Landships II

Kjell S · Sergeant

German dummy Tank

Centurion · Legend

I've been collecting photos of dummy WW1 tanks but thats a new one. Everybody seems to have produced them for various reasons. The Australians seem to have been the kings of the dummy tank producing many different 'models' of dummy. The Germans did produce some (including a Mk I completed with rear wheels - unless the Tank museum has been at it again

). Many (but not all) of the Allied dummy tanks were used for fund raising but the purpose of the German ones is unclear. All be ones built before 1919 are dummies of British heavies and seem to be very well made with a lot of effort (so unlkely to be artillery targets). I'll try and put an article together idf any one is interested.

Kaiser · Lieutenant-Colonel

A wild guess here: Could it be that the germans used their dummy-tanks to train infantry in anti-armour tactics? I've seen a photo of a swedish wooden mock-up tank being used in this fashion during the 30-ies.

I mean, the few tanks the germans actually had should have been used exclusively as front-line machines, rather than to train infantry...

Just a thought.

Cheers,

/Jochen.

Centurion · Legend

The Germans actually did use their Beutes to train infantry in anti tank methods. A German report from 1918 says that the trainees were expected to spend at least a week with tank crews and tanks so as to remove any awe of the beast. This included tank rides as well as various exercises.

theburk · Captain

Kaiser wrote:

A wild guess here: Could it be that the germans used their dummy-tanks to train infantry in anti-armour tactics? I've seen a photo of a swedish wooden mock-up tank being used in this fashion during the 30-ies.

I mean, the few tanks the germans actually had should have been used exclusively as front-line machines, rather than to train infantry...

Just a thought.

Cheers,

/Jochen.

wouldnt surprise me, it looks like the uniforms in that picture may be earlier war then the capture of large numbers of beute's so it may have been used earlier on before they had enough tanks to experiment with anti-tank tactics, it also could have been used to train gun crews in tank killing.

Ironsides · Legend

Another Dummy.....I believe these pictures were taken at St laurant (Arras)

A placard on the cab of the tank reads roughly the following, translation curtosy of my wife....

�� To show a captured Tank
�� To produce a tank Facility
�� To destroy enemy tanks
�� Stofeld A.O.K 3

Cheers

-- Edited by Ironsides at 14:22, 2007-03-31

-- Edited by Ironsides at 15:03, 2007-03-31

wuestehu · Lieutenant

Here are three pixs of my dummies, all postcards:

http://4600n200e.com/mediac/400_0/media/wooden~tank~ww1.jpg
"Mouzon (Ardennes) after the war, a tank that was used for the training of the cadets of the Artillery Academy installed in the old nunery des Capucins by the Geramns"

http://4600n200e.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_16708/bm51.jpg
Caption says German tanks....go figure?

http://4600n200e.com/mediac/400_0/media/A7V~WOOD.JPG
Two a7v

mad zeppelin · Commander in Chief

Is the A7V dummy picture German or Entente? - It would seem more appropriate for Entente antitank training.

wuestehu · Lieutenant

No idea.
They don't look like the known prototypes of the A7V.
We might find the answer here!

wuestehu · Lieutenant

And another one:

wooden tank

Ironsides · Legend

Hi wuestehu, I think this may be the same dummy in which case judging by the adverts its a british tank bank dummy..... scroll to the bottom of the thread for the image...its very detailed even down to the rivets in the track plates.....

Dummy Thread

Cheers

-- Edited by Ironsides at 10:05, 2008-06-28

Hughbearson · General

Strangely at the time in Germany, building wooden mockup tanks was a sort of hobby for aspiring amature engineers, but you'll've never seen stuff like this before or popularely because Germany was loosing so many resources that it couldn't keep up with industrial demands, and failed to produce any more. Or,�could they�be crude quick-build training mockups?

-- Edited by Hughbearson on Sunday 28th of March 2010 11:12:27 AM