F Battalion 22 November 1917
The Tanks at Cambrai. 22nd November 1917
F Battalion, with 89th Brigade, 29th Division, III Corps
F battalion had 4 tanks in action on 22nd November 1917 (H6):
F15, “Fifinella”
F41, 8019, m, “Fray Bentos II”, 2Lt CH Hodge
F42, 2721, f, “Faun”, 2lt JL Lees
F48, 2736, f, “Fiara”, 2Lt EN Edwards
Note:
F48 serial number from list of 3rd Brigade Tanks dated 13 July 1917 in PRO WO 95 / 91. Courtesy of Gwyn Evans.
F48 name from 22 August action when “Fiara” attacked and rallied.
F42 serial number from 22 Aug records, the tank was handed back to the crew by the salvage company.
F41 sex from War History account of action on the 27th November.
F41 serial number, all other tank sexes and all section and tank commanders names from OB taken from Jean-Luc Gibot and Phillippe Gorczynski (1999) Following the Tanks, Cambrai (S37); The Author has been unable to locate an original source for this information.
Orders (H6)
A continuation of the action on the 21st.
Four tanks were to support 89th brigade.
Account of Operations (H6)
The tanks started forward again at 5am and engaged Revelon Chateau at 6.30am entering the grounds and firing on some good targets. At 7.15 the tanks separated, F41 and F42 going to the left Bridgehead. The enemy sent up SOS signals on the east side of the canal. F41 ran out of petrol but was provided with 3 tins by F42; all the tanks now returned to British lines very short of fuel. They camouflaged in the Sunken Road and were refilled by a gun carrying tank that arrived here at 4pm on the 23rd.
Summary
Intended: 4
Reserve: 0
At Start: 4
Started: 4
Engaged enemy: 4
Ditched / Broke Down:
Hit and Knocked out: 0
Rallied: 4
Aftermath
F15 - no further record
F41, F42, F48 all in action on 26th / 27th.
Sources
H6 – 6th (F) Tank Battalion War History PRO 95/107
W23 – War Diary of 3rd Tank Brigade, relevant battle graph and narrative PRO WO95/104
S37 - Jean-Luc Gibot and Phillippe Gorczynski (1999) Following the Tanks, Cambrai