[99]“In one railway cutting near Brancourt, which was a mass of machine-guns, I counted nearly fifty mangled Boches who had been caught in enfilade with case shot as the Tanks crossed the line. The infantry casualties were very low, and all agreed on the masterly way the American Tank gunners had dealt with M.G. opposition.
“The pièce de résistance of the battle was the performance of Major Sasse, D.S.O., for which he received his decoration.
“As on a former occasion, he went into action in the Wireless Tank. After the capture of Brancourt he left his Tank this side of the village and went forward to reconnoitre. He eventually ascended the church tower in order to get a forward view of the battle. While doing this a very heavy bombardment of the village commenced, and Major Sasse noticed that the infantry had begun to retire. He accordingly descended and tried to find the officer in charge of the troops on the spot. Not being able to do this he assumed command himself, stopped the retirement and organised the troops as a defensive force round the outskirts of the village. Lewis guns were posted and the men ordered to resist any attempt on the part of the Boche to retake the village, should this be made. As was expected, a determined counter-attack developed, which was successfully beaten off by Major Sasse’s detachment. This occurred a second time, and Major Sasse sent off a wireless message for help. He was rescued some hours later from a somewhat precarious position by American reinforcements.”
It was to Tanks of the 12th Battalion that the interesting lot fell of meeting captured British Mark IV. Tanks in action.
Four Tanks belonging to “A” Company were in the neighbourhood of Niergnies when the enemy launched a strong counter-attack. The battlefield was thick with smoke and it was not yet fully light, and when in the half-dark the Tank crews and infantry saw four Tanks advancing to meet them, they supposed that the strangers belonged to “C” Company, who had been sent to execute an encircling movement, and who had, they imagined, somehow been able to outflank the enemy with extraordinary speed. “L 16,” commanded by Captain Rowe, was near a farm named Mont St. Meuve when the Tanks appeared in sight, and the foremost was within fifty yards before Captain Rowe realised that it was an enemy machine. He immediately fired a 6-pounder shot at it which disabled it, but almost at the same time “L 16” was hit by two shells, one of which came through the cab, wounding Captain Rowe and killing his driver. The Tank Commander immediately got his crew out and crossed over to “L 19,” which was near at hand, and led it forward towards the German machines, of whose presence it was still unaware. “L 19” had already had five men wounded, had been on fire, and having no gunners left, could not use its 6-pounders. Its Commander, Second Lieutenant Worsap, however, nothing daunted, immediately engaged the enemy with his Lewis guns until the Tank received a direct hit which set it on fire a second time. There was nothing now to be done but to evacuate the machine, and as the German counter-attack seemed to be succeeding, Mr. Worsap blew up the wreck of his Tank.
“L 12,” the third Tank, a male, was hit and finally disabled before its Commander and crew had discovered that the strange Tanks did not belong to “C” Company. There remained “L 8” under Lieutenant Martell, but this Tank had a leaky radiator and was almost out of water. It, too, had been hit, and three of its Lewis guns put out of action. Lieutenant Martell, however, sent his crew back, and he and an artillery officer managed to get up to a captured German field gun, which the two turned round and used against the enemy’s Tanks, almost immediately obtaining a direct hit on one of them. Two of the German machines were now accounted for. And now at last a genuine “C” Company Tank—a female—appeared and finally drove or scared away the two remaining German machines. The situation was restored, and the infantry, who had retired before the counter-attack, went forward again and reoccupied the ridge beyond Niergnies. A comparison of the British and German accounts of this action is not unentertaining.
German Wireless News
“During the heavy fighting south of Cambrai on October 8, German ... Tanks and a column of infantry advanced ... behind a wall of artificial fog. The German Tanks, which were feeling their way forward, surprised a large number of Englishmen who were standing in disordered groups. By means of machine-gun fire and Tank gunfire the English were driven back. The English troops on the eastern outskirts of Niergnies took to flight and evacuated. On the Cambrai-Crévecœur Road there were five English Tanks advancing in support of their own infantry. As they came into sight of the German Tanks the English Tanks stopped, and they were set on fire by their own crews.”
By the end of the day we had advanced and widened our line along the whole front of the attack, and the next day was devoted to exploitation.
