Well, maybe this tank is well known, but it is a bit of mystery to me. I´ve found this shot on ebay. Recently I obtained another photo of the same vehicle, when I´ll get to scanner, I can post it as well.
Photos were clearly taken in WWII, because there are WWII German soldiers around the tank on my picture. So it is most probably in France 1940. I can recognise part of the number on the hull side on my photo. It is 280...
Can someone, please, identify this tank? Or the place, where the photo was taken? I am curious about the reasons, why this tank was parked in Gothic cathedral.
This tank first came to my attention a couple of years ago. This photo and others of the same vehicle are known to me, but the questions you ask are the same I've been asking myself and at the moment I have no answers. I think its serial number is 2801, which fits as the tank is a Mark IV Female. However I have no other record of 2801 so knowing the number doesn't help much in this case. The tank has also been converted to a Top Tower and whilst it has the applique armour over its fuel tank it seems to be missing the applique armour over its radiator. I suspect that this is a presentation tank to a French town that was very temporarily brought back into use during the 'Sitzkrieg' that preceded the invasion of May 1940 (perhaps there was less attention given to immobilising presentation tanks in France than there was in Britain), but at the moment I can't identify the location. I can find no match in my database of French and Flanders presentation tanks for a Mark IV Female Top Tower, with unditching rails in place, serial 2801 or unknown.
And another one. The height of the "gate" and some ornate details visible led me to belief, that it is most probably a Gothic cathedral, not a fortification.
