Arras - Overview
DRAFT ONLY - NOT YET REFERENCED
Arras
The battle of Arras was the second of the three great artillery battles fought by the BEF in 1916 and 1917. It was a battle Haig didn't really wish to fight, as it was intended as a diversion to draw German reserves away from the Chemain des Dames before Nivelle launched the French into his breakthrough offensive. When Nivelle's offensive failed Haig was forced to prolong the fight in Arras to stop the Germans exploiting the deterioration in the moral of the French Army.
The Arras offensive was successful at first, the British demonstrating they had learned lessons from the Somme fighting the previous year. Vimy Ridge was stormed by the redoubtable Canadians whilst the 12th Division made an advance of three and a half miles, and could have gone further had they not been stopped by the protective barrage put down by the British artillery to prevent a chimeric German counter attack. Progress gradually slowed after the first day as the German defence was stiffened by reinforcements. In the closing weeks of the battle, fought mainly to try and distract German attention away from the French army, the British made a number of costly attacks for little gain.
Sources
Whereas books on the Somme and Passchendaele are plentiful few have been published on Arras. Peter Barton's book is the latest, very welcome addition, like Jonathan Nichols "Cheerful Sacrifice" it contains many first hand accounts, several written by tank crewmen. "The Boiler Plate War" also contains a number of tank survivors accounts.
The tanks actions at Arras are very well documented in the Primary Sources, especially the "Reports on Operations" contained in the PRO records, which contain battlegraphs and descriptions of every action. One or two mistakes were made on the battlegraphs and in the reports, wherever possible these have been corrected in the respective narratives on this site.
We are thus able to identify every tank that was supposed to fight at Arras by serial number and also determine their fates during the battle.
The Tanks at Arras
Haig had been promised 400 Mk IV tanks for his spring offensive, the first 19 only arrived at Le Harve on the 17th and 18th April (S3.p177) .
60 tanks, 15 Mk I and 45 Mk II, were acquired from the tank driving schools in France and England an issued to "C" and "D" Battalions.
The Mk II were supposedly finished in non-case hardened Boiler plate and were therefore thought to not be proof against AP ammunition, a quick check on one of the 20 in England determined that they were probably proof against AP ammunition and thus they were dispatched to France (S3.p176). In the event the Germans at Arras were able to penetrate both the Mk I and Mk II with AP ammunition on at least 11 recorded occasions (see summary).
Before the MK II were built it was decided to change the MGs on the tanks to Lewis guns . This allowed for a smaller female sponson as eventually fitted to the Mk IV, no smaller sponsons were ready by April so the 20 female Mk II were fitted with old Mk I sponsons (S3.p176), still sporting their distinctive camouflage which contrasted with the solid colour (probably chocolate brown) the tanks themselves were painted. 62 tanks were converted to Lewis Guns by Central Workshops, presumably the 60 that were went to Arras and two extra Mk I.
Tactics
First Day
It was anticipated that the artillery would be able to blast the infantry onto the first objective, the Black line. Tanks were to start at zero from approximately a mile behind the front line and meet the infantry on the Black line at Zero +2 hours. The tanks would then help the infantry attack the most formidable objectives beyond the Black line:
4 tanks to attack Neuville Vitesse, two passing to the north and two to the south of it.
4 were to attack telegraph Hill, then work down the Hindenburg Line to Neuville Vitasse;
4 were to attack the Harp;
4 more were to deal with Tilloy lez Mofflaines, two to the north and two to the south;
2 more were to start at Roclincourt and sweep down the valley west of the Bois de la Maison Blanche;
18 tanks were to advance on Feuchy chapel, some of these were then to roll up the Wancourt Feuchy Line to the north and south
If still functioning 20 tanks were to support the attack to the Green Line and attack Monchy le Preux: 12 from Wancourt and 8 from Feuchy Chapel (OH.pg187)
These Tactics worked well in some areas, less so elsewhere. As on the Somme the heavily shelled ground proved to be a major obstacle, stopping many of the tanks from coming into action. Where they did get into contact with the enemy their help was often invaluable, they were able to crush wire, silence MGs and enable the infantry's advance, exactly as they had been designed and built to do.
On the 11th April the tanks supported two separate actions at Bullecourt and Monchy.
There hadn't been enough artillery to bombard the defences and cut the wire to the east of Bullecourt. "D" Battalion's OIC persuaded the Corp Commander that the tanks could replace the bombardment by advancing in front of the infantry, crushing the wire and silencing the MGs. Unfortunately the unreliable and inadequately protected tanks proved unequal to the task and mostly failed to penetrate the enemies defences. The Australian infantry suffered accordingly, it would be more than a year before they trusted the tanks again. (S17)
At Monchy the tanks also advanced without the benefit of an artillery barrage, but this was because H-hour had been postponed for 2 hours and the message failed to reach the tanks. The tanks claimed to have captured the village single handedly, though it seems likely that infantry accompanied them. The tank advocates were to make much of this accidental success, presumably to try and distract attention from the failure of the more carefully planed attack at Bullecourt. (S20)
For the rest of the campaign the diminishing number of tanks were used in penny packets to support the infantry where necessary.
S3 - Devils Chariots (2001) John Glanfield
S17 - Bullecourt. (1999) Graham Keech, Pen and Sword.
S18 - Cheerful Sacrifice, The Battle of Arras 1917 (2005), Jonathon Nicholls, Pen and Sword
S20 - Monchy le Preux (2000) Colin Fox, Pen and Sword.
S30 - The Boiler Plate War (1963) John Foley
S58 - The 1917 Spring Offensives (1997) Yves Buffetaut
S62 - A Company of Tanks (????) WHL Watson (???? Reprint)
S77 - Arras (2010) Peter Barton