Battle of the Sambre (1918)

The Second Battle of the Sambre (4 November 1918) (which included the Second Battle of Guise () and the Battle of Thiérache () was part of the final European Allied offensives of World War I.

Background

At the front, German resistance was falling away. Unprecedented numbers of prisoners were taken in the Battle of the Selle, and a new attack was quickly prepared. The French First Army and the British First, Third, and Fourth Armies were tasked with advancing from south of the Condé Canal along a front toward Maubeuge-Mons, threatening Namur. Together with the American forces breaking out of the forests of Argonne, this would, if successful, disrupt the German efforts to reform a shortened defensive line along the Meuse.

At dawn on 4 November, 17 British divisions (including the 3rd and 4th Canadian Divisions of the Canadian Corps assigned to the British First Army) and 11 French divisions headed the attack. The Tank Corps, its resources badly stretched, could provide only 37 tanks for support.