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Born-East Sheen

The Battle of Cambrai

This was a major British offensive on the Western Front that was launched on 20th November, 1917 and lasted through to the beginning of December. As the name suggests it was an attack towards the city of Cambrai and the important German railhead there, which it was hoped would be captured. The battle was notable for two things: the massed use of tanks for the first time and the success of the first day’s fighting when the formidable Hindenburg Line was breached and gains of five miles were made in places. In celebration the church bells throughout Britain were rung. However this success was short lived. The tanks were not reliable and the German defence stiffened as the fighting progressed and when they counter attacked in force on 30th November, the British came under so much pressure that they were forced to withdraw from many of the positions they had captured earlier on. Both sides suffered around 45,000 casualties during the course of the fighting.

When the Germans attacked on 30th November, 1917, 2nd Division were holding the line south of the Cambrai-Bapaume road and astride the the Canal du Nord where the front of 6 Brigade was held by the 13th Essex and 1st Liverpool (Kings) battalions. At 9.30am, 13th Essex beat off an attack from the north-east with their rifle and machine-gun fire but an hour later, after the enemy had put a box barrage around the lock and canal crossing held by the battalion, another attack was launched and this time 13th Essex were driven back into Canal Trench. The company defending the lock were isolated and fought to the last man. The battalion suffered 400 casualties during the course of the day one of them being Joseph Beardwell who was killed.