[3] A special commission of the French Ministry of Public Works conducted their first study in 1878 to find a “suitable means of putting the coal mines in a position to withstand foreign competition".

[3] The concept of the canal was included in the Freycinet Plan, a public works project whereby the government purchased railroads and built extensive new railways and waterways.

[7] Three quarters of the excavations, 11 locks and all of the bridges were complete, with work well advanced on the tunnels, when World War I forced a halt in construction.

[2] The war resulted in widespread destruction of the canal and the French government did not attempt to resume building until much after World War II, when the rapid economic growth experienced by France in the 1950s saw a marked increase in bulk transport requirements between the Seine basin and the north, and it again became urgent to complete the project.

The battle took place along an incomplete portion of the Canal du Nord and on the outskirts of Cambrai between 27 September and 1 October 1918.