Tank Deborah

During excavations carried out in November 1998 with the help of the Service Régional de l'Archéologie du Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the Archeological Department of the City of Arras, to the south of the Château de Flesquières park, Philippe Gorczynski discovered a heavy British tank from the Battle of Cambrai (November 20 to December 6, 1917) which had been lying under three meters of earth for eighty-one years. This 28-ton Mark IV female tank, built in Lincoln and named Déborah (D 51 Evil), has been transferred to a barn, one of whose interior walls shows numerous shell and machine-gun impacts. The main entrance is a double gate under the four side turrets. The tank's tracks run the length of the profile, and the fuel tank is placed outside to reduce the risk of fire. This tank, which could accommodate 8 men, was driven by Commander William Heap, of the 12th Coy, D Battalion. Designed in October 1916, the Mark IV went into production in March-April 1917. The massive use of tanks in the Battle of Cambrai was part of the strategy of General Julian Byng, commander of the British 3rd Army. Tanks were to be used to break through the impregnable trenches of the Hingenburg Line, built during the winter of 1916. Despite the undeniable success of the tanks, all the territory regained by the British between November 20 and 23 was lost in the German counter-offensive of November 30. Of the 378 battle tanks (476 tanks in total) engaged on November 20, only the Flesquières tank can be seen today in France. Given its undeniable technological, historical (witnessing the violence of the Battle of Cambrai) and emotional value, the Flesquières Tank Association was created in 1998 to preserve and promote it. Since September 14, 1999, the tank has been classified as an industrial heritage monument. The tank is currently on display at the Centre d'Interprétation de la Bataille de Cambrai, in Flesquières.