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Post Info TOPIC: 24th April 1918 - A7V's big day out


Legend

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24th April 1918 - A7V's big day out
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Centenary of the actions around Villers-Bretonneux on 24th April 1918.

#506 Mephisto was lost when it drove into a large shell hole in poor visibility and couldn't be removed. The tank was eventually recovered in July

by the AIF and 1st Gun Carrier Co.

 

#561 Nixe fought with 3 Mark IV. Two Mark IV Females were hit and retired. The Mark IV Male (4086) hit the A7V. The crew abandoned but later remounted 

the tank and coaxed it back a few kms before the engines expired. The tank was blown up by German sappers. The Mark IV Male was disabled by a

Minenwerfer and the crew abandoned it.

 

#525 Siegfried was involved in the sealclubbing of 4 Medium Mark A Whippets when a detachment of 7 Whippets got caught in a crossfire between the A7V

and a battery of 7.7cm field guns.

Regards,

Charlie

 



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Legend

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Thank you, Charlie.

Step-by-step map of the battle here:

https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/history/conflicts/australians-western-front-19141918/australian-remembrance-trail/australian-3

 

 



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Legend

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James H on the spot where Mephisto got stuck. In the distance, la Ferme de la Couture. Photography by the memsahib.

 

Villers_JHR_crop.JPG

 



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Legend

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Looks close to where Mark Whitmore thought Mephisto had got stuck.

A7V #542 went into a sand pit a bit further west from this location - again poor visibility and the difficulty of driving the A7V with an all round blind zone.

Charlie

 



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Brigadier

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Thanks for all the info, 100 years ago,  how time flies. Hard for me to wrap my head around the idea we're talking about the last century. 



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Legend

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Is 542 Elfriede?



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Legend

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So we understand.



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Legend

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That's an interesting question. Rainer Strasheim in his Tankograd book on the A7V doesn't quote a name for #542. There are a bunch

of images of #542 in the sand pit outside Villers-Bretonneux some seem to show the name "Elfriede" - in other images it's not clear.

"Tanker" assembled many of the images of #542 in a thread on forum.pages14-18 - https://forum.pages14-18.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=52559&start=0

Regards,

Charlie

 



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Legend

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Rainer S describes 542 as Elfriede elsewhere in the Tankograd book. See p 29, description of Abt 2 at V-B, and in the tiny print on p 46, Deployments and Engagements. 

I think I remember noticing the omission when I first got the book. All the evidence appears to back it up. See this British description:

 http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/227005-german-a7v-elfriede-pamphlet-given-to-allied-troops/







-- Edited by James H on Thursday 10th of May 2018 08:35:48 AM

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Commander in Chief

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CharlieC wrote:

That's an interesting question. Rainer Strasheim in his Tankograd book on the A7V doesn't quote a name for #542. 

 

That's the way how things happen - sometimes. The individual profiles were written with only the tank numbers as headers. The editor then decided to add the names to the headers - but missed out adding "Elfriede" to Tank 542, which was easy because the profile didn't mention the name. - Well, everybody knows that 542 was "Elfriede"...  



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