I found this Book online readable: https://de.scribd.com/document/231620342/Waffen-Arsenal-Band-112-Deutsche-Kampfwagen-im-1-Weltkrieg-Der-A7V-und-die-Anfange-deutscher-Panzerentwicklung
Lot's of pics of the A7V and further models (see tags)
Also a "trench digger" on A7V basis, could be a nice model idea!?
I've had this book for many years. What is especially interesting about it is the illustration on the cover, which is of an A7V bearing the name Lotti and the number 527 on the hull. The numbers are of an improbably large size and I don't recall reading anything that says such large lettering ever appeared on an A7V. But where those numbers can be seen is on the hull of the A7V replica named Wotan which was or is at the Milovice Tankodrome. See below. Did one of these inspire the other? Milovice don't seem to want to reply to enquiries, at least not to mine. Does anyone know anything?
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
In a section of Hundleby & Strasheim (1990) I've never read closely before: Camouflage and Markings. P 200 - 201.
"The issue of new tanks to Abteilung 1 appeared to be 526, 527, 541, 560, and 562. These were issued in overall Feldgrau . . . The evidence is available in photographs of 527 and 560 only, but it is thought that the following applied: . . . 3. Large chassis numbers were painted on the left rear and right front for individual identification.
For Villers-Bretonneux . . . tank 527 received patches of red-brown and pale green over Feldgrau, with the large chassis numbers, but the name Lotti now appeared on the front."
So the Milovice replica has the wrong name and wrong camo. And am I right in thinking that the Schneider/Strasheim camo is therefore also wrong?
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
The following was machine translated from an old discussion on pages14-18.mesdiscussions.net (http://pages14-18.mesdiscussions.net/pages1418/Pages-d-Histoire-Artillerie/Artillerie-Speciale-chars-d-assaut/elfriede-a7v-sujet_971_1.htm)
"The next day, June 1, 1918, took place the fourth engagement of the A7V near Reims, northwest of Fort La Pompelle.
Fifteen tanks were engaged: the five A7V Abt. 1 (No. 526, 527, 541, 560 and 562) as well as those from two Abteilung with Beute-Panzer Mark IV, including the Abt. 13, the only Bavarian Abteilung. This attack turned to disaster since seven of the fifteen tanks (including a A7V) remained on the ground, bogged down or destroyed by the French artillery; none could be recovered.
The A7V No. 527 "Lotti", of the leutnant Bergemann, bogged down in a trench where it half tipped and was later hit by a shell near the turret casemate, at the front. Evacuated by his crew, he was abandoned on the ground, where he remained and ended up being scrapped in 1922."
This account accords with Strasheim's notes in the Tankograd A7V book. The "sand pit" was the remains of a trench.
