The Mark IV Female (the one in the urban setting) was lost in Rumilly during the Battle of Cambrai. Probable photo date: December 1917 or January 1918. I don't know the identity of the tank - perhaps someone with access to "Following the Tanks" will be able to help.
The Mark IV Male in the wooded setting is not a tank I recognise as having seen before in other photos.
The left-hand pic is most interesting. The engine is completely removed from the hull. Is that enemy action, scuttling, or a salvage attempt? The writing on the hull seems to be German; 'vorn links' - front, left. What would explain that?
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Gibot and Gorczynski identify the tank in Rumilly as FW1 (commander 2/Lt. C.W. Carles), knocked out on 21/11/17. The segment labelled "vorn links" seems to have been removed - perhaps for ballistic testing?
That makes perfect sense. It's a Beutepanzer, and the Germans took away plates for ballistics, labelled to see if the armour was uniform or whether there were any weak spots. Brilliant. What a tremendous team effort.
I couldn't read 'hinten links' on this clapped out computer.
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I had been debating with myself whether the Rumilly tank was fitted as a top tower - in some photos I thought I could see the extensions on the unditching beam rails over the top towing gear. In other photos I thought the rails were just badly bent. Knowing now that this is FW1 it seems that it is indeed a top tower, as photos of FW3 show that that tank was too.
Sorry to confuse and no apologies necessary. "Top Tower" was a term used to describe tanks (all Mark IV Females so far as is known) equipped to tow sledges from a position on the roof of the tank. Top towers can be identified by (1) the block-like towing point on the roof (2) the stays used to strengthen this (these look like thin rods that run from the towing point to the pistol ports at the side of the cab, through which they pass, and (3) extensions to the unditching beam rails so that the unditching beam when passing over the rails didn't foul the towing point.
Hope that's clear, but I can post photos if needed.
Well, that's something I didn't know. Thanks, Gwyn.
I let Chris ask so as to avoid embarrassing myself.
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"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.
Just tried to post some more photos but my computer's playing up (again!!). To point you in the direction of some more top towers, the presentation tank at Hitchen was one, although that's a bit of an unusual one in that the tank was originally built as a Male, and both converted to a Female and to a top tower, but we don't know in which order. There's also the tank presented to Roye, France after the war. There are several photos of top tower FW3, a Mk IV Female knocked out in Bourlon village (including one in Frank Mitchell's "Tank Warfare"). And quite a few other ones too - so happy hunting!
And to go back to FW1 for a moment. I have found two photos showing the front of the tank. In one there's a chalked square containing writing on the glacis plate (the sloping plate below the visors), and in the other there's a black hole showing that part of the plate has been removed.
Are these W coded tanks the "Wire puller" tanks that used the 4 fluked grapnels on the end of 10 metre cable for pulling up barbed wire to clear paths for infantry/cavalry? See "Following the Tanks" by Gibot/Gorczynski. Some 32 were available for Cambrai. Also a good pic on page 107 of this book shows the extensions to the unditching beams to clear the towing block. The pic is captioned as I.41 rather than a W coded tank?
Anyone got photos/drawings of the tow sledges for modelling purposes?
I also have a post card of a front quarter view of a Mark IV captioned as being at Fort Pompelle. It looks to be L52 Lyric as above. It still has the white/red/white on the horns with number 2648 on the horns ahead the MG sponson and at the rear in it's usual position. If it was used by the Germans it certainly was not repainted by them. The stays to the cabin are very clear in this post card. The unditching beams are missing.
I don't have a copy of G&G (GRRRR!!!!!), which is a shame as I would very much like to see the photo of I41. I believe that all the tanks with a "W" in the crew numbers at Cambrai are wirepullers, but I don't know if all the wirepullers had a "W" in the crew number, if you follow me.
The tank 2648 you have a postcard of is the same tank illustrated elsewhere in this thread. It was not used by the Germans - it was actually presented to the town of Suippes after the war but was moved to the new location to replace one of the Beutepanzers there, which was too dangerous and had to be removed.
I will send you scans of both if you like. I don't have any setup for posting on the forum at the moment. The Postcard shows several French language signs painted on the tank...you may be able to read them.
Richard, I am away from my library (well, bookshelf, really), but I think that in the Osprey book on the Mark IV, by David Fletcher, there is a good photo of the supply sledges. Maybe you've already seen it.
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Yes thanks for that....it's on page 8. Looks like bits of angle iron and flat plate strips bolted together, on a base of wood planks with two runners underneath? Not sure about the corner struts. They look like a triangular construction.
Unfortunately exhaust smoke obscures the rear of the tank, so I can't tell if it has the top tower setup. However a picture on page 40 shows a Supply tank righting a toppled damaged tank. The wire rope is attached to chains that are bolted to the inside of the rear horns. I wonder if this setup could also be used for towing supply sledges?
