On August 25, about forty-two Tanks were again in action in little “blobs,” strung out on the fronts of the 4th and 6th Corps. Tanks from the 3rd, 7th, and 10th Battalions went into action, the 9th Battalion attacking with the Guards Division, north of Mory. Owing to the dense mist, co-operation between Tanks and infantry was phenomenally difficult and the attack was not very successful. During the engagement one Tank had five of its crew wounded by anti-Tank rifle bullets.
On the Canadian Corps front an attack was carried out on August 26, near Fampoux and Neuville-Vitasse, with the help of Tanks of the 9th and 11th Battalions.
Near Monchy several Tanks were knocked out, the crews joining the infantry to repel a local counter-attack. The sergeant of one crew hearing that the enemy had captured his Tank, collected his men and charged forward to recover it, arriving at one sponson door of the machine as the enemy were scrambling out of the opposite one.
The Tank Corps records characterise August 27 as “an uneventful day.” Fourteen Tanks of the 9th and 11th Battalions were used for mopping up points of resistance.
On the 28th no Tanks went into action at all.
But the 29th was more memorable, for on this day the enemy evacuated Bapaume, and in a minor attack on Frémicourt Lieutenant C. H. Sewell won the V.C.
It was a very small engagement south-west of Beugnâtre, in which only four Whippet Tanks took part.
The following is extracted from the report of the engagement sent in by Lieutenant Sewell’s Commanding Officer:
“At about 2 p.m. on the afternoon of August 29, ‘Whippets’ of the 3rd (Light) Tank Battalion reached the Quarry near the ‘Monument Comémoratif,’ south-west of Favreuil. Acting under instructions received from the New Zealand Division, one Section of ‘Whippets’ under Lieutenant C. H. Sewell was ordered forward to clear up the situation on the front of the 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade before Frémicourt and the Bapaume-Cambrai road, where the infantry were reported to be held up by machine-gun fire.
“On reaching the railway line south-east of Beugnâtre in advance of our infantry, enemy batteries and machine-guns opened heavy fire on the Section of ‘Whippets.’ In manœuvring to avoid the fire and to retain formation, Car No. A.233, commanded by Lieutenant O. L. Rees-Williams, side-slipped in a deep shell crater and turned completely upside down, catching fire at the same time.