The Mk.IV tanks used by the Freikorps (as far as they are known) were all females. So, Lewis machine guns for "Hanni" and "Erni", the two ex-Abt. 12 vehicles, and MG 08 for "Mariechen". "Martha" I haven't seen yet carrying armament at all.
"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.
Hi Thanks for your reply. I think the name Hanni is misleading us about her gender. Whatever her gender originally (incidentally how do we know she was a female when British?), in this picture, Hanni is not fitted with machine guns.
Hi Legend, thanks for your reply. I was answering the previous post when you posted. AFAIK the only difference between male and female British Mark IVs is the armament or am I missing something? Why do you think the tank in the original pic is female (apart from her name)? In my most recent post, the pic has obscured part of the text, but my main point is that, in my view) this second pic of Hanni definitely does not show her with machine guns. Good work at IWM North by the way!
They didn't have to - captured Lewis guns were converted to standard German 7.92mm ammunition by Beute-Machinengewehr-Instandsetzungs-Werkstätte (Repair Shop for Captured Machine Guns) in Brussels (Rainer Strasheim - Beute Tanks Vol. 1 p.53)
Regards,
Charlie
-- Edited by CharlieC on Monday 28th of January 2019 03:49:50 AM
Thank you Charlie. While you are here, what do you think the Freikorps Whippet would have been armed with? In the only pic I can find (which shows her being repaired) she seems to have thin machine guns. Could these be the original Hotchkisses?
There is another image of the Freikorps' Whippet in Strasheim's book. It's shown behind an armoured car so it somewhat obscured. From that image the front and left side MG positions were empty although that doesn't mean much since the Hotchkiss MGs were designed to be moved around in the Whippet citadel. To fit any other MG than the Hotchkiss in the Whippet meant modifying the MG positions - there isn't any sign of modification in the image cited.
Thanks Charlie. That clarifies everything. Today I noticed the Whippet in the background of the pic of the armoured car. It's probably the most striking of all the Freikorps pics I have found online.
