Major General Henry Tudor, Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA), of the 9th (Scottish) Division, advocated the use of new artillery-infantry tactics on his sector of the front.

[12] After a big British success on the first day, mechanical unreliability, German artillery and infantry defences exposed the frailties of the Mark IV tank.

[13] Numerous developments since 1915 matured at Cambrai, such as predicted artillery fire, sound ranging, infantry infiltration tactics, infantry-tank co-ordination and close air support.

The techniques of industrial warfare continued to develop and played a vital part during the Hundred Days Offensive in 1918, along with replacement of the Mark IV tank with improved types.

[14] Proposals for an operation in the Cambrai area using a large number of tanks originated from Brigadier Hugh Elles of the Tank Corps, and the reliance on the secret transfer of artillery reinforcements to be "silently registered" to gain surprise came from Henry Hugh Tudor, commander of the 9th (Scottish) infantry division artillery.

[16] Tudor's plan sought to test new methods in combined arms, with emphasis on joint artillery and infantry tactics to see how effective they were against German fortifications.

[16] Tudor advocated using the new sound ranging and silent registration of guns to achieve instant suppression of fire and surprise.

[17] Two weeks before the start of the battle, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) began to train its pilots in ground-attack tactics.

Before the ground offensive, the RFC was assigned sets of targets to attack, including trenches, supply points and enemy airfields.

[18] The battle began at dawn, approximately 06:30 on 20 November, with a predicted bombardment by 1,003 guns on German defences, followed by smoke and a creeping barrage at 300 yd (270 m) ahead to cover the first advances.

Despite efforts to preserve secrecy, the Germans had received sufficient intelligence to be on moderate alert: an attack on Havrincourt was anticipated, as was the use of tanks.

Initially, there was considerable success in most areas and it seemed as if a great victory was within reach; the Hindenburg Line had been penetrated with advances of up to 5.0 mi (8 km).

The 20th (Light) Division forced a way through La Vacquerie and then advanced to capture a bridge across the Canal de Saint-Quentin at Masnières.

[26] The German command was quick to send reinforcements and was relieved that the British did not manage fully to exploit their early gains.

By 23 November, the German command felt that a British breakthrough had been prevented and began to consider a counter-stroke and twenty divisions were assembled in the Cambrai area.

[42] The particular effectiveness of the tanks at Cambrai was the initial passage through barbed wire defences, which had been previously "supposed by the Germans to be impregnable".

[46] From the German perspective, questions arose regarding battlefield supply beyond rail heads and the suitability of the MG 08 machine gun for rapid movement.

[49] Wilfrid Miles, the official historian, gave British losses in the Third Army, Tank Corps and the RFC from 20 November to 8 December as 44,207, 40,000 of them in the main battle.

Cambrai Day is also celebrated by 2nd Lancers (GH) of the Indian Army on 1 December every year as Lance Dafadar Gobind Singh of that unit was awarded the Victoria Cross during this battle.

The United States Army occupied Cambrai-Fritsch Kaserne from the end of the Second World War until 2008, when the land was returned to the German government.