6 Battalion, B and C Companies 8 October 1918
The 2nd Battle of Cambrai. 8th October 1918
6 Battalion, with 117th and 118th Regts, 59th Brigade, 30th US Division, Austro - American Corp, 3rd Army (OH)
6 Battalion, “B” and “C” Companies had 16 tanks in action on 8th 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 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)
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 13th October; A391 handed to salvage on 15th 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 – 6th Battalion War History, (1919) Naval and Military Press
OH – Official History, 1918, Vol. 5, pg.192
W6 – 6th Battalion War Diary. Transcript from BovingtonTank Museum contains no mention of this action.