Product Description

Cambrai was the last battle fought by the British on the Western Front in 1917. With Russia out of the war, Italy on the brink of collapse, and the French still reeling from the effects of widespread mutiny, Britain was the only member of the Western Allies still capable of holding the mighty German Army at bay. They did so by taking the fight to the Germans in one of the greatest turning point battles of twentieth-century warfare. At dawn on 20 November 1917, the British attacked the German lines with almost 400 tanks - the first ever mass use of this brand new weapon of war. The Germans were taken completely by surprise and crumpled beneath the blow. For a brief moment it looked as though a stunning breakthrough had been achieved, and church bells rang out across England in celebration. But the Germans were not defeated. Indeed, they used their counterattack as an opportunity to pioneer their own new 'stormtroop' tactics, and suddenly the British were in disarray. In a series of bloody and terrifying reverses the British were driven right back to their start lines. Over the decades many myths have grown up about this iconic battle. For one thing, it was not the tanks that most shocked the Germans at Cambrai at all, but brilliant British innovations in artillery techniques. But such was the potency of the tank myth that after the war it seduced generals and historians on both sides, until the myth was finally brought to reality in the mobile battles that engulfed Europe just thirty years later. In this new look at one of the century's most important battles, Bryn Hammond tells the story of what exactly happened at the end of 1917, and how the myths that were created in those tragic two weeks were to change the face of warfare forever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #179698 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 500 pages

About the Author
Dr Bryn Hammond is a member of the Centre for First World War Studies, the British Commission for Military History and the Western Front and Gallipoli Associations. He is also joint convenor of the Imperial War Museum's History Group. He has written numerous articles about the First World War, and is a regular speaker on the subject. Cambrai 1917 is his first book.

Customer Reviews

History made vivid
As we entered the twenty-first century, there was the suggestion from some social soothsayers that the importance of some big events from the early years of the previous century might fade: Scott's expedition to the Antarctic, the sinking of the Titanic, the suffraget movement, and even the Great War would all lose some of their potency and relevance to our modern age. This, like most futurologists' predictions, is risibly wide of the mark. For while there are writers of the calibre of Bryn Hammond, the past will continue to enlighten and inform the present.

Cambrai 1917 is an excellent book. It is exhaustively researched, concisely written and well designed. There is no putting of words into soldiers' mouths, no lame conjecture. On almost every page there are quotes reproduced verbatim from diaries, letters or official reports, so the reader sees the war from the point of view of the people who were right there, right then. When these contemporary passages are juxtaposed with Hammond's informed overview, the results make for an engaging and moving read, a story about people, not statistics. Hammond takes events from over ninety years ago and makes them as real and as vivid as anything going on now in Iraq or Afghanistan. An example: In mid-battle, the 'auto-vac', which supplies petrol to the tank engine, has just failed. With German shells thudding all around, one tank is now a stationary target. In the words of Captain Daniel Hickey, H28 'Hadrian', No. 23 Company, 'H' Battalion, Tank Corps:

"It was a trying moment! With tense faces the crew watched the imperturbable second driver as he coolly and methodically put the auto-vac right, ignoring all the proferred advice to give it a good hard knock. To the adjurations to hurry up or the tank would be blown to blazes, he replied with his habitual stutter: 'Why d-don't you m-mind your own b-bloody b-business?'"

Cambrai 1917 is a masterly account of an extraordinary battle. I thoroughly recommend it.

Compelling account of the Battle of Cambrai
Cambrai 1917 is a meticulously researched and well written, but above all readable book, which cleverly intersperses the events of the battle with personal memories of the combatants. These accounts woven into the narrative form an extraordinary account of what it was like for those brave men fighting the battle that was to change the face of warfare forever.

I am not a particular student of the First World War, but found the book easy to read. I particularly found great pleasure in some of the small details contained like the fact that cavalry was still being used in 1917, complete with lances, against modern weapons such as machine guns and that Scottish Regiments such as the Black Watch, were later in the war being manned not only by Scots, but also by other nationalities including the English.

I would recommend this book strongly, not just those people who study WW1 but to anyone who wants to gain an understanding of a major turning point in history. The book is very clearly written and the narrative pace moves very quickly. As the initial attack was launched, even though I knew the result so to speak, I couldn't help but believe that it was the beginning of the end of the war. The German counter-attack with Storm trooper tactics came almost as a big a surprise as any plot twist in a pot-boiler. This book would make a great addition to anyone's library or as great gift to anyone interested in modern warfare.

CambraI 1917 The Myth of the First Great Tank Battle by Bryn Hammond
Cambrai 1917 is an excellent read. It is thoroughly researched and written in a lively and engaging style. The tex contains hundreds of quotes reproduced from diaries, letters, and official reports of the time and when these extracts are set alongside the author's eloquent prose you have an extremely exciting and revealing account of this extraordinary battle. Highly recommended