[ News
| Homes
| Life
| Entertainment
| History
| Science
| Community
| Shop ]
| Sport
| Culture
| Cars
| Money
| Broadband
| Learning
| Health
| Dating
| Games ]
[ Text Only: Homepage ]
[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
The Series | Credits | Shop
Home | Overview | Controversies | Timeline | Combatants | Biographies | Glossary | Learn More
The Controversies | Tangled Beginnings | Breaking the deadlock | Live and let live | Jihad | A Harbinger of horrors | Cracking the code | Over there | The end?
Breaking the Deadlock | Verdun | The Somme | Cambrai
Despite the heartbreak of the Somme, Britain continued to try and achieve breakthrough. It invested a lot of faith in a technological innovation that offered a promising blend of mobility and firepower - the tank. Tanks were first deployed en masse against the Germans at Cambrai in November/December 1917.
Working in conjunction with a more effective and better-directed artillery, the British enjoyed a great advantage, thanks to their more than 400 tanks, and quickly pushed the Germans back. This time, church bells pealed across England in celebration of a great victory.
However, as at Verdun, the bell-ringing was premature. Tanks could be extremely effective on flat open ground but were much more vulnerable in the narrow village alleyways, where they could be destroyed by highly mobile stormtroopers. Thirty-two tanks were knocked out in the village of Flesquieres and more were crippled in Fontaine-Notre-Dame.
'The first tank arrived out of the village; we fired. A column of smoke and fire came out of the monster. Two of our men ran towards the tank and reported that everybody in there was half-cremated. That massive tank ended up completely destroyed and it was a horrible sight to see.'
German soldier, Flesquieres
Moreover, as soon as one side introduced an innovation, the other side quickly developed a counter-measure. The Germans hastily responded with improvised anti-tank guns - anti-aircraft guns loaded with armour-piercing shells and mounted on the backs of lorries. They proved to be a lethal combination.
'Soon, as into a rat trap, from Bourlon wood came nine tanks in procession towards Fontaine. The gun crews stood to their guns, burning with eagerness. The captain commanded: 'Steady, men. It will soon be time.' When the enemy was less than 100 metres away, the command rings out, 'Rapid fire!' The first tank rears upwards, those following halt. One direct hit after another.'
German soldier
The deployment of the anti-tanks guns and the mobility of the stormtroopers quickly negated Britain's tank advantage and undermined all hopes of achieving a quick breakthrough. Within days of launching a counter-attack, the Germans had won back all the territory that they had lost. The deadlock would remain in place for another winter.
Deadlock and immobility were key features of the Western Front, but they were the product of accident and circumstance rather than design. The Allies had more men and greater resources, but the Germans had better defensive positions on higher ground. As a result, the two sides were fairly evenly matched. Each side's technological or tactical innovations were usually nullified by the other side's counter-measures, and this tended to reinforce stalemate.
Winning territory wasn't the problem - hanging on to it was. Whoever mastered the art of breaking through the trench system, then breaking out of it, would have discovered the secret of winning the war.
NEXT: LIVE AND LET LIVE >