I have attached a photo scanned from "From the Home front to the Front line- images from the Great war", edited by J. Mahony.
I guess the image exists in AWM data base somewhere. The scan is not a good copy but the image in the book can be made out to be a Mark V male named "MEPHISTOPHELES".
The number above the heads of the two soldiers has "11" in the middle and the closest I have found to match is Tank 9115 belonging to A Company, 13th (M) Battalion. This tank was knocked out on 8 August 1918.
yes it's a pity I cannot get a better scan (I am using scanner at work since I don't have one myself). I did a search of the AWM last night but this picture does not appear to be viewable yet, if indeed they do have it. it is attributed to a Myra Burgess in the book. The book itself does not give many details about the source of its pictures.
Richard
-- Edited by R Simmie on Monday 5th of November 2012 10:52:59 PM
Another excellent find, though I'm glad you told me what the name says. There's not many photos of 13th Battalion tanks so this is great to have. Yes, I'm inclined to agree 9115. The only other possibility is 9117 for which we don't seem to have any history before it turns up with the American 301st Battalion on 29 September 1918.
This was the tank commanded by my great uncle Albert Chandley, then a 2nd Lt in the Tank Corps. I have his army records which tell me that he received a Gun Shot Wound in the left hand on 8th August 1918 whilst fighting at Villers-Bretonneux. The Tank Corps Book of Honour contains a letter of commendation from an Australian officer thanking the 13th Battalion for the support of three of its tanks on this day, and names one of these as Mephistophiles.
There is a book out here that has a blow up of AWM photo E04922 on the Dust cover and a repeat photo inside with the text.
It is a Female mark V* with "ORRORRO" on the front horn and numbers 98XX partially hidden by heads, but the last two digits have rounded tops, so they could
be 8 or 9. Looking at E04922 on the AWM site shows the whole picture of the tank with troops from the 5th Australian Infantry Brigade around it
and it is very small, so you can't see the markings at all. Dated 8th August in the Warfuse-Abancourt area.