by John Taylor
13. Letter from Reichsarchiv to Generalleutnant Freiherr von Watter dated 13 April 1928.
14. Wedel, p. 174 – this says Leutnant Müller was named by ‘various sources’.
15. Kamerad Hoischen (former Gefreiter in No. 8 Battery, 108 FAR), ‘Der Held von Cambrai’, Der Frontsoldat Erzählt No. 7 (1937).
16. Ernst Kleuker, ‘Vor Zwanzig Jahren: Der Leutnant von Cambrai’, Der Frontsoldat Erzählt No. 8 (1937). This is a somewhat loose translation that attempts to capture the spirit of the original.
17. Erwin Zindler, ‘Erziehungsarbeit an einer Infanterie-Division und ihr Erfolg in der Tankschlacht bei Cambrai’, Wissen und Wehr (1937), pp. 327–43.
18. Wedel, p. 166.
19. Anonymous, ‘More Light on Cambrai, 1917’, The Army Quarterly (October 1937), pp. 142–4.
20. Oration by Feldbischof D. Dohrmann in Trauerfeier fur den … Generalleutnant a.D. Oskar Frhr. von Watter on 25 August 1939, in Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart (M 430/2 Bü 2309).
21. Hotblack, ‘A Cambrai Myth?’.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Captain E. W. Sheppard, ‘Mrs. Partington Again’, The Army Quarterly (April 1931).
25. The War Office (R.T.C.) Battlefield Tour took place on 25–29 March 1935. Notes from the visit are preserved at the Tank Museum, and were also incorporated into the History of Cambrai compiled by Major-General Sir Percy Hobart in Tank Museum (E2006.381).
26. Letter in Royal Tank Corps Journal (October 1935).
27. ‘The Legend of Flesquieres’, Royal Tank Corps Journal (November 1935). The article is anonymous but may well be by Hotblack.
28. Major A. F. Becke, ‘Cambrai, 1917. The Tanks at Flesquières on the 20th November’, Journal of the Royal Artillery (January 1941).
29. The Times, 4 September 1964.
30. Letter dated 3 August 1944 in NA (CAB 45/118).
31. Letters dated 4 July to 14 September 1935 (year given in covering note) in War Diary of Third Army HQ in NA (WO 95/367).
32. Letter dated 28 November 1944 in NA (CAB 45/118).
33. Letter dated 23 March 1944 in NA (CAB 45/118).
34. Official History – Cambrai, p. 59 (footnote).
Chapter 35: ‘The Fates Fought Against Us’ (pp. 241–246)
1. Fuller, Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier p. 94; Fuller, Tanks in the Great War 1914-1918, p. xvi.
2. Service record, held by Ministry of Defence.
3. Cheltenham Chronicle, 16 August 1902.
4. Notes from Tony Rundell and Mary Baker-Carr.
5. The Times, 15 March 1928.
6. The Times, 13 April 1927.
7. The Times, 4 February 1928.
8. The Times, 14 December 1929.
9. Divorce files in NA (J 77/2651/2340 and J 77/2959/1442).
10. The Times, 16 December 1922.
11. Nicholson, p. 140.
12. Harper, Notes on Infantry Tactics & Training.
13. Baker-Carr, From Chauffeur to Brigadier, p. 73.
14. Ibid., pp. 269–70.
15. See Western Morning News, 16 December 1922; The Times, 16, 18 and 20 December 1922.
16. Fuller, Tanks in the Great War 1914-1918, p. 149.
17. Fuller, Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier, p. 209.
18. Hotblack, ‘Recollections of Cambrai, 1917’.
19. Liddell Hart, The Real War, pp. 376–7. See also Liddell Hart, The Tanks, Vol One, pp. 141–3.
20. Letter dated 23 March 1944 in NA (CAB 45/118).
21. Official History – Cambrai, p. 280.
22. Summary of Operations by Colonel C. D. Baker-Carr dated 9 December 1917 in War Diary of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/98).
23. Instructions No. 1 dated 7 November 1917 in War Diary of 51st Division HQ in NA (WO 95/2846).
24. Order No. 21 dated 15 November 1917 in War Diary of 1st Brigade Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/98).
25. Notes on Tank and Infantry Training in War Diary of Tank Corps HQ in NA (WO 95/92).
26. Lessons from Recent Operations – Tank Corps, unsigned and undated report in Third Army file Cambrai: Narrative of Operations and Lessons Learnt in NA (WO 158/316).
