![]() Moreover, the tanks often bogged down in the muddy terrain of the Western Front in fall and winter, rendering them completely useless.Īs a result, by the fall of 1917 many on the Allied side had come to doubt the viability of the tank as a major force on the battlefield. ![]() The early tanks were maddeningly slow and unwieldy navigation and visibility from their controls were poor and though they were impervious to small arms fire, they could be destroyed easily by shellfire. At dawn on the morning of November 20, 1917, six infantry and two cavalry divisions of the British Expeditionary Force–with additional support from 14 squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps–join the British Tank Corps in a surprise attack on the German lines near Cambrai, France.Īfter the British debuted the first armored tanks during the massive Somme offensive in September 1916, their effectiveness as a weapon–aside from the initial value of surprise–was quickly thrown into doubt. ![]()
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