Landships II

JamesAPrattIII · Lieutenant-Colonel

Kharkiv Mark V

NutzeDenTag · Corporal

I wonder how its brothers are doing in Lugansk?..
Apparently, since its number was not installed during the renovation in the 2010-s, we will never know it.
I was also looking for information about Mk Vs in USSR, particularry in Kharkiv. All I could find - only a quite big bunch of photos of different years.

CharlieC · Legend

Lugansk wasn't as badly hit by shelling as Donetsk in 2014-2022 so the tanks may be ok.

Kharkov/Kharkiv has been heavily hit by Russian missile attacks over the last few months but apparently most of the attacks have been directed

to the factory areas in the south of the city and training/supply areas of the Ukrainian Army.

The Mark V (9303) at Arkhangelsk, Northern Russia is under cover and is in good condition after restoration.

The museum at Kubinka (outside Moscow) has a Mark V

The lost Mark Vs seem to be:

2 were in Smolensk but removed by the Germans in WW2 and, it is thought, were the Mark Vs in Berlin in 1945.

Kiev(Kyiv) had 2 as well, one disappeared during WW2, the other was on display until the 1950s.- there's a thread on this forum about where

the Mark Vs were located in Kiev(Kyiv).

Charlie

https://landships.activeboard.com/t69404873/mark-vs-in-kievkiyv/

NutzeDenTag · Corporal

There also were two of them in Rostov-on-Don. Probably they were scrapped in 1945-1946

CharlieC · Legend

I knew I'd seen the serial numbers for the surviving Mark V tanks in Russia - eventually memory gave me:

https://sites.google.com/site/landships/home/lists/mk-v-tanks_1

9186 - Lugansk

9344 - Lugansk

9303 - Arkangel

9118 - Kubinka

Charlie

NutzeDenTag · Corporal

I have some doubts about Mk number in Kubinka. Since this is the only site where it was mentioned

JamesAPrattIII · Lieutenant-Colonel

I found some notes I took possibly from this site the S/N of the Mark V at Kharkiv might be 9358 "For Holy Russia" captured by the Reds in October 1920

Form the Osprey book on Armored Units of the Russian Civil War : Red Army

1938 two tanks each were sent to then Kharkov, Leningrad, Kiev, Archangel, Rostov-on Don, Smolensk, and Voroshilovgrad (I know the names of some places have changed since then)

2000s 2 at Lugansk, 1 Archangel, 1 Kharkiv 1 and 1 Whippet at the Tank Museum at Kubinka

NutzeDenTag · Corporal

We can only say with certainty about the numbers of a few tanks (there were 15 in total):

Arkhangelsk - female №9303 (there were only rumors about second tank; it could be even Whippet);

Lugansk (ex. Voroshilovgrad) - two right composites, №9186 and №9344 (they made it through these years with out serious damage, as well as serial numbers signs did);

Smolensk - left composite №9146 (the number is clearly visible on the photos in the hometown in 1941 and in Berlin-45). Second one - female, didn't have ser. number;

Kiev - left composite №9436 (on the Kontraktova Square, number is visible on some photos). Another one, right composite - no serial number;

Rostov-on-Don - left composite and either right composite or female - no numbers are seen;

Kharkov - left and right composites (full tank squad) - no serial numbers;

Leningrad was also supposed to receive 2 tanks, but never did;

Kubinka - the 15th Mk V, left composite - no serial number;

As I know in Kharkov there weren't enough supervision after the survived Mk V, so everything that could be taken as a souvenir was taken. For a long time Kubinka was a test site for equipment so there were a lot of soldiers. They hid in tanks from their commanders and also took souvenirs. So serial number signs are missing.

All the rest - information that needs to be checked very carefully.

By the way, I've found very interesting line in the text on Wiki and landship site: «Two preserved Mark Vs, both Composites, form part of an outdoor memorial at Luhansk in Ukraine. Two more are in storage». Probably there is some information about these two stored tanks in "The Landships of Lincoln" (2007) by Richard Pullen, but I couldn't find it in any format.