27. See account in the History of Cambrai compiled by Major-General Sir Percy Hobart in Tank Museum (E2006.381). The account is anonymous, but clearly by Birks.
28. War Diary of 6th Bn Gordon Highlanders in NA (WO 95/2868/1); Mackenzie, p. 132.
29. Statement regarding circumstances which led to capture in service record of Second Lieutenant John Shaw, held by Ministry of Defence.
30. Robert Woollcombe, The First Tank Battle – Cambrai 1917, London, 1967.
31. Bryn Hammond, ‘General Harper and the failure of 51st (Highland) Division at Cambrai, 20 November 1917’, Imperial War Museum Review No. 10 (1995).
32. John Hussey, ‘Uncle Harper at Cambrai – A Reconsideration’, British Army Review (December 1997).
33. Hotblack, ‘Recollections of Cambrai, 1917’.
34. Watson, A Company of Tanks, p. 172.
35. Williams-Ellis, p. 109.
36. Tank Corps Summary of Information dated 27 November 1917 in NA (WO 157/240).
37. Preliminary lecture notes signed F.L.H. from RTR visit in March 1935, in Tank Museum (E2006.342).
38. From ‘The Meaning of Cambrai’, anonymous article in Tank Corps Journal (November 1922).
Chapter 36: A Peaceful, Unexceptional Place (pp. 247–253)
1. Birthday card in possession of Anthony family.
2. Letter dated 1 January 1919 in possession of Anthony family.
3. Ibid.
4. Letters dated 16 February 1919 in possession of Anthony family.
5. Ibid.
6. Photographs and letter dated 17 March 1919 in possession of Anthony family.
7. Photograph in possession of Heap family.
8. Album in possession of Anthony family.
9. Transcription of shorthand letter dated 10 April 1923 in possession of Anthony family.
10. Photograph in Tank Museum (2380-F3).
11. H. A. Taylor, Good-bye to the Battlefields: To-day and Yesterday on the Western Front, London, 1928, p. 165.
12. Steuben, p. 87 – account by Leutnant Ernst Albers.
13. CWGC records.
14. Cambrai East Military Cemetery contains the bodies of 10,685 German soldiers, as well as many from other countries including Britain, France and Russia. The mass grave contains 2,746 Germans, 2,307 of them unknown. The plaque listing known burials includes Major Fritz Hofmeister, but Hauptmann Soltau’s name is missing although he appears in the cemetery register.
15. CWGC records.
16. Letter dated 23 April 1930 – thanks to Philippe Gorczynski for providing this.
17. Nottingham Evening Post, 29 January 1918.
18. Nottingham Evening Post, 25 January 1918.
19. Thanks to Gwyn Evans for pointing out this connection.
20. See Gwyn Evans, ‘Rediscovery of the Gloucester Presentation Tank’, Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 132 (2014), pp. 229–35.
21. Information from Gwyn Evans; photographs from Great War Forum.
22. Information from Johan Vanbeselaere.
23. Zindler, Und Abermals Soldat …, pp. 255–6.
Chapter 37: Varied Fortunes (pp. 254–259)
1. Documents in possession of family.
2. Ibid.
3. Service record in NA (WO 339/68648); notes and photographs from Gillies Archive (3900). Thanks to Dr Andrew Bamji for providing these materials.
4. The Times, 6 May 1972.
5. Unpublished biography by Paul Russell; information from Rev Ian Cohen.
6. Letter in Tank Corps Journal, September 1923.
7. Western Times, 14 August 1923.
8. The Times, 28 March 1985.
9. Service record (held by Ministry of Defence) and interviews in IWM Sound Archive.
10. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
12. Bion, The Long Week-end 1897-1919 – see Sources.
13. Macintosh, Men and Tanks – see Sources.
14. Review by ‘W.T.S.’ in Tank Corps Journal (February 1921).
15. J. C. Macintosh, Negligence in Delict, Capetown & Johannesburg, 1926.
16. South African Law Journal (1943), p. 307.
17. ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France (More especially of 12 Company) By a P.B.I. (attached)’, Tank Corps Journal (March–December 1921). P.B.I. stands for ‘poor bloody infantry’ and refers to the fact that Smith was previously in 17th Bn London Regiment.
18. Photographs in possession of family.
19. Recollections from family.
20. Watson, Adventures of a Despatch Rider – see Sources.
21. ‘Tales of a Gaspipe Officer’ by ‘Despatch Rider’, Blackwood’s Magazine (December 1915 to March 1916, and January 1917).
