MV Listers,
Thanks to a reply from David Fletcher of the Bovington Tank Museum I
now have not only the answer to my question, but specific corrections
to the original posting.
20 November 1917 was the 'Battle of Cambrai' the first major
demonstration of tank power. 216 Mk IV's of the assault battalion and
the 51st Highland Division achieved a breach in the German lines six
miles wide and 4,000 yards deep. Church bells in England pealed out the
news of victory. This 'victory' cost the British just under 4,000
casualties. Ten days later General Ludendorff's counter-attack pushed
them back to their start line.
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Fletcher <DavidF@tankmuseum.co.uk>
Lance
Philippe Gorczynski, proprietor of the Hotel Beatus in Cambrai has
studied the battle field for years, collecting relics, plotting the
sites where tanks were knocked out and ultimately writing a superb book
(Following the Tanks) about the battle. He was fairly sure that a near
complete tank was buried in the village of Flesquieres, in the centre of
the battlefield, and finally unearthed it 5 Nov 1998. It was a Mark
IV certainly, but a female, not a male. It was ultimately identified as
the D (4th) Battalion tank D51 Deborah (Lieutenant Heap) which was
knocked out in the village on 20 November 1917, subsequently stripped of
most of its useful fittings and ultimately buried at the end of the war
during the tidying up process. It is now housed in a barn in the
village
and in the process of being cleaned up with help from the Royal Tank
Regiment. It got some publicity in the British press but as far as I
know nothing special has been done on the web.
DavidF
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