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Battle of Cambrai

Drone_pilot

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20th November-7th December 1917

In early 1917, two and a half years after the start of the Great War and after losing ground at the Battle of the Somme, the Germans retired to a newly prepared line of strong fortifications - the Siegfried Stellung. Known as the Hindenburg Line by the British, this consisted of two lines of seemingly invincible fortifications (concrete pillboxes, bunkers and underground emplacements) with a third under construction. This was protected by thick barbed wire belts up to fifty yards deep in places and a new feature, anti tank ditches - a formidable obstacle indeed!

After the disaster of the French Nivelle Offensive and the spectacular Canadian capture of Vimy Ridge on Easter Day (9th April 1917), the British Army continued assaults around Arras to relieve pressure on the sorely stretched French Army, which was undergoing collapse. These were largely unsuccessful, but on the 7th of June, 15 huge mines were blown under the German lines on Messines Ridge. A carefully prepared creeping artillery barrage hammered the defences into submission and advanced to interdict German counterattacks. British and ANZAC infantry and tanks followed close behind to seized the ridge in a classic 'bite and hold' operation. Two days later the battle was over.

After a lull of seven weeks, on the 31st of July 1917 the battle of Third Ypres began and with it came the rain. Soon the battlefield had been shelled into a swampy quagmire by some of the heaviest bombardments of the war to date. The tank, the new British wonder weapon was thrown in to break the stalemate but proved itself patently unable to cope with the horrendous conditions. During the months of September and October, the terrible attrition continued until Passchendaele Ridge was finally taken on the 10th of November, writing this name forever in the annals of British Military History. During fourteen weeks just six kilometres of mud had been taken at the expense of 225,000 British and Empire casualties.

As the attacks on the Passchendaele Ridge during the Battle of Third Ypres ground to a halt, the proposal for an attack before the town of Cambrai was first made.

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this is of special interest to me as i live in Cambria Street Liverpool Named after the battle.
 

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