The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale that was published by La Pensée. The card, which has a divided back, was printed by Baudinière of Paris.
Cambrai
Cambrai is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt River.
Cambrai was the Duke of Wellington's headquarters for the British Army of Occupation, from 1815 to 1818.
Occupied and partly destroyed by the German army during the Great War, Cambrai saw unfold in its vicinity the Battle of Cambrai (20th. November 1917 – 3rd. December 1917) where tanks were massively and successfully used for the first time.
A second Battle of Cambrai took place between the 8th. and 10th. October 1918 as part of the Hundred Days Offensive.
The Reconstruction of Cambrai After the Great War
When the Germans retreated from Cambrai in October 1918, all they left their Canadian successors was a ghost town with a burned-out centre.
The architect Pierre Leprince-Ringuet was given the job of rebuilding the town. He gave Cambrai new squares and streets, and concentrated the administrative buildings and shops into specific areas.
He also designed a brand new town hall. Today the architecture in Cambrai’s centre is a mixture of traditional regional styles and more modern Art Deco buildings.
A Poem About the First Major Tank Attack
'A Vickers Light Gun on my shoulder,
Two machine-gun belts on my back.
Was ever man could be bolder,
A pawn in the first tank attack!
Other details that I carried,
Field-dressing, gas mask, and a pack,
By every impediment harried,
Iron rations, steel helmet alack!
There lumbering over Bosche lines,
Steel monsters use enfilade fire,
Dazed Germans surrend’ring betimes
Cry Kam’rad, as others expire!
Bombers now blast out each dug-out,
As tanks attack the next system.
Capture each strong-point and redoubt,
Prisoners galore! We arrest ‘em!
What of these steel cruising monsters,
Some temporarily halted.
Others still mobile giant ogres.
To Germans, surprised, so assaulted!
How are the Infantry fairing,
Following in the wake of the tanks?
Here we shall need all our daring,
The enemy’s thinning our ranks!
Their third trench system resisting,
The enemy holds our attack.
Fierce fire from machine-gunners raking,
Many tanks made immobile, alack!
Our loved Colonel shot in the leg,
Falls in a near shallow crater.
Too late now, more cover to beg.
Shot through the head seconds later.
At this stage the missiles increase,
Zip! Round my tense body spraying.
I pray for a safe quick release,
Rejecting the idea of dying!
A thump on my right arm, terrific!
Down drops the Light Vickers Gun.
A deep crater shields me, it’s magic!
Comes one of my mates on the run.
Quickly retrieving the weapon,
He hails me with ‘You lucky sod!’
Grabbing the gun’s ammunition,
Vanished, not bothering to nod!
Lying deep down in my crater,
I poured iodine on my wound.
Waiting for our lads to capture,
Finish the machine-gunning hound.
Saddened to lose Colonel Benson,
Comparing our separate state.
The depth of the crater, the reason
For each, and our ultimate fate!
Protecting the wound with a bandage
Secured around the wrist and the thumb.
Consid’ring the size of the damage,
That bullet, no doubt, a dum-dum!
No further resistance from ‘Gerry’,
Quick or you’ll run into a barrage.
From tanks and battlefield hurry.
Now home to ‘Blighty’ you’ll manage'.
The Citadel of Cambrai
The Citadel of Cambrai is built on the highest point of the city: the "Mont des Bœufs". It is here that Saint Géry founded the Church of Saint Loup and Saint Médard, which was to later become a place of pilgrimage around his own tomb. Throughout the Middle Ages, this abbey contributed to the fame of Cambrai.
Construction of the Citadel
Charles V wanted to impose himself on the neutral territories between the Kingdom of France and its territory. He therefore wanted to build a citadel in Cambrai.
He brought in Italian architects and decided to sacrifice the Abbey of Mont-des-Bœufs. This and hundreds of houses were demolished to make way for the fortress formed by a quadrilateral and terminated by four bastions.
The French Contributions
After the capture of the city by the French in 1677, Louis XIV entrusted Vauban with improving the citadel. Vauban added half-moons, redoubts, improved the bastions and added embankments to improve the citadel's defences.
The Dismantling and Remains of the Citadel
During the dismantling of the fortifications at the end of the 19th. century, the citadel was not spared. Almost all of the structures surrounding it were knocked down or buried. The citadel is now stripped of its bastions, and most of the barracks buildings have not survived.
The citadel gate was classified as a historical monument in 1932.
