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Post Info TOPIC: german tank attacks, is there a list...


Sergeant

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german tank attacks, is there a list...
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thanks, My grandfather (maternal) , 'Ralph', started in the London Regiment, missed the Marne, but was at Loos, where he was also disciplined field punishment again, for firing a round during a charge... he had been ordered to empty his rifle, and just charge with the bayonet fixed... bloody madness.. (my paternal grandfather was at Gallipoli, where he was order to do the same thing, and was severely wounded, ended up almost crippled, for doing it,)

Ralph was badly gassed in 1916, and served as an Ambulance driver for the rest of the war... rising to Corporal... BUT, blotted his copy book (as usual), when he refused to be sent to Archangel , to "Fight the workers" (almost all the veterans that I remember came out of WW1 as committed socialists.  the story of My Paternal grandfather is still of the secret history of what happened after the war in Australia.), and because he was considered a hero, MM, they did not court-martial him, instead he was ordered to stay with the Rhineland Occupation army, where he became chequers champion, got fed up with that and emigrated to Australia...

a family memento that survived the Ipswich floods of 2011, was the .38 revolver he carried as an Ambulance red cross driver... (could have been shot on the spot for being armed, but they all carried weapons, not for self protection, but to put down those too severely wounded to make it back to the clearing station.. it has seven notches in the handle. a side of the war never mentioned.)

another time he was shown german chivalry, was when he was in a group column during an advance, and it was shot to pieces by german ground attack aircraft... but they never shot at the ambulances, they just flew low and revved their engines which spooked the horses...

Buy the way, I live in Brisbane, and in 1971, I was permitted to climb inside the A7V, and take photo of the interior. those negs survived the floods. (the rest of my collection did not) after there was a newspaper article calling for its scrapping as a dangerous hazard..

I know some have been pirated in a few books. (I had sent them to Airfix mag)... but not all, and if they may be of interest, I will try and scan them in...

I am only now getting around to dong anything, after retiring.

regards, Sandy



-- Edited by nurgle on Wednesday 26th of June 2013 07:52:40 AM



-- Edited by nurgle on Wednesday 26th of June 2013 07:55:12 AM

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Sergeant

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Hi, new to this forum..

I am trying to find if there is any german tank action, where a german Tank "fought" though a 'Village'..

the reason, my Maternal Grand-father had an interesting encounter with one...

he with the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was driving an ambulance back to the rear of the lines during a German attack, through a village, and suddenly found himself in front of a German tank...

The tank "commander" orders all firing stopped, waved him on past the tank, and saluted him as he passed...  (that is all I remember of what he said when I was 12..)

that was not the only time he was shown chivalry during ww1...

he won the Military Medal at St. Julien, when during a lull in the artillery firing, he drove his ambulance through the german lines, ordered some german guards who were hold prisoners, to put the wounded in the back of the ambulance, he spoke fluent german (and welsh), and drove back... he was given a signed thank you note by the general (which I still have), yet he had disobeyed his officers orders, and was ordered to do 'Field Punishment No.1" tied to the wheels of a cart for a few hours... and other incidents also.

but would be intersted if there is a list of german tank attacks that would involve a "village"

regards, Sandy Barrie.



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Legend

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Hi Sandy,

Fascinating stories there (and trust the bloody Poms to punish a man for doing the right thing).

Someone here will have some answers I'm sure - though probably best handled in the "German Tanks" section, to which I will now move this topic. Some preliminary information to be going on with in http://landships.activeboard.com/t17910328/a7v-locations/.

Steve

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Commander in Chief

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What comes to mind is the solitary action of 1st Ltn Skopnik of A7V-Abt.1 on April 24th, 1918. He had his tank, A7V 526, speed ahead of the own infantry, enter the town of Villers-Bretonneux, role along the city roads to the western end of the town, turn around, go back - and eventually join his tank group east of V.-B. again.



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Legend

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Your interior photos sound very interesting Sandy, I for one would be pleased to see them.

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Legend

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Ah, Sandy, could be mad zeppelin has the answer, the very man who saluted Grandfather perhaps, the date and the place. Yes, to echo TinCanTadpole, members would be very interested in those interior photos.

Fortunately Mephisto survived the floods (all of them, I'm thinking of organising a collection drive for snorkels for you lot - seems we don't need them here in the West), you may be interested in catching up with the post-flood news from these pages:

http://landships.activeboard.com/t53836947/a7v-documentary-waltzing-mephisto/
http://landships.activeboard.com/t53001643/mephisto-police-unlock-secrets-of-german-battle-tank/
http://landships.activeboard.com/t50842381/mephistos-whereabouts/

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Sergeant

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found the thank you from the general.

Sandy



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