Great Victory for the Tanks

Over 400 British tanks participated in an attack on German
lines outside Cambrai on 20 November 1917, taking the enemy by surprise and
breaching the ‘impregnable’ Hindenburg Line. At 6:20 a.m., the men of the Tank
Corps took their lumbering Mark IV tanks through great belts of barbed wire and
across German trenches.

The Tank Corps made the greatest advance of the war to date,
pushing five miles in and taking more ground in the first six hours than in
first three months of fighting at Passchendaele. Thousands of prisoners were
taken and casualties were light. It looked like a tremendous victory.

The Tank Corps saw Cambrai as vindication for all the
efforts of their men, for their tactics and for their machines – despite over
1,000 casualties. Their performance at Cambrai secured what was an uncertain
future. Today, the Royal Tank Regiment - the successors of the Tank Corps -
mark the anniversary of Cambrai every year, taking inspiration from the courage
and pioneering spirit of their military forebears.

Special Order Number 6

On the morning of battle, the officer commanding of the Tank Corps in France, Brigadier General Hugh Jamieson Elles, issued his 'Special order number 6', probably the most famous order given in the history of the regiment.

In it he explains how at long last the Tank Corps would get the opportunity to "operate in good going" in the "van of the battle". He ended the order: “I propose leading the attack in the centre division” – indicating that Elles would lead the tanks himself.

Brigadier General Hugh Jamieson Elles

Brigadier General Hugh Jamieson Elles of the Royal Engineers was regarded as something of a God-like figure by his men, and having already written and issued his Order of the Day, the famous Special Order No. 6, Elles announced that he would be leading the tanks into action. While it was quite normal for a regimental commander to lead an attack, it was unheard of for a more senior officer to do so.

The H Battalion tanks were lined up along a ridge to the north of Beaucamp village in the dark. While they were waiting a mysterious figure strode up, smoking a pipe and clutching what turned out to be the newly created Tank Corps flag of brown, red and green strips which he planned to fly from his selected tank.

Elles banged on the side of one tank, saying “Five minutes to go, this is the centre of our line and I’m going over in this tank.” The tank Elles had selected to travel in was a Mark IV, a male tank, named Hilda.

This action by Elles was a truly inspirational act for the men of the Tank Corps and set a precedent and an example for all future tank commanders.

The Cambrai Flag

Prior to the battle, Elles decided that the Tank Corps needed a flag. He visited a French draper’s shop, bought the last colours remaining and had them stitched together to use as a flag.

The colours were brown, red and green, which was interpreted afterwards as: ‘From mud, through blood and to the green fields beyond’, in recognition of the Tank Corps’ exploits at Cambrai.

The ‘Cambrai Flag’ is one of the most significant exhibits on display in The Tank Museum and was flown from a tank by Elles himself as he rode into battle.

N.M. Dillon

As Reconnaissance Officer, the 21 year-old Dillon was responsible for marking out the best routes for the tanks to follow, both on a map and on the ground using white tape. Walking sticks like these were often carried so that the solidity of the ground could be tested, and as such the suitability of the route for tanks. On the morning of that now infamous action, Dillon returned to his white tape with the intention of leading a Company of tanks, only to find it was missing.

“Here was I, aged 21, responsible for a Company of tanks, whose failure to arrive would cost many lives, and lost in the dark without any guidance,” he later wrote.

Using a compass and a shrouded torch as his guide he began to lead. As Dillon carried on, disaster struck when he became entrapped by barbed wire and found that he was about to be crushed by the following vehicle. He shone the torch at the driver’s face, “an unpardonable sin”, and the tank stopped, “to a profuse flow of language, half on top of me”.

It was then, as he followed on with the tanks, that he fell foul of a German bullet. A German soldier had shot at him, hitting his thumb and walking stick – the impact of which can still be seen on the handle today. Dillon retrieved his stick and carried on to see that the tanks reached their objectives. Dillon gifted a number of items to the museum, including his damaged stick, and was lucky enough to live to the ripe old age of 101.