Talk:Lone gunner of Flesquières

A fact from Lone gunner of Flesquières appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 16 January 2023 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the story of a lone German artillery officer disabling up to 16 British tanks (examples pictured) on the first day of the 1917 Battle of Cambrai was encouraged by the German Nazi Party?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2023/January. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Lone gunner of Flesquières.

Biography

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles

Military history: British / European / German / World War I

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	British military history task force
	European military history task force
	German military history task force
	World War I task force

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 16:32, 10 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

(

Comment or view
Article history

)

Disabled British tanks at Cambrai

... that contemporary British accounts of the 1917 Battle of Cambrai attributed the loss of up to 16 tanks (examples pictured) on the first day to a lone German artillery officer? Source: "the figure of sixteen tanks destroyed by the lone officer came from the pen of none other than Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in his history of the battle published shortly after the war" from Taylor, John (11 November 2016). Deborah and the War of the Tanks. Pen and Sword. p. 226. ISBN 978-1-4738-4834-4.
- ALT1: ... that the story of a lone German artillery officer disabling up to 16 British tanks (examples pictured) on the first day of the 1917 Battle of Cambrai was encouraged by the German Nazi Party? Source: "The Nazis transformed the hero into a noncommissioned officer, and gave him a name and at least one statue" from:Showalter, Dennis (1 December 2009). Hitler's Panzers: The Lightning Attacks that Revolutionized Warfare. Penguin. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-101-15168-6.
- Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Zhang Congzheng

Moved to mainspace by Dumelow (talk). Self-nominated at 13:41, 22 December 2022 (UTC).[reply]

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: @Dumelow: Good article. Article is sourced, hooks are interesting and the QPQ is done. Onegreatjoke (talk) 17:25, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Forgot to mention but you used the wrong battle of cambrai link. Onegreatjoke (talk) 17:33, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Well spotted! Now fixed - Dumelow (talk) 18:27, 22 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Evidence from a few days after.

The following is a transcript by Arthur Lee, a Camel pilot with 46 Squadron who force landed in the area about a week later (Nov 28th). In a contemporary letter to his wife (as related in his book No Parachute):

"We walked to Flesquieres, and examined the scene at the corner of the chateau wall where the Hun artillery major and a handful of men had held up the advance early on the 20th by catching the tanks at point-blank range as, one by one, they topped the brow of the slope to his front. It was an amazing sight. In a crescent a few hundred yards long, facing his grave, lay a whole line of disabled tanks. One had advanced to within 30 yards of the battery, but this too was hit and burned out. Its name was Egbert II and beside it were the graves of the crew." 65.254.17.165 (talk) 17:58, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]