page_title: 5th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment
section_title: Cambrai
hierarchical_section_title: 5th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment / World War I / 2/5th Battalion / Cambrai
caption_attribution_description: English: The Tank Warfare on the Western Front, 1917-1918 Tank F4 ascending a slope at the Tank Driving School during the special training for the Battle of Cambrai at Wailly, 21 October 1917. Over 400 tanks were gathered for that training. The photograph was taken from the left rear of the tank.
context_page_description: The 5th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, was a unit of Britain's Territorial Force formed in 1908 from Volunteer units originally raised in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1860. It served in some of the bitterest fighting on the Western Front during World War I, including the Somme, Ypres and the German Spring Offensive. Before World War II it was converted to air defence, in which role it served during The Blitz and in Burma, where it employed anti-aircraft guns for 'bunker-busting'. Postwar, it continued to serve in Anti-Aircraft Command until 1955.
context_section_description: 62nd Division moved into hutments at Beaulencourt in October 1917, where it trained for open warfare in preparation for the forthcoming Battle of Cambrai, including training with the Tank Corps at Wailly. On the night of 17/18 November 187 Bde took up its positions in Havrincourt Wood.
  The surprise attack was launched at dawn on 20 November, with no preceding bombardment; the artillery crashed down on its targets at zero hour. The brigade advanced with Mark IV tanks of G Battalion and a company of I BattalionTank Corps towards its first objective, Havrincourt village. Despite galling fire from Havrincourt Chateau, the KOYLI battalions and tanks took the village by 08.30. Shortly afterwards the second wave of York & Lancasters and supporting tanks passed through, with 2/5th as the right-hand battalion, moving north across the communication trenches between the Hindenburg line and the German support line and meeting little resistance. Within two hours the battalion had secured the second objective at the cost of fewer than 80 casualties. By 11.30 the British had taken almost the whole of the Hindenburg Main and Support Lines over the frontage of the attack. 186th (2/2nd West Riding) Brigade then passed through to the next objective at Graincourt. Further progress was held up by the failure of 51st (Highland) Division to take Flesquières, leaving 62nd Division's right flank uncovered.
  The divisional objective for the second day of the attack (21 November) was Bourlon Wood, led by 186 Bde with 185 (2/1st West Riding) Bde in close support and 187 Bde in reserve. However, there were fewer tanks available and progress was slower than on the first day. Anneux was taken but Bourlon Wood remained out of reach. At dawn on 22 November, a heavy barrage and counter-attack hit the leading units of the division and a company of 2/5th York & Lancasters was sent forward to help restore the situation. This fighting ended any further advances. 62nd Division was relieved by 40th Division in a tricky operation that night.
  The division was back in Bourlon Wood on 27 November for another attempt to complete its capture. 187 Brigade led on the left at 06.20 with 16 of the remaining tanks to take Bourlon Village.  It was dark and snowing: by 10.00 the attack had failed and the brigade had been driven out of Bourlon. It was relieved at the end of the day. The division had however succeeded in taking the last of Bourlon Ridge, which had been fought over for a week. The exhausted West Riding division was then relieved (under a hail of German gas shells) before the German counter-attack took back all the hard-won ground a few days later.
caption: Mark IV Tank (female) training at Wailly 21 October 1917 for the Battle of Cambrai.
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