Hi: I'm gathering information on Britain's Mark -5 tank as used before the end of W.W.1. I want to display it with the "crib" on top. Some pictures show the tank with and some without unditching rails. Why? Were they only in certain units or added for a certain battle? Also, the covers over the port side vent. Some pictures show one some, some two. I checked past posts but might have missed the answer. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Chris Anderson
As I understand it the unditching rails were fitted in France by central workshops rather than factory-fitted as standard. So I assume that some machines didn't get them
B.T. White shows the MkV crib on top of the unditching rails, with the retaining chains fastened to the rails so they can be unhitched from the rear cupola. I think that's the only place they could have been fastened. Beneath that pic is another MkV without the rail. I can only assume that either Workshops didn't always get round to fitting them or that they weren't thought necessary if the vehicle was likely to be operating on good ground or where deep, wide trenches weren't a problem, most likely quite late in the War.
There is an article somewhere about the louvres being asymmetrical - quite a complicated one - but I can't find it at the mo. Will keep looking.
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