Landships II

Mark Hansen · Legend

Wireless Mk IV

Rhomboid · Field Marshal

That's an interesting photo, Mark, but lack of resolution complicates it's interpretation. I'm not entirely convinced that the aerial mast (the linear object about 25' in height in front of the sponson) is not a defect in the photographic plate, perhaps the joint of a composite photo. (Blow up the photo, and look at the foreground in front of the tank.)

Another interpetation is possible, as well. The RE signallers were employing man-portable wireless sets at this time. Guy Chapman, whose battalion was holding the line on Tower Hamlets spur, near the Menin Road, in Sept. 1917, describes the unfortunate fate of such a detachment in his memoir "A Passionate Prodigality". The photo may show signallers using a disabled tank as a pillbox for their station. The caption suggests that the photo was taken near the infamous "tank graveyard".

Centurion · Legend

Mark IV radio tanks were certainly in use at this time but I've never seen a photo of one. The old Mk I radio tank (used for training) had the mast mounted on the tank. I've always thought the sponsons on the Female Mk IV would be too small and cramped for the equipment as it was in 1917 (the RE radio equipment was man luggable and only marginally portable by a team). There was a MV* radio tank (the US 301 had one) but again I've never seen a photo.

Mark Hansen · Legend

Rhomboid wrote:

That's an interesting photo, Mark, but lack of resolution complicates it's interpretation. I'm not entirely convinced that the aerial mast (the linear object about 25' in height in front of the sponson) is not a defect in the photographic plate, perhaps the joint of a composite photo. (Blow up the photo, and look at the foreground in front of the tank.)

You might be right about that but there is what appears to be a "joint" in the aerial, just over halfway up the length and a similar object right at the apex.

The presence of the German stretcher bearers probably means that the fighting wasn't all that close to the tank which may well mean that it had been knocked out. It has also had the guns removed from the sponsons but these may have been absent anyway if it was a wireless tank. Either way, I'll include this photo in my list of things to check when I go to the AWM.

One other point: There are a number of misidentified photos of WWI tanks in the AWM database. A00226 is captioned as a Mk IV when it is a Mk I, P00743.016 is captioned as possibly a Mk II when it is a Mk V are just two of them.

Rhomboid · Field Marshal

The attachment shows a wireless-equipped medium Mark C. The masts and aerial are quite different from the converted Mk.I tank. I wonder if the putative Mk.IV and V wireless tanks would have carried this form of aerial. This arrangement is similar to that of the trench sets used by the RE signallers, with a 50' horizontal wire aerial stretched between 3' masts. A review of my references failed to show any heavy tanks with similar equipment, however.

A nice site displaying RE signalling gear form the Great War can be found at:

www.fairmile.fsbusiness.co.uk/sigs.htm

P.S. Mark, if you are taking a camera to the AWM, could I ask you to take a photo of the Mk.I wreck model in the background of the "Somme Winter" diorama? Many thanks in advance.

Mark Hansen · Legend

Rhomboid wrote:

P.S. Mark, if you are taking a camera to the AWM, could I ask you to take a photo of the Mk.I wreck model in the background of the "Somme Winter" diorama? Many thanks in advance.

No problem. Not quite sure when that will be but the photo is on my list.

Centurion · Legend

Rhomboid wrote:

The attachment shows a wireless-equipped medium Mark C. The masts and aerial are quite different from the converted Mk.I tank. I wonder if the putative Mk.IV and V wireless tanks would have carried this form of aerial. This arrangement is similar to that of the trench sets used by the RE signallers, with a 50' horizontal wire aerial stretched between 3' masts. A review of my references failed to show any heavy tanks with similar equipment, however.

Another possible pattern is that adopted by the Americans on a converted Renault - see attached

The Mk V* radio is not putative. Major Ralph Sasse of the AEF 301st (attached to the British 2nd Tank Brigade) was commanding one on October 8th 1918 at Brancourt when he won the MC. There are no photos but as his tank was conducting a recconaisance in the front line at the time one assumes that the aerial array was not some huge pole or network of poles and wires atached to the tank