Hello All, I'm back & starting on my 1/2 scale A7V. I have been reading all my books, but I wanted you, the forum to give your opinions as to the operation of our beloved 20.
Which one seems to have had the least down time? who was in more combat than the rest, which A7v was the most effective overall?
A7V 506 Mephisto was used in the first German tank action at St Quentin, 21 March 1918, as noted it is the only surviving A7V.
A month later at the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonnux, it seems Mephisto was on the hunt with Nixie, but the day started with a heavy fog that lasted well into the morning and tanks from both sides blundered around in the fog. Nixie went on to fire at three British tanks, in what was to be the first tank on tank action, unfortunately, Mephisto had earlier rolled into a shell hole while lost (?) in the fog and was abandoned by its crew, at some point the tank was hit by shell fire* and later it became a German strong point. Mephisto was prepared for demolition but for some reason this was never carried out. Mephisto's last role in the war was as a strong-point, forward of the German line in Monument Wood
Mephisto was salvaged/souvenired on the night of 22 July but it was in Australian control by 14 July, "Shortly after midnight the 26th Battalion sent out patrols to probe the German positions held by the 148 Infantry Regiment. They moved through the orchard, along the Demuin Road and also captured a section of the Stamboul Trench, just to the west of the trees. At 6 pm that evening an assault party from B Company, comprising of Lieutenant J.O. Gibson and eight men advanced further down Stamboul Trench and captured the junction with Syria Trench after a stiff grenade fight with the German garrison. At the same time, two other parties captured the Syria Trench west of the Demuin Road, while men from D Company made a successful bombing attack through the orchard west of the road, which pushed beyond MEPHISTO. A subsequent advance on the night of 17 July, as part f a wider operation to improve the Allied line in front of Villers-Bretonneux established the outposts further beyond the tank. Veterans of the 26th battalion, Mr R. Caplick and Mr W.J. Barrett, recall that MEPHISTO was a German strong-point and that there were several dead Germans in the tank a the end of the fighting."
My vote is for Mephisto, other A7V's continued their lives as AFV's post WWI but they were all eventually scrapped, Mephisto was there at the start of German tank warfare, survived the war as a trophy and is still around today!
* A number of German tanks were hit by friendly fire!
-- Edited by Thylacine on Friday 4th of July 2014 11:08:01 AM
-- Edited by Thylacine on Friday 4th of July 2014 11:16:07 AM
- it was one of the most used A7Vs, it took part in more actions than average A7V (some were lost in first or second fight);
- it took part in the second phase of the first ever tank vs tank battle at Villers-Bretonneux and it is the only A7V which probably destroyed at least one enemy tank (four out of seven Whippets were destroyed by fire from "Siegfried" and 77mm gun battery, hard to say who destroyed how many of them. "Siegfried" claimed 3 Whippets, gun battery claimed all 4 );
- it was not lost in battle, remained in German hands to the end of war.
And you could always try something less typical:
- one of two modified A7Vs used in Germany in 1919 ("Hedi" was one of them);
);
