The Second Battle of Cambrai: Breaking the Hindenburg Line

As the Hundred Days Offensive rolled on, the Allies returned to an already legendary battlefield. This is the story of the Second Battle of Cambrai.

Second Battle of Cambrai

What was the Second Battle of Cambrai?

Image: Canadian infantry prepare to advance during the Second Battle of Cambrai (© IWM Q 9637)

The Second Battle of Cambrai, also known as the Battle of Cambrai, 1918, was a First World War engagement fought by the armies of the British Empire and Imperial Germany.

The battle took place between 8-9 October 1918 with significant actions taking place the week before around Cambrai. It was a decisive victory for the Allies, as they continued to push through the German Army’s formidable Hindenburg Line defences.

Cambrai is indelibly linked to the First World War. It was here in November 1917 that the British Army launched one of the world’s first mass tank assaults: a milestone in the development of combined arms warfare.

Combined arms is essentially artillery, infantry, armour and aircraft working in concert to achieve their military objectives. The British would once again deploy such tactics when they returned to Cambrai in October 1918.

The Hundred Days Offensive

The Second Battle of Cambrai was part of the Hundred Days Offensive.

The Hundred Days Offensive was a major campaign comprised of several strong advances undertaken by the Allies from August to November 1918.

Image: British Infantry on the move (British Infantry on the Move © IWM Q 3174)

Essentially, the Allies started advancing on the morning of the 8th of August at Amines, France and didn’t stop until the November 11 signing of the Armistice ceasefire.

The Hundred Days was tough and bloody, but it broke the Imperial German Army’s will to fight. 

The German Army had launched a desperate series of assaults known as the Spring Offensive and came close to breaking through Allied lines earlier in 1918. The gamble did not pay off, weakening the German Army.

Second Cambrai forms the phase of the Hundred Days Offensive some call the “Breaking of the Hindenburg Line”.

Named for Imperial German Chief of Staff Paul von Hindenburg, the Hindenburg Line was a 90-mile defensive line built by the German Army between 1916 and 1917.

It had been a formidable obstacle for the advancing Allies but by October 1918, the Hindenburg Line was starting to crack. The St. Quentin Canal clash proved decisive for breaking through the Hindenburg Line while actions like Cambrai further penetrated the once impregnable bastion.

Who fought at Cambrai in 1918?

The Commonwealth Forces arrayed at Cambrai include the First, Third, and Fourth British Armies under the commands of Generals Henry Horne, Sir Henry Rawlinson, and Sir Julian Byng.

These armies had been pushing hard to break through German lines and, despite taking heavy casualties, continued their momentum into the autumn of 1918.

Under the three armies were numerous Corps, regiments, and divisions. Alongside the British units, which included the 56th (1st London) Division, 38th (Welsh) Division, and 63rd Naval Division, amongst others, were units from around the British Empire.

For instance, the New Zealand Division was fighting under Third Army, whereas the entire Canadian Corps under General Sir Arthur Currie, formed a part of Horne’s First Army.

The Canadian Corps was involved in some of the thickest fighting of the Hundred Days Offensive.

Image: Canadian infantry take shelter along the Arras-Cambrai road next to a British light tank (Wikimedia Commons)

Canada’s Hundred Days helped forge the nation’s national identity in the furnace of combat. Cambrai was another chapter in Canada’s storied First World War.

Previously, the Australian Corps had been in the vanguard but after essentially being on the front line for months, the Aussies were retired following the victory at St. Quentin Canal.

The American 30th Division was also present, forming part of Rawlinson’s Fourth Army.

Tanks were a huge part of the attacking force. These armoured behemoths would help spearhead the attack. The Allies had managed to assemble over 300 tanks for the attack on Cambrai, mirroring the events of just under a year earlier. 

It’s estimated around 180,000 German troops were in and around Cambrai by October 1918, although the defences of the town itself were comparatively light. Only a token force of 150 artillery pieces was mustered by the Imperial German defenders for example.

Cambrai Phase One: The Battle of the Canal du Nord

The route to Cambrai was peppered with German defences. The first phase of the battle would revolve around clearing the way towards Cambrai itself.

Interlocking man-made canals gridded the landscape, creating many difficult crossings, especially the imposing Canal du Nord. The experiences at St. Quentin had shown how formidable these obstacles could be – but also that they could be broken.

As well as the canals, the advancing British and Commonwealth troops would have to contend with machine-gun nests, tank traps and the ever-present barbed wire.

Additionally, the German defenders had purposely flooded the ground on the approaches to the canal.

Image: Royal Engineers hastily build a bridge across the Canal du Nord (© IWM Q 9344)

The Canal du Nord to the west of Cambrai had to be captured, as well as the Bourlon Woods heights overlooking its banks.

General Sir Arthur Currie and the Canadian Corps were tasked with capturing Canal du Nord and the surrounding woody high ground.

Ahead of the fighting, British and Canadian engineers went forward with extra resources to smooth the approaches for the Canadian Corps. Extra bridges were built, somehow without alerting the enemy, and new tramways were laid to help bring artillery pieces and supplies to the battlefield.

On the morning of 27 September 1918, the Canadians launched their assault under cover of a ferocious creeping artillery barrage. Attacking up a dry section of the canal, the Canadians managed to hem in the defenders through unrelenting pressure.

By nightfall, the Canadians, with the British on their flanks, had crossed the Canal du Nord, secured it, and taken Bourlon Woods for good measure.

They weathered several days of fierce German counterattacks. A total of 13 German Divisions were thrown into the Cambrai sector at this time, desperate to plug the holes the Canadians and British were punching in their lines.

All the while, the Royal Engineers and their Canadian counterparts were busy, repairing roads and hastily assembled bridges to aid infantry assaults and defences.

By October 1st, the German counter-effort had petered out. The men and materiel hurled into the defence of Canal du Nord, and subsequently lost, would have major implications for the assault on Cambrai.

The attacking force with its 324 Allied tanks, supported by infantry and aircraft, proved too much for the German defenders. Once more, the Hindenburg Line had been breached.

Capturing Cambrai

Image: British infantry move into Cambrai after its capture by the Canadian Corps (© IWM Q 11369)

After the events at the Canal du Nord, the Allies built up their forces and girded themselves for the assault on Cambrai.

Facing them was a depleted German force covering three lines of defence. The 20th Landwehr and 54th Reserve Divisions, with 150 guns, held their positions in and around the town.

Cambrai itself had been encircled. The Three British Armies attacking in the sector had done sterling work trapping and defeating the German forces arrayed before them.

Those German soldiers in Cambrai were battered and exhausted. Like their Allied counterparts, these men had been engaged in desperate, grinding fighting for months.

The psychological and physical toll warfare plays on humans is massive and these Imperial German Units had suffered just as much as any Canadian, Anzac, or Brit.

On October 8, the Canadian 2nd Division entered Cambrai. Resistance was sporadic, to say the least. Leaving the mopping-up operations to the 3rd Canadian Division, the 2nd pushed rapidly northwards.

The 3rd Division did not make it to Cambrai until the 10th. When they entered the town, they found its streets eerily quiet. The German defenders had left two days earlier with the 2nd Canadian Division in hot pursuit.

All told, the Canadians took only 20 casualties when taking Cambrai itself.

Pushing on

The Battle of Cambrai continued in an action known as the Pursuit to the Selle.

Allied forces continued to hound and harass the German army as it fell back towards defensive positions along the river Selle.

German resistance would stiffen, particularly to the northeast of Cambrai. Here, the Canadian Corps dug in and continued to trade blows with its German opponents.

Eventually, the Selle would be crossed on 17 October by a mixture of British, Canadian, New Zealand, and South African units.

