At the same time, he was approached by a divisional artillery commander, General Hugh Tudor, who wanted to try some new tactics involving artillery. As commander of the British 3rd Army from July 1917, Byng was responsible for the Cambrai sector. As tanks easily became bogged down in soft ground, they identified Cambrai, where the land was firm, dry, and chalky, as a suitable location for an attack.Įlles presented the proposal for a tank raid to General Julian Byng, who had commanded the Canadian Corps in the taking of Vimy Ridge in April 1917. Its commander, Brigadier-General Hugh Elles, and his Chief of Staff Colonel John Fuller were eager to show what tanks could achieve if deployed as a mass shock force rather than scattered among infantry. The proposal for an operation at Cambrai originated with the British Tank Corps. At Third Ypres (Passchendaele), they were often unable to operate on the soft, muddy terrain. Used to support infantry, tanks had proved useful but not decisive. The British were the first to use tanks, during the Battle of the Somme in September 1916. A British-led offensive at Ypres, at the end of July, resulted in high casualties and small gains, ending with Allies capturing Passchendaele Ridge in early November. On the Western Front, the British front achieved success with an offensive at Messines in June. In Italy, the Austro- German breakthrough at Caporetto in late October put the Italian army to flight. On the Eastern Front, the failure of Kerensky Offensive in the summer of 1917 was followed by the collapse of the Russian army and the Bolshevik seizure of power. The second half of 1917 was a time of setbacks for the Allies on most fronts, but British generals remained committed to the offensive.
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