301 US Tank Battalion 8 October 1918
The 2nd Battle of Cambrai. 8th October 1918
301st US Battalion with 59th Brigade, 30th Division, II American Corp, 4th British Army
301st US battalion had 20 tanks in action on 8th October 1918.
Presumably some of the following which were in action on 29th September and probably rallied undamaged:
A Company
958?, “ Watts
9389, “ Taylor
9397, “ Colburn
9892, “ Dean
9004, “ Webb
9593, “ Hart
9890, “Gutkowistu
9891
B Company
9592, Lt Elingwood
9117, Sgt Killingen
9352, “ MacDonald
9047, “ Hamdraught
9429, “ Jones
C Company
9279, Lt Willard
9390, “ Shanks
9396, “ Latham
9111, “ Budd
9017, “ Brown
9043, “ Dinsmore
9088, “ Logan
9376, “ Vernon
9027, “ Holmes
2Lt Paul S Haimburgh commanded a male tank on this date (S88.p49) (S98.p3)
Notes:
The tanks listed above are those that survived the 29th September action undamaged, some ditched or broke down on the 29th and may not have been recovered. Some, unidentified, tanks had not attacked on the 29th and thus probably attacked on the 8th.
9891 was photographed ditched by a railway line after the battle and was thus presumably in action on this date.
The WWvets site claims 23 tanks were available for action, no reserve.
Orders
The 59th Brigade, 30th US Division was to advance supported by 20 MK V tanks from the US 301st Tank Battalion and 16 whippets. (OH)
Lying up place behind Joncourt. (H6)
Both companies to operate in the left of the attack in the direction of Premont. (H6)
“B” Company with 118th US Regiment on the right. (H6)
“C” Company with 117th US Regiment, objective the far side of Premont. (H6)
Account of Operations
The Americans moved forward overcoming all resistance, except at Brancourt where heavy MG fire was encountered the first objective [ Red line ] was taken by 8am. Brancourt was held by many MGs which were subdued by the 301st tanks the village being taken by 11am. (OH)
“Visibility was perfect, with the light breeze taking the battle smoke over the Germans. They were bombed from the air, and received heavy shelling from the Germans, but eleven tanks reached their objective, four received direct hits and were destroyed; five had mechanical trouble; and three didn't make it past the jump off point. Relatively speaking, this battle was a success, with the objective being met by 1415 that afternoon”. Quoted verbatim from WWvets site (WWvets)
The attack was a success, though losses were heavy and included ten American tanks and three whippets. The infantry captured 30 guns and 1500 prisoners. (OH)
An account was written by 2Lt Haimburgh which describes his tank in action with is female partner, 2Lt Haimburgh's tank rallied. (s88.p49)
Summary
Total Tanks: 20
Failed to Start:
Engaged enemy:
Ditched / Broke Down:
Hit and Knocked out:
Rallied: 10
Aftermath
9891 was photographed ditched by a railway line:
IWM Q 7111: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205238960
IWM Q 7113: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205238961
The battalion was next in action on 17th October 1918 (W6)
Sources
H6 – 6th Battalion War History, (1919) Naval and Military Press
OH – Official History, 1918, Vol. 5, pg.192
S88 - The fighting tanks since 1916 (1933) Ralph E. Jones et al.
S98 - War Stories of the tankers (2008) Michael green (kindle edition)
WWvets - A (brief) account of the action can be found here: http://www.wwvets.com/WW1_Tanks.asp