| Subject: Re: German WW I tanks |
Author:
Shawn
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Date Posted: 20:29:11 07/02/02 Tue
In reply to:
Johan Ryheul
's message, "German WW I tanks" on 11:34:19 07/01/02 Mon
Johan,
The only good reference I have on WWI German tanks is "The German A7V Tank and the Captured British Mark IV Tanks of World War I" by Maxwell Hundleby & Rainer Strasheim.
On 22 November 1917, Unteroffizier Fritz Leu captured the first British tank (Mark IV Female) in running order when he snuck out into No Man’s Land near Cambrai, repaired the engine and drove it back to the German lines. Designated F13 “Falcon,” the tank was taken to Cambrai for testing. Shortly afterwards, Hauptmann Borchert set up Tankbergungstelle (Tank Recovery Command) Cambrai to recover and reutilize all captured British tanks from the area. Later, the Belgian town of Charleroi was chosen as the site for the workshop/depot set up to support the “booty” tank detachments then being formed. The former factory Germaine in that town was used as the workshop and proving grounds for “booty” tanks restored to service.
It seems from this book that the Germans made every attempt to send all captured British tanks to Charleroi for refurbishment or to be used as spare parts if they were too badly damaged. There is no specific mention in the book of the Flanders Naval Corps using a captured tank, but it wouldn't be impossible that they might have kept one for local use/testing.
From your research, have you found any instances where the British used tanks against the line held by the Flanders Naval Corps? If this happened late in the war, I doubt the Germans would have gone to all the trouble to ship a few captured tanks all the way from Flanders to Charleroi. If this was the case, it might account for the Flanders Naval Corps having a few tanks.
Regards,
Shawn
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