In consequence of the enemy’s new system of defence and the varying powers of the three marks of machines used by the 1st and 2nd Tank Brigades, tanks were disposed in echelons as follows:
(i) Two battalions of Mark IV tanks to operate as far as the second objective.
(ii) One battalion of Mark V and one of Mark V star machines to operate against the second objective and proceed as far as the Albert-Arras railway.
(iii) Two battalions of Whippets to operate beyond the Albert-Arras railway line.
Zero hour was at 4.55 a.m. The Mark IV battalion moved forward and successfully cleared the first objective and pushed on towards the second. Once again the attack was a surprise, perhaps not so much through it being unexpected as through the inability of the Germans to meet it, especially as their guns had been withdrawn. To illustrate how complete this surprise was it is only necessary to mention that candles were found still burning in the trenches when we crossed them, and papers and equipment scattered broadcast gave evidence of the hurried flight of the enemy. The second echelon and the Whippets had, however, a far more difficult task to accomplish. The Albert-Arras railway had, previous to the attack, been turned into a strongly defended line of machine-gun nests covered by the German guns east of it. Unfortunately the thick ground mist, which had shielded the approach of the first echelon, now began to lift; this enabled the German artillery observers to direct a deadly fire on the tanks, in fact, each individual tank became the centre of a zone of bullets and bursting shells. Avoiding these zones, our infantry pushed on with few casualties. During this day’s fighting many parties of the enemy, some over a hundred strong, surrendered en bloc directly the tanks were seen approaching. Such action on the part of the German infantry was becoming a stereotyped procedure in all tank attacks. On the 21st, of the 190 tanks which took part in the attack, 37 received direct hits.
On August 22 the IIIrd Corps launched its attack on a front of some 10,000 yards with complete success. The tanks, which had been instructed by the IIIrd Corps to proceed in rear of the infantry, in actual fact led the attack the whole way, effecting a penetration of about 4,000 yards. All objectives were gained, and at the end of the day our line ran east of Albert, east of Meaulte, east of the Happy Valley, and through the western outskirts of Bray-sur-Somme.
On the following day the attack of the IIIrd Corps was continued in conjunction with that of the Third Army to the north and the Australian Corps to the south. The IIIrd Corps captured Tara and Usna hills, employing six tanks of the 1st Tank Battalion in this action. On the Australian front the thirty-six machines of the 5th Tank Brigade deployed and led the infantry right on to their objective, which was successfully occupied. On reaching this the machines of the 2nd and 13th Battalions exploited north of Chuignolles with the 3rd Australian Brigade, whilst those of the 8th Battalion rallied. During this attack the enemy put up a stout resistance, his machine-gunners fighting with great spirit and in many cases continuing to fire their guns until run over by the tanks. Curiously enough, in comparison with this, on the previous day the enemy’s machine-gunners on the IIIrd Corps front scarcely put up any fight at all, and when asked why they had not done so replied: “Oh! it would not have been any good.”
The following is a typical battle-history sheet depicting the tank fighting at this period; it was written by a tank commander who took part in the above attack.
“At 4.25 a.m. on the 23rd instant, I proceeded with my female tank ‘Mabel’ (No. 9382) in front of the infantry. I made a very zigzag course to the wood in the south-west edge of the village of Chuignolles, where I encountered an anti-tank gun which was eventually knocked out by the male tank commanded by 2nd Lieut. Simmonds, who was operating on my right. I then worked up the south side of the village, heavily machine-gunning all the crops and copses, and dislodged several machine-gun crews of the enemy. I next came back to the village and mopped up the enemy on the outskirts until it was clear. Then, emerging from the smoke of two shells which dropped short, I found myself in the midst of a battery of whizz-bangs. The gunners of this battery I at once proceeded to obliterate with good success, after which I came behind another battery and proceeded with the same operation. Then I started to take infantry over to the high ground south of Square wood in L.35d, when I was called back by an Australian colonel to attend to some M.G. nests which had been left in the centre of the village; here I mopped up twelve M.G. nests and then started to catch up the remainder of the tanks and the barrage, but while at the top of a very steep bank, approximately R.10.b.30.50, I received a direct hit from a whizz-bang on the front horns, which sent me out of control to the bottom of the bank, where I found it had broken one plate of my left track. After repairing this, the barrage having finished, and as tanks were coming back to rally, I brought my tank back to the rallying-point at Amy wood.”
In the Third Army the attack was re-opened on August 23 by a moonlight operation, starting at 4 a.m., carried out against the village of Gomiecourt. The 3rd Division, supported by ten Mark IV tanks of the 12th Battalion, attacked this village and carried it. A little later the Guards Division with four Mark IV.s captured the village of Hamelincourt.