Source A: Massed Tanks prior to the Battle of Cambrai 1917
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1 Describe key features of the Battle of Cambrai 1917?.
One key feature of conditions and fighting at Cambrai was it featured the first mass use of tanks, nearly 500 were used during this battle. The tanks proved effective against barbed wire, machine guns and fortified positions. As a result of this the German forces lost ground on the first day of the battle. Although, the tanks did not have enough infantry support and, by themselves, could not defend and hold the ground captured. A second key feature of conditions and fighting at Cambrai was that it featured the first trial use of stored blood. Before the battle, Oswald Hope Robertson, stored 22 metric units of universal blood in glass bottles, which had been collected 26 days before use. He called this a ‘blood depot’. With this blood he treated 20 wounded soldiers who were so badly affected by blood loss that they were in body shock and not expected to live. Of these 11 survived. |
2a Utility How useful is Source A for an enquiry into the significant of the battle of Cambrai for the developments in WW1?
Source A is useful because it provides evidence of the use of massed tanks at Cambrai. The image gives a sense of the scale of their use. This is accurate because the battle of Cambrai the mass use of tanks was a key feature of Cambrai, with almost 500 used during the battle and the careful amassing of them beforehand, in anticipation. This organisational feature is also revealed by the fact that the tanks are shown all together, awaiting use. It also provides insight because it provides a clear image of the design of the tanks and the fact that this image was take, suggests the sense of importance that this seminal occasion bore at the time.
However, it does not provide insight into the resulting significance of the use of tanks, for the course of the battle, or the impact of this on soldiers involved. Because it is a singular snapshot from before the actual battle, it does not show the positive impact of the use of tanks on the ability of the British to gain ground from the Germans on the first day, not does it show, as some other image do, the problems faced by this early design, such as their tendency to get stuck nose first in shell craters. The image appears to have been taken, with the intention of celebrating this novelty and impressiveness of the British endeavour. However, this could be countered by the fact that Britain actually eventually lost all the ground that it had gained. Furthermore, the photograph simply capture one element of the innovations at Cambrai. It does not reflect the equally new, and perhaps more significant landmark use of stored amassed blood, for blood transfusions, Robertson’s blood depot.
Overall, Source A is of some use it revealing the innovation of mass use of tanks at Cambrai specifically, but it is limited in not revealing either the short term implications of this use for the Battle, or the longer term implications of tank development for warfare, and it also provides a narrow portal, by not capturing other developments of significance from the Battle of Cambrai.
Source A is useful because it provides evidence of the use of massed tanks at Cambrai. The image gives a sense of the scale of their use. This is accurate because the battle of Cambrai the mass use of tanks was a key feature of Cambrai, with almost 500 used during the battle and the careful amassing of them beforehand, in anticipation. This organisational feature is also revealed by the fact that the tanks are shown all together, awaiting use. It also provides insight because it provides a clear image of the design of the tanks and the fact that this image was take, suggests the sense of importance that this seminal occasion bore at the time.
However, it does not provide insight into the resulting significance of the use of tanks, for the course of the battle, or the impact of this on soldiers involved. Because it is a singular snapshot from before the actual battle, it does not show the positive impact of the use of tanks on the ability of the British to gain ground from the Germans on the first day, not does it show, as some other image do, the problems faced by this early design, such as their tendency to get stuck nose first in shell craters. The image appears to have been taken, with the intention of celebrating this novelty and impressiveness of the British endeavour. However, this could be countered by the fact that Britain actually eventually lost all the ground that it had gained. Furthermore, the photograph simply capture one element of the innovations at Cambrai. It does not reflect the equally new, and perhaps more significant landmark use of stored amassed blood, for blood transfusions, Robertson’s blood depot.
Overall, Source A is of some use it revealing the innovation of mass use of tanks at Cambrai specifically, but it is limited in not revealing either the short term implications of this use for the Battle, or the longer term implications of tank development for warfare, and it also provides a narrow portal, by not capturing other developments of significance from the Battle of Cambrai.