Landships II

It's probably a Mk V supply tank. The plated over area is actually a sliding door. The same type of door was fitted to the Mk V* supply tank. The WD number is 9189 with a T prefix, which makes it a male. The missing exhaust pipe and silencer is unusual. Possibly the vertical pipe just behind the cab. It is in the same position as one of the outlet holes for the silencer on a standard tank. The other outlet is just ahead of the rear cupola where there is a black pipe shaped object just visible. The silencer itself is totally absent.

The best bet would be to email Bovington and ask them.

If I remember correctly, the photo of a Mk V* supply is in a profile publication. I haven't got a copy of it myself but if I can get hold of it, I'll scan it and post it. It definitely did exist but apparently CW made no mention of it in their records.

As far as carrying capacity goes it would definitely be reduced but there would be a lot more access to the stores with the large sliding door.

That's the picture but as Centurion points out, it appears to be a Mk V and possibly a different tank as it is wearing the wider track plates. The Mk V** has what looks like a supply type sponson but not the same as fitted to the Mk IV supply (The front face and side of the Mk IV supply sponson was rivet-free except for the edges and had no mounting for a MG). There is another tank wearing a supply type sponson behind the Mk V** but it's too far away to tell what type it is.

I think I have remembered this photo when reading about the Mk V* supply conversion in "The British Tanks 1915 - 19" and, not having access to the photo, assumed it to be a Mk V*.

Rhomboid wrote:

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Possibly the tank in Centurion's photo was used to generate smoke screens (via the injection of sulphonic acid into the engine's exhaust). The short exhaust pipes would allow the smoke cloud to be formed over, rather than behind, the tank.

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Centurion wrote:

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So are you saying that there are no known photos of a Mk V* supply? I don't have a copy of "The British Tanks 1915 - 19" so can you enlighten me on what it says about the Mk V* supply? Thanks

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There isn't a lot. It is in a subchapter about the hermaphrodites. I'll quote the relevant section:

"There is no doubt at all that, by the end of the war, most Mark V tanks had become hermaphrodites but there is no hard evidence to suggest it was done to Mark V* tanks, nor even retrospectively to Mark IVs. In fact there is photographic evidence to show that some Mark V* tanks were later converted to the Supply role, a fact that does not appear to have been recorded in writing anywhere."

From that piece I gather that David Fletcher has seen a photo or photos of a Mk V* supply tank, possibly somewhere in the Bovington archives.

Mark Hansen wrote:

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I don't think the smoke cloud was that heavy. In the photo the cloud appears to be rising away from the tank fairly well. There is no apparent wind (trees are steady) so probably no wind assistance to keep the smoke away from the tank. This may have prevented the crew from being overcome by the fumes; at least no more so than normal.

That said, I wouldn't want to be within cooee of the thing when it was operating!

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The chemical agent used is correctly called Colosolphonic Acid or CSA. I have found the following reference to smoke screens produced this way. The smoke produced does contain droplets of sulphuric acid.

Low concentrations cause prickling sensations on the skin, but high concentrations or prolonged exposure to field concentrations can cause severe irritation of the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract, and mild cough and moderate chemical dermatitis can result. Liquid CSA causes acid burns of skin and exposure of eyes can lead to severe eye damage.

Affected body parts should be washed with water and then with sodium bicarbonate solution. The burns are then treated like thermal burns. The skin burns heal readily, while cornea burns can result in residual scarring.

All the photos I can find showing smokescreens being laid show either the screen being laid behind the vehicle (land vehicle, ship or airplane) or from the side (in the case of some ships) when the ship is up wind and never upwards from the layer. I know from German accounts that tanks couold burst from a smoke screen but in these cases the smoke would had expanded and diffused and exposure would in any case be short. The crew of a layer would be at real risk ejecting the 'smoke' upwards (especially in calm air) as it could settle right back down on them in some concentration.

Rhomboid wrote:

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Perhaps the negative health implications of CSA inhalation would be offset by a reduced risk of acute lead ingestion! The tube immediately aft of the cab on the "odd Mk.V" seems to be angulated forward, possibly for projection above and ahead of the tank. In the photo of a Mk.V* laying a smoke screen, some of the smoke appears to be rising from the roof of the vehicle.

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True but the enemy would still know where to aim - the narrow moving front end of the cloud as it passes across their front (by definition the one thing you can't hide with a smoke screen is the smoke screen). If the smoke screen is actually laid in front of the tank how does the driver see where the blankety blank he's going? Also removing the silencer just helps to announce where the tank is and when its coming. In the case of the MK V* the smoke is generally to the rear of the tank. One could as well say that its coming from the sides as from the top, there could well be an exhaust vortex at the rear of the tank causing some swirl.

In the absence of any other evidence I honestly have difficulty in accepting that this is a smoke laying tank just because the exhaust has been tampered with. Two equally valid alternatives could be:

- It's a test bed for a different engine and the old exhaust system didn't line up. I believe that there were some experiments with using a Liberty engine - perhaps this is one.
- It's a prototype for a supply tank and different exhaust arrangements are being tried to avoid the problem of the hot pipe setting fire to roof loads (which seems to have been a Mk IV supply problem)

I think the answer to this photograph is a lot simpler than suggested so far. There are a several photographs about of tanks being tested for mobility with diff engines prior to having the sponsons fitted, and they tend to have 2-3 sheets of metal or several wooden planks loosely slotted behind that top/bottom angle strip... I imagine to stop mud, water, and other crap slopping into the sides of the tank and interfering with the exposed engine/drive train. However, on every shot I've seen, the sponson aperture is never fully sheeted or planked in the prescribved manner, but has a sheet or a couple of planks missing purely for the respiratory comfort of the poor devils driving the thing. You were better off smoking cigars than being inside a hot, carbon monoxide filled MkI-V tank. Hence why most of the crew often walked behind, had the sponson doors open or rode on top unless there was lead flying about.