On October 8, some fifteen captured British machines were used against us in the Cambrai sector. Of this action the German account states that these tanks were employed defensively to fill up a gap in their line; whether this was so or not, they undoubtedly produced a demoralising effect amongst our own men, equilibrium only being re-established when two of them were put out of action. Three days later, on the 11th, a few tanks were used at St. Aubert; this was the last recorded occasion upon which the Germans made use of tanks in the Great War.
Indifferent as were the German tank tactics as compared with our own, one fact was most striking, this being that the British infantry no more than the German would or could withstand a tank attack. The reason for this is a simple one, namely, inability to do so. So pronounced was this feeling of helplessness that when, during our own retirement in March 1918, rumours were afloat that German tanks were approaching, our men in several sectors of the line broke and fell back. During the German retirement a few months later on we find exactly the same lowering of moral by self-suggested fear, fear based on the inability to overcome the danger. This moral effect produced by the tank was appreciated by the Germans, for in a note issued by the XVIIth German Army we find:
“Our own tanks strengthen the moral of the infantry to a tremendous extent, even if employed only in small numbers, and experience has shown that they have a considerable demoralising effect on the hostile infantry.”
CHAPTER XXIX
THE BATTLE OF AMIENS
On July 15 the renewed German offensive on the Château-Thierry—Reims front had been launched and failed. Strategically and tactically placed in as unenviable a position as any army well could be, the Crown Prince’s forces received a staggering blow on the 18th, when Marshal Foch launched his great tank counter-attack against the western flank of the Soissons salient.
At the time of this attack the brigades of the Tank Corps were distributed defensively along the First, Third, and Fourth Army fronts, in order to meet by counter-attacks any renewal of the enemy’s offensive against these Armies.
Ever since the dramatic coup-de-main accomplished on July 4 by the 4th Australian Division and the 5th Tank Brigade in the battle of Hamel, the general interest in tanks had become much more conspicuous. The great tank attack at the battle of Cambrai, convincing in worth as it was to all who had taken part in it, had been somewhat discredited by the recent German offensive on the Somme front, which was seized upon by certain soldiers of the old school to reinforce their assertion—that the day of the tank had come and gone, and that to fight a second battle of Cambrai was too great a gamble to be worth risking. Now a series of projects were asked for which embraced various areas of operation; in the Fourth Army against the Amiens salient; in the Third Army against Bucquoy and Bapaume; in the First Army against the Merville salient and in the Second against Kemmel hill. The only one of these projects which offered prospects of a decisive success was the first.
On July 13 the Fourth Army Commander was asked by G.H.Q. to submit a scheme for an attack on his front. This was done on the 17th, when a limited operation, with the object of capturing the Amiens outer defence line, running from Castel through Caix to Mericourt, was outlined. The force suggested for this attack was three corps and eight battalions of tanks. On the 21st a conference was held at the Fourth Army headquarters at Flixecourt when, on the suggestion of the Tank Corps, the number of tank battalions was raised from eight to twelve; this comprised the whole Tank Corps less the 1st Tank Brigade, which was still armed with Mark IV machines, and which at this time was engaged in training its personnel on the Mark V tank.