Something Ralf Raths says (paraphrased) in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESKxi4EEDUQ
When the Germans decided to build tanks they decided they wanted a track system, because it was known that they worked in the(battle)field, but in the German Empire there were no vehicles with track systems, so they decided they had to find something and use it. The Austro-Hungarians, by coincidence, showed a Caterpillar Holt vehicle at a fair in Berlin. (The Germans) decided to use it in the A7V. but they didn't know how. They needed the original driver, from Budapest, a Hungarian, to come up to Berlin to work for them, to show them . . . and then they decided to actually pay the licence fees to Caterpillar Holt - their own version, but the patent was paid for.
It's usually stated that the Germans used Holt 120s in 1914, machines commandeered by A-H and lent to Germany to tow howitzers to the Belgian forts. But this seems to indicate that they had been forgotten about when the A7V was mooted. According to Gisela Zinke, Leo Steiner had given up trying to interest the military in A-H and Germany, and was concentrating on agricultural use. It wasn't until November 1916 that a Holt tractor was demonstrated, in Berlin-Tempelhof, to the team working on the A7V. Ralf says it was at a fair. Were those separate events? Was it an agricultura/industrial fair?
Is this photo of the actual vehicle or just a library shot?
What type of Holt is it? A Baby?
Surprised to learn that royalties were paid to Holt, although Zincke also says they were. In the middle of a World War? It does seem very fastidious. And how did they do it? I thought Holt stopped dealing with A-H when the War broke out, even seizing vehicles that were ready for export.
And the Hungary question. It's still possible to read that Holts were manufactured in Budapest, although Steiner himself says that that didn't happen. He had a franchise, but not to manufacture. However, if USA wouldn't let him have any Holts, what did he sell? Ralf says that the driver had to be brought from Budapest, and Zincke says, "the franchise in Budapest was called upon frequently for consultation during the Tank's development." Perhaps that lies behind the belief that Holts were made there.
"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.
