Landships II

James H · Legend

Any stray Mk Vs?

Pzkpfw-e · Commander in Chief

The only known survivors are:
Bovington MkV Male, MkV** Female
IWM, MkV Male
Fort Benning MkV* Male
Lukhansk, 2xMkV Hermaphrodites
Kharkhov MkV Hermaphrodite
Kubinka MkV Hermaphrodite
Arkhangelsk MkV Female.

That's your lot.

James H · Legend

Thanks, but I didn't mean existing survivors. I mean sort of post-War, like the pair that went to Smolensk and eventually Berlin. Some Saint-Chamonds were on display in France until WWII, and then IIRC scrapped by the Germans. I wondered if any Mk Vs ended up doing something like that. I don't think any were sold overseas. None finished up as Presentation Tanks in UK? None to the US apart from the surviving V*?

Gwyn Evans · Legend

Quite a lot of Mark V and V star went to USA. Sorry for brief answer. Am on a train.
Gwyn

James H · Legend

Aha. Much obliged, Gwyn. I've found refs in D Fletcher that say 5 Mk V* (2M, 3F) went to USA. No figs for Mk V yet, but on Google Landships there are refs for 2 being photographed in USA post-War. Did the 301st take their tanks with them?

Pzkpfw-e · Commander in Chief

I believe that most, if not all, presentation tanks in the UK, were MkIV Females, that had been used solely for training purposes in the UK.
Some info on MkV use abroad here landships.info/landships/tank_articles.html
I doubt if the 301st took any back to the USA with them, as the MkVIII was coming on stream, there would be no reason to take up shipping space for obsolete equipment.
The French received 90 MkV* tanks, reputedly using them into the 1930s, the only photos I've seen of preserved British WW1 tanks in France, are wrecks, too mangles for me to ID them! They all seem to have been removed & scrapped by the occupying Germans in 1940.
The ones below, at/near Langemark are MkIVs Noted as being there in the 1920s - 30s.

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Others shown at La Pompelle

greatwarphotos.com/2012/02/09/reims-battlefield-pilgrimage-1925-tanks-at-la-pompelle/

This one's captioned as being at Peronne, near Amiens. Looks post war to me
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Gwyn Evans · Legend

There were no Mark V presentation tanks until the Red Army had better/less worn out tanks to use. Then pairs of Mark Vs were allocated to various cities of the USSR. Mark V*s were supplied to France and captured in great numbers by the Wehrmacht in 1940. The US 301st Battalion did take some of their Mark Vs back across the Atlantic.

Gwyn (not on a train)

mad zeppelin · Commander in Chief

I find the attached picture in my files. The tank number is 9429. I stored the picture in 2007. There is/was no indication of place and date.

Gwyn Evans · Legend

This is 9436 in Kiev.

Gwyn

mad zeppelin · Commander in Chief

This is as distinct as I can enlarge the number.

Gwyn Evans · Legend

Try these...

9429 was one of the Mark Vs that went to the USA with 301st Tank Battalion. It was a Composite, but the Male sponson was on the starboard side, not the port as is the case with this tank.

Gwyn

mad zeppelin · Commander in Chief

Yes, I see and I'm convinced. Thanks.