6 Battalion, B and C Companies 8 October 1918

The 2^nd Battle of Cambrai. 8^th October 1918

6 Battalion, with 117^th and 118^th Regts, 59^th Brigade, 30^th US Division, Austro - American Corp, 3rd Army ^(OH)

6 Battalion, “B” and “C” Companies had 16 tanks in action on 8^th October 1918 ^(H6):

B Company

A377

A332

A330

A369

A347

A370

section - Captain Strachen’s

A377

section - Captain Allen

C Company

10 tanks

A321

A328

A333

A338 (see below)

A339

A349

A350

A358

A361

A368

9 Section – 2Lt Bromley FF

3 tanks

10 Section – Capt Munro J MC

3 tanks including

A338, Sgt Squires

Section – Lt Taylor TGL

4 tanks including

Cpl Reed

Orders

The 59^th Brigade, 30^th US Division was to advance supported by 20 MK V tanks from the US 301^st 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 118^th US Regiment on the right. ^(H6)

“C” Company with 117^th 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 301^st tanks the village being taken by 11am. ^(OH)

Both whippet companies left the lying up place at 5:15am in order to reach the Red line by Zero plus 3 hours 10 minutes. ^(H6)

B Company

A377 initially broke down started five minutes behind Capt Strachen’s section. The other five tanks all started at Zero plus 165 minutes, Captain Strachen’s section leading Captain Allen’s section. The tanks advanced in diamond formation, crossed the dotted red line between Zero +169 and Zero + 174 minutes. The enemy put down a heavy barrage on the north west edge of Bancourt, Capt Allen’s section advanced supported by isolated groups of infantry. The tanks encountered heavy opposition at 7:45am near Vaux-le-Pretre, A330 and A369 were both hit and set afire in front of Fricourt wood, North East of Brancourt. Capt. Allen’s tank was also hit but remained mobile. AT 10:15am Captain Strachan’s section rallied north of Montbrehain. All 6 tanks engaged the enemy, 3000 SAA round were fired. ^(H6)

C Company

9 and 10 sections started forward at 6:45am, met their infantry on the Red line and then advanced in Diamond formation, 9 section on the left, 10 section on the right. The tanks intended to demonstrate in front of the village thus allowing the infantry to close on it. Then the tanks would circle to the rear of the village and prevent the enemy’s withdrawal. The remaining 4 whippets followed behind the others, Lt Taylor was wounded at 7:30am, one tank joined 10 section, three tanks joined 9 section. 10 sections lead tank, A338 was hit and burnt out at Brancourt, all crew killed. The other two tanks of 10 section turned and engaged the enemy gun from another direction, silencing it. They reached Vaux-le-Pretre, found the infantry on their objective so returned and rallied. ^(H6)

Two of the three tanks that had joined 9 section from the reserve broke down, Lt Reed’s before crossing the red line, the other tank was repaired, under heavy shellfire, and went into action.

10 section met the infantry on the north edge of Vaux-le-Pretre and arranged to attack up the Beaver Dell valley. The lead tank located two batteries north of Vaux-le-Pretre, the rest of the section turned south and then took the battery in the flank, the tanks obtained good targets, the infantry followed, the tanks rallied at Joncourt then escorted the infantry through Premont village. The tanks weren’t fired on, the infantry having captured Premont the tanks rallied. All 10 tanks engaged the enemy, 6500 SAA rounds were fired. ^(H6)

The tanks primary tactic was to suppress the enemy with bursts of MG fire whilst they closed the range, only at Fricort Wood was the target too large for the suppressive fire to be effective, hence the loss of A330 and A369 to fire from the wood. ^(H6)

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)

Summary

Total Tanks: 16

Failed to Start:

Engaged enemy: 16

Ditched / Broke Down:

Hit and Knocked out: 3

Rallied: 13

Aftermath

A330, A332, A369 of “B” Company and A338 of “C” Company handed to salvage on 13^th October; A391 handed to salvage on 15^th October ^(W6)

A338 with crews graves next to it photographed AWM : http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P00394.025

also painted: 6th Battalion's formal paintings box in bovington

Sources

H6 – 6^th Battalion War History, (1919) Naval and Military Press

OH – Official History, 1918, Vol. 5, pg.192

W6 – 6^th Battalion War Diary. Transcript from BovingtonTank Museum contains no mention of this action.

2nd Cambrai - 8 to 9 October 1918

F / 6th Battalion