Landships II

Hi Curt and welcome to the forum,
The lion illustration was painted on after capture and depicted the British lion with its paw resting firmly on the A7V. This was in response to the illustration on the front plate of Mephistopheles carrying off a British Rhomboid. The lion remained on the A7V for some time, I think up until it was restored in the 1970's or 80's

You are in luck, as The Mephisto is the ONLY surviving A7V in the whole world. If you go to this link, down towards the middle of the page, you will find photos of "Mephisto" as she looks today, including a close-up of the devil with the romboid!


-- Edited by Peter Kempf at 22:13, 2007-06-05

A  little history of 506 "Mephisto":

On April, 24, 1918 3 Abteilungen (Detachments?) of 2. Army attacked the area of Villers-Bretonneux,a Wood called Bois 'd Arquenne and the Village Cachy. This area  was held by British Troops. The Tank 506 was in the 2. Abt.(leaded by Oberleutnant [Lieutenant?] Uihlein), wich was parted in 2 groups. 506, 505 and 507 compose group 1. This 2.Abt. supportet the 4. Garde-Inf.-Div. while advancing against southern border of Villers-Bretonneux. At the beginnig of the attack the nozzles of 506 were gridlocked and the tank don't move. After canceling of this malfunction, 506 drove, but toppled over in a bomb crater.
Finally the area was taken. At night the counter attack of two Australien brigades began. 2 A7V stayed damaged on the battlefield (but behind German lines), 506 and 542 (group 3). The last one got stucked in the sand. A German demolition squad had order to destroy 542, but erroneously blowed up 506. As the frontline got back in Juli, the Australiens captured the tank. (542 was rescued.)

Some more pics:on the first foto the effect of the demolition charge is plain to see. The fence on the front is deformed and the two parts, the Australian puts his feet on, are the fuel cases. The other two show 506 in Queensland museum in Brisbane, Australia. The tank was restored in 1983.

(Source: Schneider, Wolfgang und Rainer Strasheim "Deutsche Kampfwagen im 1. Weltkrieg. Der A7V und die Anfänge deutscher Panzerentwicklung. (Waffenarsenal Band 112)" Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas Verlag, o.J.)


-- Edited by Paul at 19:14, 2007-06-06

-- Edited by Paul at 19:15, 2007-06-06

I wonder if there is any signifigance in the fact that it appears not to be carrying a whole rhomboid tank but one side frame (as if ripped off)?

Centurion wrote:

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I wonder if there is any signifigance in the fact that it appears not to be carrying a whole rhomboid tank but one side frame (as if ripped off)?

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My highly (non-)expert opinion would be that it's merely a basic interpretation of a rhomboid-tank, a simplification.

Just like the little toy rhomboid-tank crawling between two hills of presents in Disney's "Santa's workshop" (I think it's called) short-movie.

Curious!!!??? When I did the last post ( taarrra) there was only the original pic from brooding soldier since then a number of other pics have popped up that I'm sure were not there before...........gremlins ?

In any case the pic I was refering to is the one with aussies standing around it posted by Paul...

Cheers

A comparison of the two logos.

Regards Eddie