualties but rather, due to the first successful use of armor on the operational level of warfare. Although tanks had seen limited, tactical employment for over a year before Cambrai, they had not yet been employed in large numbers or on favorable terrain. The Ironclads of Cambrai is also an excellent thumbnail history of the birthing pains of the British Tank Corps and the difficulties in introducing a new weapon system in the midst of a major war. The author also covers the German counterattack that snatched victory away from the British at the last moment. Overall, The Ironclads of Cambrai is an excellent account of this landmark operation, suited both for military professionals or the general public.

The Ironclads of Cambrai consists of fifteen chapters, beginning with several on the creation of the Tank Corps and early actions in Flanders. The author provides considerable detail on the development of the plan for the attack at Cambrai, beginning with the efforts by tank enthusiasts to mount an operation that would validate the combat effectiveness of the new weapon. Interestingly, the British chose the Cambrai sector where the German Hindenburg Line defenses were thickest but the ground was suitable. Apparently, the Germans had begun to believe that their defenses in this sector were indeed impregnable and did not react seriously to indications of a British offensive. The Ironclads of Cambrai provides a clear example of the Clausewitzian dialectic in action; the Germans dug extra-wide trenches to inhibit tank attacks but the British developed "fascines" to fill in the trenches. Indeed, the Germans were so smug about the ability of their wire and trenches to stop British tank attacks that they neglected to issue much armor-piercing ammunition to the front-line units near Cambrai. The author's narrative is also supported by many simple, but effective sketch maps.

Obviously the author's main argument is that Cambrai demonstrated that tanks offered a way out of the deadlock of trench warfare. Cooper is fervently pro-tank throughout the book and delights in exposing the numerous British officers who criticized tanks before Cambrai. There is little doubt that the first six hours of the British attack on 20 November 1917 stunned both sides; three front-line German divisions were routed at small cost but the British had not really anticipated such rapid movement. Unfortunately, the British plan began unravel from the start due to a variety of factors. Foremost, one of the British division commanders (Harper of the 51st) - a tank-hater - mis-used his armor and his unit was held up long enough to interfere with the units on either flank. Although Cooper doesn't attach much importance to it, the British failure to adequately plan for engineering assets to help get tanks across the Canal de l'Escaut was a major factor inducing culmination in the British attack. However, Cooper does differ from some other accounts of Cambrai that cite the lack of sufficient reserves as the reason the attack failed to reach Cambrai. Cooper notes, "the lack of reserves was undoubtedly a vital factor at Cambrai, but it can be over-emphasized...there were more reserves available; but the Higher Command were not willing to make use of them for the initial attack." Rather, Cooper believes that, "the mistakes made were mainly due to an inability to understand and exploit a fight in open country...after three years of stagnant trench warfare."

Easily the best part of The Ironclads of Cambrai is the number of first-person accounts from tankers. Despite their terrifying appearance to the German defenders, the early Mark IV tanks were virtually deaf and blind. One commander noted that, "once we started there was no co-operation between tanks, no tactics, no external command - only the objectives we had been given and the method of attack we had been taught during training." Visibility outside the tank was extremely limited through tiny slits and some of the armor was not entirely bulletproof. Oftentimes, German fire produced "spalling" or scabbing of the armor inside the tanks, requiring the crews to wear chain-mail face masks and body protection. Cooper also describes the various German ad hoc anti-tank tactics developed at Cambrai, ranging from throwing sandbags full of grenades under the tracks (successful), to jumping atop the tanks (fatal), to infantrymen attempting to hang on to the barrels of the tank's weapons (foolish).

Finally, Cooper spends the last couple of chapters discussing the German counterattack on 30 November 1917 that threw the British back on their heels. Most of the tanks were withdrawn by this stage, but those remaining played a major role in preventing a British catastrophe. Cooper is particularly scathing in detailing the whitewash effort by the court of inquiry after the battle, which blamed junior officers for the collapse instead of the complacent 3rd Army Commander (Gough). While Cambrai's glory turned sour for most in the wake of this turnabout, Cooper sees the battle as a vital step in establishing the credibility of the Tank Corps. Without Cambrai, the tanks might have remained a marginal weapon, used only in small numbers. Instead, Cambrai showed what large numbers of tanks could achieve under favorable circumstances and is best viewed as a successful experiment.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A VALUABLE ADDITION TO ANY WWI LIBRARY!, June 17, 2008

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P. A. Panozzo "history enthusiast, avid reader" (Chicago, IL and NW IN area) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ironclads of Cambrai: The First Great Tank Battle (Paperback)

R.A. Forczyk's review is very thorough and it inspired me to purchase this book. This is one of the best books I have ever read on the subject of Tanks and the Battle of Cambrai. I have learned a great deal from it and I already thought I knew quite a bit! It is a well written book incorporating eyewitness reports and interviews with the first men to operate tanks in battle. It covers how the tank originated (there was a design proposed as early as 1912!) all the way through it's first successful application on the battlefield. It is amazing history! I highly recommend adding this one to your World War One library. Another title of interest would be Cambrai 1917: The birth of armoured warfare (Campaign) This is a concise reference volume from Osprey Publishing that, arguably, contains better maps. Both volumes contain astonishingly wonderful photos though! If you wish to gain an appreciation for the Royal Flying Corp's role in the Battle of Cambrai, I heartily recommend Arthur Gould Lee's book NO PARACHUTE. NO PARACHUTE: A FIGHTER PILOT IN WORLD WAR I He devotes an entire chapter to his experiences flying ground support missions (bombing and strafing) in a Sopwith Camel. Sopwith Camel Aces of World War 1 (Aircraft of the Aces).

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dated, But of Interest, April 5, 2005

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Highlander (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ironclads of Cambrai: The First Great Tank Battle (Paperback)

First published in 1967, The Ironclads of Cambrai (TIOC) shows its age just a bit. The author's style is a bit plodding and is characterized by that tedious style of military writing which goes something like "...and then the 1st Battalion moved forward to the ridge and then it moved down the ridge and by noon it had reached the bottom of the ridge. After a brief skirmish, the Battalion started off again at 1 PM and moved..." -- a style that focuses on the travel of individual units with little regard to the implications and context of the evolving battle.

On the other hand, TIOC presents a nicely done introdution to the invention of the tank and its operational birth with the Tank Corps. It does present the tank's halting first steps into battle and convincingly highlights the tank's first major impact in an operational sense at the Battle of Cambrai.

The author gets a bit hung up on fixing blame for the disappointing results of the battle and gets a bit deep in recounting the German counterattack -- "...and then the battalion retreated to the woods, where after replusing two serious attacks, it continued to retreat to the road. Two hours passing, the battalion again moved to the rear, ending that days movement near the farm."

All, in all TIOC was a decent read and a nice introduction to the beginning of tank warfare. It was a mediocre accounting of the battle of Cambrai.