[RAF209_Benge]

A7V - Combat History

The A7V was first used in combat on March 21, 1918. It was deployed north of the St.Quentin Canal. The A7Vs helped stop a minor British breakthrough in the area, but otherwise saw little combat that day.

The first tank vs. tank fight in history took place on the April 24, 1918 when four A7Vs (including chassis number 561, known as "Nixe") taking part in an attack with infantry incidentally met three Mark IVs (two Female machine gun tanks and one Male with 6 pounder guns) near Villers-Bretonneux. During the battle tanks on both sides were damaged. According to the lead tank commander, 2nd Lt F. Mitchell, the machine gun armed Female Mk IVs fell back, unable to damage the A7Vs with their own machine guns. Mitchell then attacked the lead German tank with the 6 pounders of his own tank knocking it out, and killing five of the crew. The rest of the crew of that tank bailed out. He then went on to rout some infantry with case shot. Some Whippet tanks also engaged the infantry. The two remaining A7Vs in turn withdrew. The British tank lost a track towards the end from a mortar shell and was abandoned. The A7V was later recovered by German forces.

All the A7Vs available had been put into action that day with limited results; two toppled over into holes, some encountered engine or armament troubles. After a counterattack three ended up in Allied hands. One was unusable and scrapped, one used for shell testing by the French and the third taken by the Australians.

The A7V was not considered a success and other designs were planned by Germany, however the end of the war meant none of the other tanks in development, or planned ones, would be finished (such as the Oberschlesien, K-Wagen, and LK series). The A7Vs were last used in October 1918; a number were scrapped before the war ended in November.

The extremely limited production of twenty made their contribution very limited, and most tanks (less then a hundred) that were fielded by Germany in WWI were captured French or British tanks (Beutepanzer). The French had produced over 3,600 of their FT-17, the most produced tank of WWI, and the British over 2,500 of their Mark I to V.

The captured A7V "Mephisto" is in the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, Australia and a replica of the A7V "Wotan" is in the German tank museum at Munster.

A7V - A7V Chassis Listing
501 Gretchen: scrapped by the Allies in 1919 (Female).
502: Scrapped by Germans in October 1918.
503: Scrapped by Germans in October 1918.
504 Schnuck: lost at Fremicourt 31 August 1918 (Female).
505 Baden I: scrapped by the Allies in 1919.
506 Mephisto: lost at Villers-Bretonneux 24 April 1918, recovered by Australians, now in Queensland Museum in Brisbane, Australia.
507 Cyklop: scrapped by the Allies in 1919.
525 Siegfried: scrapped by the Allies in 1919.
526: Scrapped by Germans in 1 June 1918.
527 Lotti: lost at Pompelle Fort 1 June 1918.
528 Hagen: lost at Fremicourt 31 August 1918.
529 Nixe 2: lost at Remis 31 May 1918, recovered by Americans and scrapped at Aberdeen Proving Grounds Museum in 1942.
540 Heiland: scrapped by the Allies in 1919.
541: Scrapped by the Allies in 1919.
542 Elfriede: lost at Villers-Bretonneux 24 April 1918
543 Hagen, Adalbert,König Wilhelm: scrapped by the Allies in 1919.
560 Alter Fritz: lost at Iwuy 11 October 1918.
561 Nixe: scrapped by Germans 24 April 1918.
562 Herkules: scrapped by Germans after 31 August 1918.
563 Wotan: scrapped by the Allies in 1919.
564: Scrapped by the Allies in 1919.

[Deutschmark]

Any photo info on this Benge?


Deutschmark

[Planemad]

A7V 542 "Elfriede"

Tank 542 "Elfriede" (commanded by Lt. Stein) strayed too far to the north and ended up as "Mephisto" had, tipped over, "Elfriede" in a sand pit as opposed to a shell hole. Lt. Stein was killed in action defending the tank. Tank 561 "Nixe" also strayed too far north. As the tank neared Cachy thru the fog, it came face to face with three British tanks, two Mark IV "Females" and one Mark IV "Male" belonging to the 1st. Section, 1st. Battalion. In the fire fight which resulted, the "Females" were heavily damaged and were forced to leave the field, their machine gun armament useless against the A7V. "Nixe" scored a hit against the "Male", disabling it. The crew of "Nixe" thought they had silenced the "Male" when, with its 25th. round, penetrated the A7V's armor at the right, front port, taking out the gun crew. "Nixe's" commander ordered the evacuation of the tank after which, it took two more hits to the right flank. As it would have it, the engines of "Nixe" were still running and, after the "Male" had been silenced by a mine thrower (a small trench mortar), the crew boarded "Nixe" and moved out again, only to have the engines seize after 2 klicks of travel.



Planemad

[Planemad]

A7V 527 "Lotti"

Tank 527 "Lotti" (commanded by Lt. Bergemann) became stuck in the mud and received a direct artillery hit to the "turret". "Lotti" had already been abandoned before the hit. Tank 526 also ended up bogged down and was shot up so badly it was written off. The last tank, Tank 560 "Alter Fritz", disengaged from the attack and retreated. Both Tank 526 and "Lotti" were left where they were stopped until 1921, when they were finally removed from the battlefield and scrapped.

Planemad

[Planemad]

Lot of information HERE on all the tanks in Benge's list

Planemad

[Jambo]

You may have a look here too: A7V 8)

And there:
Landships

P.S. Found another source: A7V

[RAF209_Benge]

I will try to find a map of this battle, I know I have seen one somewheres...

Now this was the first Tank vs Tank battle but not the first Armor vs Armor battle...that took place in late August or Early Sept ember of 1914 between the 1st RNAS Armored Car Squadron and a German Armored Car squadron.

The Russians, the Germans, and the Austro Hungarians fought many battles in Armored car vs Armoured Car situations...the Austin-Putilov was quite the attack vehicle even more so than the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost or the Renault was on the Western Front.

here is a where you can see both Brit, Russian, Italian, and German Armoured Cars.

http://www.wio.ru/tank/ww1ba.htm