22. Service record in NA (WO 339/23425).
23. Watson, A Company of Tanks – see Sources. Originally published in Blackwood’s Magazine (May 1919 to February 1920).
24. Notes of interview by Dawn Lowe-Watson on 10 July 1976, in possession of family.
25. The Times, 21 December 1932.
26. Watson, A Company of Tanks, p. 296.
27. The Times, 21 December 1932.
28. Notes of interview on 10 July 1976, in possession of family.
29. Based on articles by Andrew Causey in The Illustrated London News, 4 September 1965, by David Cohen in Stand To! – The Journal of the Western Front Association No. 62 (September 2001), and in an unidentified local newspaper (in Tank Museum). Thanks to Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen May and Colonel John Longman of the Royal Tank Regiment.
30. Baker-Carr, From Chauffeur to Brigadier – see Sources. The book was republished by Leonaur in 2012 with a foreword by his great-niece Mary Baker-Carr.
31. Service record, held by Ministry of Defence.
32. The Times, 11 January 1949.
33. The Times, 10 January 1951, and various years to at least 1964.
34. Information on Cooper House, Laramie, Wyoming in US National Register of Historic Places Inventory.
35. Ulf Aschan, The Man Whom Women Loved – The Life of Bror Blixen, New York, 1987, pp. 135–6. The author, who was Blixen’s godson, does not give a source for the story.
36. Service record, held by Ministry of Defence.
37. See Jeffrey Meyers, Hemingway – A Biography, New York, 1985, p. 247. The source is given as an interview with Hemingway’s son Patrick.
38. Recollections from families.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. CWGC records.
42. Ibid.
43. The Times, 16 October 1944.
44. Recollections from family, including unpublished biography by Walter’s daughter Joan Bullock (née Smith). Her source for the account of his death is not known.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Hull Daily Mail, 30 September 1940.
48. Recollections from family.
Chapter 38: Rosemary for Remembrance (pp. 260–265)
1. From Youth by Frances Cornford, a tribute to Rupert Brooke.
2. Service record, held by Ministry of Defence.
3. Taunton Courier & Western Advertiser, 10 August 1932.
4. Philip Richards, Between the Church & the Lighthouse – The History of Burnham and Berrow Golf Club, Worcestershire, 2001, p. 87. Thanks to the club president, Nick Brown, for his assistance.
5. Death certificate.
6. Recollections from family.
7. Service record, held by Ministry of Defence.
8. Recollections from family.
9. Service record, held by Ministry of Defence; Maurice, pp. 76 and 81.
10. Service record, held by Ministry of Defence.
11. Recollections from family.
12. Press release about sale of detention sheets by TracksAuction.com on 22 November 2013.
13. Maurice, p. 158.
14. George Macdonald, Gentleman, Sometime Farmer, Sometime Historian – unpublished biography by his son Angus Macdonald.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Service record, held by Ministry of Defence.
18. Blackpool Gazette & Herald, 11 October 1921.
19. Photographs and recollections from family.
20. Divorce file in NA (J 77/3285/369).
21. Photograph in Fell and Rock Journal (1988), p. 410.
22. Photographs and recollections from family.
23. Obituary by S. H. Cross in Journal of Fell and Rock Climbing Club (1958), pp. 192–3.
24. Cambridge Independent Press, 21 November 1919. His surname is misspelled ‘Chiverton’.
25. Photographs and recollections from family.
26. The quote is from Hamlet.
27. Service record in NA (WO 339/53827).
28. Marriage and death certificates, 1939 Register.
29. Photographs and recollections from family.
30. Medal index cards.
31. Death certificate.
32. Medal index card; RAF service record (AIR 79/2858); court martial register in NA (AIR 21/1A); Irish Army Census 1922.
33. Medal index card.
34. CWGC records.
35. Recollections from family.
36. Service record in NA (WO 339/64604).
37. The Times, 16 February 1972.
38. CWGC records.
Chapter 39: Weapon of Friendship (pp. 266–274)
1. From interview conducted at Hotel Beatus, Cambrai on 1 February 2015.
2. Sunday Times, 22 November 1977 – report by Ian Murray.
3. Michel Bacquet, La Bataille de Cambrai, Mallez Imprimeurs, 1977.
4. Jean-Luc Gibot and Philippe Gorczynski, En Suivant les Tanks, 1997; Following the Tanks translated by Wendy MacAdam, 1999.
5. From interview with Will Heap.
6. CWGC records.
7. Photograph in possession of Jim Christie.
8. See articles in Belfast Telegraph, 21 July 2008; Nottingham Evening Post, 29 December 2008; and Cambridge News, 26 January 2009.
