All of the tanks in the photos above were MkII's belonglng to 11 Co., D Bn. HBMGC and were knocked out on 11/4/17 during the 1st Battle of Bullecourt. The tank on the left is 796 (D23), and is seen abandoned just in front of the Hindenberg Line trench at the SE corner of Bullecourt village. The middle tank is 586 (D28), destroyed just in front of the first Hindenberg Line trench south of Riencourt. The tank on the right is 799 (D30), seen between the first and second line of the Balcony Trench system, NW of Queant. On the map they are designated as 11 (796), 3 (799), and 4 (586).
-- Edited by Rhomboid on Sunday 25th of March 2012 08:55:03 PM
I'm a little suspicious of the plate damage on the front horn on the 3rd photo, looks added on to me. The damage that encroaches on the adjuster is very iffy.
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ChrisG
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity(Dorothy Parker)
Another possibility might be a near miss by a heavy shell, all the holes in the armour being caused by splinters. The armour plate was fairly thin and brittle as evidenced by the metal around the holes being broken cleanly without any bending or tearing. The track adjuster looks to have been hit by a splinter which neatly tore a chunk out of the lower edge and punched out a piece of plate under the adjuster. I guess you could work out how far away the shell exploded - probably only a few metres away from the tank.
All the pictures I have which are more or less identical show no damage to the front left of the hull, this pic a later one after the guns have been removed shows no damage, other then the rear hull and sponson also on all the other pics...
Thanks Ironsides, I have studied the construction of the rhomboids by looking at as many battle damaged tanks I can find photos of and that style of damage was a little strange.
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ChrisG
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity(Dorothy Parker)
