Please, help me with pictures of A7V Sturmpanzerwagen Commanders. For example, this is the Foto of Leutnant Theunissen (with EK I). Sources: www.gmic.co.uk
I got 2 Commanders for you: 1.) This is Wotan with Commander Lt. Goldmann. It's not for sure, but I guess the man, marked with the arrwohead is Herr Goldmann. 2.) Next picture is 560, commanded by Lt. Volckheim. He is the 5. man on the left. Last picture is Lt. Volckheim in a higher resolution.
I got 2 Commanders for you: 1.) This is Wotan with Commander Lt. Goldmann. It's not for sure, but I guess the man, marked with the arrwohead is Herr Goldmann.
Just to confirm, that is Lt. Goldmann with his crew of 563 WOTAN, taken in summer 1918.
Regards Eddie
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"From Mud, Through Blood, to the Green Fields Beyond."
Could be (if you add some kilos on his body) the same guy - a SA-Truppführer - on a group foto within my collection. Handwriten on the back it says Müller.
Does anyone know something about the decorations which were awarded to him?
In the above photo of the tank commanders in Wiencourt, Lt. Volckheim appears to have the MG-Scharfschützen badge on his left arm. Presumably then he was in an MG-Scharfschützen-Abteilung before volunteering for the tanks?
Yes indeed, Lt. Volckheim served in a MG-Unit on the western front (1917), before he became a tank commander. (Source: Schneider, Wolfgang, Rainer Strasheim, Deutsche Kampfwagen im 1. Weltkrieg Der A7V und die Anfänge deutscher Panzerentwicklung, Podzun-Pallas Verlag, Band 112, Friedberg 1988. ISBN 3-7909-0337-X , and Wikipedia.) Volckheim has written a book named: "Die deutschen Kampfwagen im Weltkriege", Berlin 1923.
Regards
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[...] zu Hause seyn ist mein Verdruß / ich liebe den Canonen-Schuß und Feuer-volle Bomben. (J.G. Albinus "Obrister-Leutenant")
I have Volckheims book and am slowly working through it (my German is weak, and I have a whole load of German sources demanding my attention, primarily the regimental history of FAR 48 which is my core interest). I haven't yet spotted any reference to his career before he became a tank commander, so thankyou for the information and the other book references.
I am very curious regarding the pre-tank backgrounds of German tank personnel in general, and especially regarding how they were recruited for the tank service (I know that some of the officers plus the drivers and mechanics were Kraftfahrtruppen (mainly from the Garde-Kraftfahr-Bataillon), the gunners from the artillery (57mm) and infantry (MGs)). Were they all volunteers, and if so did they know what exactly they were volunteering for (I imagine there must have been a high level of secrecy)?
Very few of the officers appear in the published Ranglisten I have examined (1914 Prussian, Bavarian, Saxon and Württemberg lists plus the Ehrenrangliste 1914-1918), which suggests they were mainly reserve officers with wartime commissions.
The best hope of getting a clearer picture of the backgrounds of the NCOs and men would be a comparative study of a representative sample of Militärpasse from members of the tank units. Whether enough of these documents survive to make this possible is another question - and naturally they would be horrifyingly expensive collectors' items.
I'm trying to put together an A7V commander's uniform and found this thread so wonderfully informative.
Andi I found your post most interesting, I was taken by the reference to Kraftfahrtruppen which got me to doing some probing around and I came across this site which you may or may not be familiar with:
This man is not wearing the trench dagger but a standard bayonet. He's an NCO, presumably of the motor transport troops. (Although one cannot really be certain here, there was a lot of uniform swapping because all the tank crews were processed through the Kraftfahr-Ersatz-Abteilung 1 (Garde), even when they were gunners, infantry men or engineers.
You are usually right on these things, so you must forgive my lack of expert knowledge on the subject. I took the gentleman to the right to be an officer because he was wearing a tunic with breast pockets, and I've not seen that in most NCO uniform set-ups - although the collar is missing the right insignia I guess. It was also my understanding that the Portepee wasn't used on bayonets during WW1?
-- Edited by haschenmann on Friday 21st of August 2009 12:14:20 AM