A fact from Lone gunner of Flesquières appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 16 January 2023 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that the story of a lone German artillery officer disabling up to 16 British tanks (examples pictured) on the first day of the 1917 Battle of Cambrai was encouraged by the German Nazi Party?
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Latest comment: 1 year ago5 comments3 people in discussion
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... that contemporary British accounts of the 1917 Battle of Cambrai attributed the loss of up to 16 tanks (examples pictured) on the first day to a lone German artillery officer? Source: "the figure of sixteen tanks destroyed by the lone officer came from the pen of none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in his history of the battle published shortly after the war" from Taylor, John (11 November 2016). Deborah and the War of the Tanks. Pen and Sword. p. 226. ISBN978-1-4738-4834-4.
Latest comment: 20 days ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The following is a transcript by Arthur Lee, a Camel pilot with 46 Squadron who force landed in the area about a week later (Nov 28th). In a contemporary letter to his wife (as related in his book No Parachute):
"We walked to Flesquieres, and examined the scene at the corner of the chateau wall where the Hun artillery major and a handful of men had held up the advance early on the 20th by catching the tanks at point-blank range as, one by one, they topped the brow of the slope to his front. It was an amazing sight. In a crescent a few hundred yards long, facing his grave, lay a whole line of disabled tanks. One had advanced to within 30 yards of the battery, but this too was hit and burned out. Its name was Egbert II and beside it were the graves of the crew." 65.254.17.165 (talk) 17:58, 8 November 2024 (UTC)Reply