Editing Western Front (World War I) (section)

=== Battle of Cambrai ===

{{Main|Battle of Cambrai (1917)|l1=Battle of Cambrai}}

On 20 November the British launched the first massed tank attack and the first attack using predicted artillery-fire (aiming artillery without firing the guns to obtain target data) at the [[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|Battle of Cambrai]].{{sfn|Miles|1991|pp=13–15, 32–35}} The entente attacked with 324 tanks (with one-third held in reserve) and twelve divisions, advancing behind a hurricane bombardment, against two German divisions. The machines carried [[fascine]]s on their fronts to bridge trenches and the {{convert|4|m|ft|adj=mid|order=flip|-wide}} German tank traps. Special "grapnel tanks" towed hooks to pull away the German barbed wire. The attack was a great success for the British, who penetrated further in six hours than at the Third Ypres in four months, at a cost of only 4,000 British casualties.{{sfn|Miles|1991|p=88}} The advance produced an awkward salient and a surprise German counter-offensive began on 30 November, which drove back the British in the south and failed in the north. Despite the reversal, the attack was seen as a success by the entente, proving that tanks could overcome trench defences. The Germans realised that the use of tanks by the entente posed a new threat to any defensive strategy they might mount. The battle had also seen the first mass use of German ''[[Stosstruppen]]'' on the Western front in the attack, who used infantry [[infiltration tactics]] to penetrate British defences, bypassing resistance and quickly advancing into the British rear.{{sfn|Miles|1991|pp=176–248}}