CAMBRAI OFFENSIVE [Main Title]

Events in 6th and 15th Division rear areas between the British offensive and the German counteroffensive at Cambrai, Western Front, November 1917.

A German 150mm gun is towed into a wood east of Ribécourt on the Marcoing road by a Mk IV Female tank HMLS 'Intimidate' (of 'I' Company, Tank Corps ?) and met by men of the Royal Artillery and (probably) 6th Division on 29 November. (Note the tankmen still wear H/MGC shoulder titles). A donkey-cart arrives marked "captured by 16th TMB"; 16th Trench Mortar Battery, 6th Division. Royal Engineers clear obstructions on the waterless Canal du Nord near Moeuvres on 28 November. 8th (Pioneer) Battalion, the Royal Scots, of 51st (Highland) Division cuts a road through the canal's banks. An iron bridge over the canal at Moeuvres has been blown by the Germans. Wagon traffic crosses over the dry canal bed. A group of British soldiers repairs an old trench. Mechanical and hand pumps fill a water trough for horses near Moeuvres. Royal Field Artillery limbers canter along a road. Another view of the bridge at Moeuvres. Horse and mechanical transport moves British soldiers along a road. German prisoners (including a group of gunner officers wearing the new regulation tunic). Two Mk IV tanks, apparently unarmed supply tanks, in a rear area with British Infantry. A knocked out Mk IV Female being used as an observation post at Ribécourt on 23 November. Horses of CCXXXV Brigade RFA, 47th Division, watering at a pool in the middle of Flesquiéres (see IWM 146 SCENES IN CAPTURED VILLAGES ON THE CAMBRAI FRONT). Soldiers gathered round a small well. (Reel 2) British wounded, probably of the Highland Division, walk through Flesquiéres. 18-pounders are moved up by limbers. A Cavalry regiment, perhaps 8th Hussars of 5th Cavalry Division, held up by guns crossing its front. More German prisoners are brought in. A large mine crater left by the Germans. A French liaison officer talks to evacuated civilians. British soldiers advance through a captured village. An observation post looking out towards no man's land. Two 18-pounders firing. British Cavalry pass German prisoners on the road. A crashed German Albatros CIII is inspected by the British. More British soldiers, some lay a waterpipe. The structure in ferroconcrete for an incomplete German bunker at Flesquiéres on 23rd November.

35mm