Germans take Cambrai

On 26 August 1914 German troops entered Cambrai, a town in the Nord department in northern France. On the same day, a dozen or so kilometres to the east, at Le Cateau, the British II Corps was fighting a day-long battle against the bulk of General Alexander von Kluck’s First Army. Meanwhile the right wing of that army was outflanking the British from the west.

In the Germans’ path stood French Territorial divisions, made up of older reservists, poorly armed and without combat experience. Cambrai was defended by the 84th Territorial Division, whose regiments came from the Mayenne department. The Germans attacked the town from the direction of Valenciennes, Solesmes and Naves. The French fought from barricades, from the windows of houses and in the squares, but could not stop the enemy. According to local accounts, more than 500 wounded Territorials were treated in the hospitals of Cambrai, and many of them died. The fighting at Cambrai and further west nevertheless helped to cover the British left flank at Le Cateau.

For Cambrai an occupation began that lasted more than four years. The Germans imposed a levy of 200,000 francs on the town and throughout the war burdened it with billeting and requisitions. In 1917 the first great battle involving tanks was fought at Cambrai. The town was liberated by Canadian soldiers only on the night of 8–9 October 1918. By then it was largely destroyed.