Product Description

The British Army was the first to use tanks, employing a handful of early models during the closing stages of the Battle of the Somme, September 1916. But it was over a year later that the first mass tank attack demonstrated just what a revolutionary weapon this was. On 20 November 1917, just as the bloody slaughter at Passchendaele reached stalemate, the British flung 378 tanks at the German trenches at Cambrai. They overran the whole position in a morning. The victory was so incredible that church bells were sounded throughout the British Isles. However, the subsequent German counter-attack was successful. The British ran out of reserves and the frontline was retaken. Yet Cambrai anticipated the events of 1918: the Germans had no answer to the British Army's new weapon and new artillery tactics. No subsequent British offensive failed to take its objectives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #539612 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

About the Author
Bryan Cooper was born in 1932 in Paris. He began his writing career as a journalist, working for the RAF REVIEW magazine during his National Service. On becoming a fulltime writer he wrote books on military history, novels and plays for radio and television. He now lives in Deal.

Customer Reviews

A decent effort on a touchy subject.
Let me first say that this was a good enjoyable read on a quite touchy subject for military officianados (I am not one).

There is much debate whether the tanks were to get the credit for the early successes in the Battle of Cambrai or whether it was the new artillery tactics. It is without any doubt which side Bryan Cooper comes down on. To be honest I don't really care. I just enjoyed this book for what it was - the facts were presented to me and, any bias, I could take on board or ignore at my leisure.

My great grandfather was at Cambrai (not as a tank man but as a foot soldier) and got gassed and shot in the foot - so the subject interests me greatly. I thought the book was very well-researched and, on the whole, well-written. there were just a few niggles here and there that irritated me and led me to give it 4 rather than 5 stars. The main thing was that he did tend to repeat himself. He'd tell us what units were going to be in an advance in the build up, then go through them again once battle had started and even possibly at the end. There were also repetitions of stock-phrases which annoyed me too (sorry I can't be bothered to go through the book and re-find them now).

So, if you can ignore these little niggles and are interested in this battle, then you could do a lot worse than read this book.