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On 31 st July the tactics mirrored those used at Arras and Messines, the artillery was to blast the infantry onto the first objective, some tanks being committed after the first wave of infantry to assist them in mopping up. Overall through the tank commitment at Ypres was a failure, the pulverised ground being too much for them to overcome.

Some experiments were tried, road fighting tactics were evolved, wireless tanks were successfully used and one tank was even adopted for pioneer duties. Thereafter most of the tanks were withdrawn from the salient and the remainder were only committed in small penny packets. Three days after the Cockcroft action another attempt was made to commit a large number of tanks but the ground again proved mostly impassable. The Corps was supposedly saved by the superbly executed Cockroft action when the tanks were able to prove their value. They performed so poorly when committed in numbers on the first day of the battle there was supposedly talk of dissolving the entire Tank Corps as a failed experiment. With one or two exceptions they were almost always committed in small numbers and / or to secondary roles. As several authors, including the Official History have pointed out the weather did break on occasion and several attacks were carried out in clouds of dust.ģ rd Ypres was the first battle in which the British committed a large number of tanks. The battle is chiefly and unfairly remembered for the mud and rain that dogged much of the offensive. It developed into a long slow additional battle, prolonged by the need to draw German attention away from the mutinous French. It’s initial goal was to break through the German lines and liberate the channel ports thus reducing the U boat threat which was beginning to seriously affect imports to Britain.

3 rd Ypres overview - Very much a work in progress.ģ rd Ypres was the British Army’s main offensive in 1917.

Modern day landships modern day large tank