9. Documents and photographs in possession of family.
10. Ibid.
11. War Diary of 4th Bn Tank Corps in NA (WO 95/110).
12. Service record in NA (WO 363).
13. Recollections from family.
14. Photographs in possession of Jean Luc Caudron and Philippe Gorczynski.
15. The number inside the cab was discovered by Ian Douglas.
Sources
Official Histories
Official History – Cambrai: Miles, Captain Wilfred, History of the Great War: Military Operations France and Belgium 1917: The Battle of Cambrai, London, 1948.
Official History – Passchendaele: Edmonds, Brigadier-General Sir James E., History of the Great War: Military Operations France and Belgium 1917 Vol. II: 7th June-10th November Messines and Third Ypres (Passchendaele), London, 1948.
Official History – Somme: Miles, Captain Wilfred, History of the Great War: Military Operations France and Belgium, 1916 Vol. II: 2nd July 1916 to the End of the Battles of the Somme, London, 1938.
Official History – Togoland and Cameroons: Moberly, Brigadier-General F. J., History of the Great War: Military Operations, Togoland and the Cameroons, 1914-1916, London, 1931.
Published Sources
Adam, Adela Marion, Arthur Innes Adam 1894-1916 – A Record Founded on His Letters, Cambridge, 1920.
Anglesey, The Marquess of, A History of the British Cavalry 1816 to 1919 – Vol. 8 The Western Front, 1915-1918, London, 1997.
Anon. [Captain Edward Glanville Smith], ‘The Wanderings of “D” in France’, Tank Corps Journal (March–December 1921).
Baker-Carr, Brigadier-General C. D., From Chauffeur to Brigadier, London, 1930.
Bion, Wilfred R., The Long Week-end 1897-1919 – Part of a Life, edited
by Francesca Bion, London, 1986.
——, War Memoirs 1917-1919, edited by Francesca Bion, London, 1997.
Birks, Major-General H. L., ‘Cambrai – The Attack on Flésquières Ridge [sic]’, Royal Armoured Corps Journal (October 1949).
Browne, Captain D. G., The Tank in Action, Edinburgh & London, 1920.
Butler, Captain R. P., ‘Reminiscences of Salvage Work’, Royal Tank Corps Journal (June–July 1932).
Coghlan, Major J. A., ‘Cambrai Day – The Early Days of the Royal Tank Corps’, Chambers’s Journal (November 1956).
Dahlmann, Reinhold, Reserve-Infanterie-Rgt. Nr. 27 im Weltkriege 1914/1918 (Deutsche Tat im Weltkrieg 1914/1918 – Geschichten der Kämpfe Deutscher Truppen Band 40), Berlin, 1934.
Elles, Colonel Commandant Sir Hugh, ‘Some Notes on Tank Development During the War’, The Army Quarterly (July 1921).
Ewing, John, The History of the 9th (Scottish) Division 1914-1919, London, 1921.
Falls, Cyril, The History of the 36th (Ulster) Division, Belfast and London, 1922.
——, The Life of a Regiment Volume IV – The Gordon Highlanders in the First World War 1914-1919, Aberdeen, 1958.
Fuller, Major-General J. F. C., Tanks in the Great War 1914-1918, London, 1920.
——, Memoirs of an Unconventional Soldier, London, 1936.
Gibbs, Philip, The Battles of the Somme, London, 1917.
——, From Bapaume to Passchendaele 1917, London, 1918.
——, Open Warfare – The Way to Victory, London, 1919.
——, Realities of War, London, 1920.
Gough, General Sir Hubert, The Fifth Army, London, 1931.
Harper, Lieutenant-General Sir G. M., Notes on Infantry Tactics & Training, London, 1919.
Hickey, Captain D. E., Rolling into Action – Memoirs of a Tank Corps Section Commander, London, 1934.
Hotblack, F. E., ‘Recollections of Cambrai, 1917’, Tank Corps Journal (November 1923).
——, ‘A Cambrai Myth?’, Royal Tank Corps Journal (March 1933).
Hülsemann, Oberstleutnant, Erinnerungsblätter der Ehemaligen Mansteiner – Geschichte des Infanterie-Regiments von Manstein (Schleswigsches) Nr. 84 1914-1918, Hamburg, 1923–4.
Judd, A. C., ‘The Middle Years of the War’ in Great War Adventures (18th Series) – no date but published in the 1930s.