Black Bess commanded by 2/Lt. E.R. Jones, lost at Cambra…

Description

Nothing on reverse. "Black Bess", a British female Mk IV lost at Cambrai on the 20th of November 1917, later recovered by the Germans and either pressed into service as a Beutepanzer or cannibalized for spare parts. Precis of the Cambrai action by Adrian Wheeler: "In November 1917 the British attacked the Hindenburg line at Cambrai with nearly five hundred tanks. These slow-moving, 30-ton monsters with their crews of eight had been used in dribs and drabs on the Somme in 1916 and had caused great dismay among the German troops, but this was the first time that tanks were being used in the role for which they had been designed – as a mass shock weapon which would clear the way for the infantry following behind. The attack was a success. The tanks penetrated the German forward positions and broke through the line. This victory elated the British High Command and church-bells were rung, while the press celebrated Cambrai as an antidote to the misery and bloodshed of the previous year’s battles of attrition on the Somme. But the British leaders lacked vision, or perhaps talent; the momentum of the advance was lost, time and effort was wasted on a pointless diversion, and the Germans – always excellent in defence – quickly brought reinforcements forward and pushed the British back. The village of Flèsquieres, however, remained in British hands, forming a small salient. It was bitterly contested, being seen as a strategic asset by both sides. The battlefield was soon littered with British tanks, some destroyed by shellfire, some burnt out and some just stuck in the mud. Both the British and the Germans sent out teams to recover these wrecks, and the Germans were particularly adept in their recovery techniques – so much so that, when the War ended, there were more British tanks in German service than those of their own manufacture."