John Bird and the Battle of Cambrai

John Frederick Bird, was born in 1892 and was the son of Frederick and Kate Bird. They lived at 7, South Road, Aberystwyth. He enlisted at Aldershot on 25 October 1915 and went to France in June 1916 with the 5th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps. The 5th FA was attached to the 2nd Division, and John would have treated many wounded men during the Battle of the Somme in that year. In March 1917 the Division followed the German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line, and in April they fought at Arras, the First Battle of the Scarpe, the Battle of Arleux and the Third Battle of the Scarpe. Their next major action was at the Battle of Cambrai. The Division was still in the area when John was killed in action on 18 February 1918. He was 25 years old and is buried in the British Extension of Metz-en-Couture Communal Cemetery, France.

J.F.C Fuller, a British Army officer, planned a project to raid a flat swamp area southwest of Cambrai in the north of France. The area was perfect for British tanks to find enemy targets due to the flat terrain, but it also had slight slopes which made tank movement easier. The plan was to release a large group of tanks without an opening bombardment so that the enemy were taken by surprise. The previous battle of Passchendaele had seen much bloodshed for the allies due to stale and predictable tactics, one of these was bombardments signalling the beginning of an assault of a trench line. The Germans had become accustomed to quickly preparing their defensive line as soon as the bombardment had ended which allowed them to inflict brutal casualties. 

Robert Hunt Library/Mary Evans Picture Library/age fotostock

Nineteen British divisions were assembled for the offensive and were supported by 476 tanks (378 of which were fighting tanks) as well as five cavalry divisions. John, as a soldier in the Medical Corps, would have been supporting this offensive as high casualties would have been expected especially with the volume of men in the assault. 

The British attacked at night on November 20th, as this meant that German reconnaissance aircraft could not detect the British Divisions’ movements. The attack was a complete surprise and the British tanks pulverised the German defences and managed to capture 7,500 prisoners with few casualties. However, due to poor weather the cavalry could not capitalise on the chaos and infantry reinforcements could not reach the battle to exploit the ambush. 
The German Second Army led by General Georf von de Marwitz staged a swift counter-attack with a strength of 20 divisions. The speed of the attack caught the British off-guard and they only avoided disaster through the heroics of the Guards Division that caused the outflanking German force to get bogged down. The British were forced to retreat by the 5th of December due to the strength of the German force.

Casualties were equal for both sides at around 45,000 soldiers. Despite the British retreat and failure to take advantage of the early successes found by the tanks, the battle highlighted that armour was a useful resource in assaulting defensive lines. The battle was a turning-point as it saw a removal of stale tactics that had only brought stalemate. John fought valiantly but died in combat on the 18th February 1918 from ongoing fighting in the area of Cambrai. Fighting in Cambrai would continue until the wars end where the British were trying to apply constant pressure onto a German army whose morale was slowly breaking.

Blog by Jack Atherton, Project Volunteer 

Sources:

·   https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Cambrai-1917

·   https://www.wwwmp.co.uk/ceredigion-memorials/aberystwyth-post-office-war-memorial/

·   http://www.remembrancetrails-northernfrance.com/history/battles/the-battle-of-cambrai-20-november-to-4-december-1917.htm