A late-WWI engagement where over 300 tanks helped British forces capture Cambrai in under 36 hours, demonstrating evolved combined-arms tactics.
Key Facts
- Dates
- 8–10 October 1918
- Tanks deployed
- Over 300 tanks
- Duration
- Less than 36 hours
- British excess casualties
- ~2,000 more than German losses
- Part of
- Hundred Days Offensive
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Hundred Days Offensive of 1918 saw Allied forces pressing German lines across the Western Front. British armies sought to recapture the strategically significant French city of Cambrai, which had been held by Germany since 1914, exploiting new combined-arms tactics developed through years of costly trial and error.
Between 8 and 10 October 1918, British First, Third, and Fourth Armies engaged German Empire forces in and around Cambrai. More than 300 tanks participated alongside infantry, applying modern 1918 tactical methods. The city and surrounding ground were secured in under 36 hours, representing one of the faster large-scale advances of the war.
The battle resulted in approximately 2,000 more British than German casualties, a relatively light toll compared to earlier phases of the war. The successful use of mass armor and updated tactics reinforced lessons about combined-arms warfare and contributed to the accelerating collapse of German resistance in the final weeks of World War I.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent