Bataille of Cambrai

WW1 Tank warfare remembered with new museum

A visit to Cambrai, just south of Lille and only 90 minutes from Calais, allows a unique and enriching immersion in the significant use of tanks by the Brits. A host of world-class cultural attractions complete a weekend of new insights.

One of the most dramatic World War I battles saw the use of massed Mark IV tanks by the British, in an attempt to liberate the town of Cambrai just behind the Hindenburg LIne. Though unsuccessful, it paved the way for the Hundred Days offensives. So important was this battle that Cambrai Day is commemorated on the 20th November by the Royal Tank Regiment.

Meet Deborah, centrepiece of the new Museum of Cambrai 1917
The centenary of the Battle of Cambrai will be marked by the opening of the Cambrai Tank 1917 Museum. Its centrepiece is ‘Deborah’, a British tank uncovered by hotelier Philippe Gorczynski in the grounds of the Château de Flesquières in 1998. The venue will also tell the story of many of the 44,000 British troops wounded, lost or killed in the attack, some of whom are buried in British Hill Cemetery beside the museum.

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Bataille of Cambrai