On the last day of August 1918, probably the most decisive month in the whole war, nine Mark IV.s of the 12th Battalion and four Whippets of the 6th Battalion attacked the Longatte trench, Moreuil switch, and Vraucourt trench, taking all these objectives, and on the following day, September 1, Whippets of the 6th Battalion completed the above operations by establishing the infantry on the slopes east of Vaux-Vraucourt.
The Second Battle of Arras reached its zenith on September 2 when the famous Drocourt-Queant line, which we had failed to reach in April 1917, was broken. Starting from the south the 1st Tank Brigade operated with the 42nd and 5th Divisions against Beugny and Villars-au-Flos. To the north of this attack the 2nd Tank Brigade assisted in the VIth Corps operations against Moreuil, Lagnicourt, and Morchies. This attack was made in conjunction with those of the Canadian and XVIIth Corps against the Drocourt-Queant line. This line was attacked by the 1st and 4th Canadian Divisions and the 4th Division, together with as many tanks as the 9th, 11th, and 14th Battalions of the 3rd Tank Brigade could muster. The assembly of these machines was difficult owing not only to the intricate nature of the Sensée valley but to the fact that active operations were taking place throughout these preparations.
The Drocourt-Queant line, built in the spring of 1917, was protected by immensely strong belts of wire entanglement, and it was expected that every effort would be made on the part of the enemy to hold these defences at all cost; nevertheless, on the whole, less opposition was encountered than had been anticipated. Except for anti-tank rifle fire, which was especially noticeable at Villers-les-Cagnicourt, the tanks met little opposition. It is estimated that in this attack one company of tanks alone destroyed over seventy hostile machine guns, the German gunners surrendering to the tanks as they approached.
On the next day, the enemy falling back, the Whippet tanks pushed forward to Hermies and Dermicourt. Thus the Second Battle of Arras ended in an overwhelming success by the piercing of the renowned Drocourt-Queant line. A blow had now been delivered from which the enemy’s moral never recovered.
Since August 21, in all, 511 tanks had been in action, and except for one or two minor failures every attack had culminated in a cheap success—cheap as regards our own infantry casualties, especially so when it is remembered that during the fortnight which comprised the battle of Bapaume and the Second Battle of Arras no fewer than 470 guns and 53,000 prisoners were captured. Thus in a little less than one month the German Army had lost to the First, Third, and Fourth British Armies 870 guns and 75,000 men without counting killed and wounded.
CHAPTER XXXIV
GERMAN ANTI-TANK TACTICS
From September 1916 onwards to the conclusion of the war, German anti-tank tactics passed through three phases. Firstly, the enemy had no anti-tank defence at all, or what he devised he based upon a misconception of what the tank could accomplish. Secondly, having learnt but little about tanks, he considered that only a small expenditure of effort and matériel was required to deal with weapons of so limited a scope. Thirdly, from August 1918 onwards, he took panic and over-estimated their powers; his efforts at anti-tank defence became feverish and he appeared to be willing to make any and every sacrifice to combat this terrible weapon.
Captured documents clearly show that the introduction of tanks was as great a surprise to the German General Staff as to their fighting troops. It is true that certain vague rumours had been circulated that the Allies might use some new weapon, but, as such rumours have throughout the war been current on all sides, no particular importance was attached to them. In spite of the fact that tanks were used on several occasions between September 15 and November 13, 1916, and that the enemy held in his possession near Gueudecourt a captured tank for some fourteen days, he formed a most inaccurate idea of it.