The Hundred Days offensive was relentless. Cambrai was followed up by further advances, which in turn, were followed by even more. 

The once formidable Hindenburg Line and been breached and an iron wedge driven deep into the German lines.

German morale was at breaking point. The ordinary soldiers were either raw recruits unused to the horrors of the Western Front or were veterans whose minds and bodies were being pushed beyond human limits.

Even so, it would take a month of more heavy fighting, and of course death, before the First World War came to an end.

Casualties of the Second Battle of Cambrai

Although the casualties taking Cambrai town itself were exceptionally light, the battles around the town, such as at Canal du Nord, were anything but.

The Canadian Corps took heavy losses. It’s estimated more than 13,600 Canadians were killed or wounded during the fighting around Canal du Nord and the woody heights nearby. As many as 30,000 were killed, wounded, or went missing during the wider Second Battle of Cambrai.

The remaining British and Commonwealth casualties at Cambrai are estimated at 12,000 killed, missing, or wounded.

German losses are estimated at 10,000 killed or wounded and a further 10,000 taken prisoner.

Lieutenant Wallace Algie VC

Image: Wallace Algie (Wikimedia Commons)

Wallace Lloyd Algie was born on 10 June 1891 in Alton, Ontario, Canada, the son of a doctor.

One of Wallace’s older brothers had enlisted upon the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Two years later, Wallace followed in his brother’s footsteps and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Wallace joined the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade as part of the 2nd Canadian Division. In August 1917, Wallace took part in the fabled Battle of Hill 70 and fighting around Lens.

It was during the Second Battle of Cambrai and its subsequent operations that Wallace lost his life. However, he displayed gallantry and bravery above and beyond the call of duty, posthumously winning the Victoria Cross for his deeds.

Wallace’s VC citation reads:

“For most conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice on the 11th October 1918, north-east of Cambrai, when with attacking troops which came under heavy enfilade machine-gun fire from a neighbouring village.

“Rushing forward with nine volunteers, he shot the crew of an enemy machine gun, and, turning it on the enemy, enabled his party to reach the village. He then rushed another machine gun, killed the crew, captured an officer and 10 enemy, and thereby cleared the end of the village.

“Lt. Algie, having established his party, went back for reinforcements, but was killed when leading them forward.

“His valour and personal initiative in the face of intense fire saved many lives and enabled the position to be held.”

Wallace is today buried at Niagara Cemetery, Iwuy. 

Serjeant Frederick Charles Riggs VC

Image: Frederick Riggs (Wikimedia Commons)

Born in Bournemouth, England on 28 July 1888, Fredrick Charles Riggs was one of two residents of his native Capstone Road to earn the Victoria Cross during the First World War.

Like fellow resident Cecil Reginald Noble, Frederick would earn the UK’s highest military honour for valour but lose his life in the process.

At the time of Second Cambrai, Frederick was a 30-year-old Serjeant, serving with 6th Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment.

On 1 October during the battle’s first phase, Frederick was leading his platoon near Epinoy, France.

The men were under heavy fire and taking straight losses, but Serjeant Riggs led his men straight through to their objective, taking out a machine-gun post. 

An enemy counterattack came on, but Frederick handled two German machine guns himself and returned fire, causing a group of 50 opposing soldiers to surrender.

A further enemy assault attacked Frederick’s position again. According to his medal citation, Frederick “cheerfully encouraged his men exhorting them to resist to the last” and was subsequently killed in action.

Frederick was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vis-En-Artois Memorial. 

Discover more stories of the Commonwealth’s fallen with our search tools

Our search tools can help you uncover more stories of those commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Use our Find War Dead tool to search for specific casualties by name, where they served, which branch of the military they served in, and more parameters.

Looking for a specific location? Use our Find Cemeteries & Memorial search tool to find all our sites. You can search by country, locality, and conflict.

Find more Battle of Cambrai facts here.