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ISSUE #2A (0630230715)
VOLUNTARY GUIDES BACKGROUNDER
Number 117 Issue # 2A July 2015
MEPHISTO
Mephisto is the only surviving German A7V Sturmpanzerwagen tank in the world, captured during World War One in July 1918 near the French town of
Villers-Bretonneux
Mephisto or Mephistopheles is a legendary Faustian demon of German literary tradition.
PJH
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MEPHISTO TALKING POINTS
• Mephisto is being exhibited in Canberra as a collaborative project between the Queensland Museum and the Australian War Memorial, commemorating the centenary of the First World War. It will remain on display at the Memorial until early 2017.
• Mephisto or Mephistopheles is a legendary Faustian demon of German literary tradition.
• Mephisto is the only surviving example in the world of 20 A7V Sturmpanzerwagen designed and operated by the Germans in 1917-‐1918.
• The A7V’s were the only tanks produced and operated by Germany in WW1 however they did operate many captured British Mk IV tanks in addition to these.
• Mephisto was first deployed during the Germans successful attack on St Quentin in March 1918.
• In its second battle, it was abandoned by its crew after becoming bogged in a shell crater near Monument Wood, during the attack at Villers-‐Bretonneux on 24 April 1918.
• Subsequently salvaged from no-‐man’s land on 22-‐23 July by 2 British Gun Carrier tanks together with a working party from the Australian 26th Battalion (Queenslanders).
• The A7V had a battle weight of 33 tonnes, was armed with a 57mm gun and 6 x 7.92mm machine guns Its top speeds were 15 km/h on roads and 10 km/h cross-‐country. Crew of 18-‐26.
• In April 1919 Mephisto was shipped from Europe to Australia bound for Sydney however the ship was diverted to Brisbane where it arrived in July 1919.
• The A7V was reasonably successful in combat, despite its poor trench-‐crossing ability. Operations were hampered by its limited (20) production run.
• Replica AV7’s are on display at Bovington, United Kingdom and at Munster, Germany
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MEPHISTO
FOREWORD
This BACKGROUNDER has been developed to provide Guides with some talking points to support the display of the A7V Tank, Mephspito in the ANZAC Hall.
For a variety of reasons when generating this BACKGROUNDER, I was unaware the Peter Judge had earlier published an article on Mephisto in the May Guide Post, my apologies..I have incorporated Peter’s informative article in Section 2 of this document.
The Queensland Museum A7V Mephisto Pocket Book states that Mephisto was shipped from Europe in April 1919 and, “ the tank’s original destination was Sydney, but this was changed to Brisbane enroute- apparently on the instructions of Dr CEW Bean, Australia’s official War Historian.” The Brisbane Courier 19 June 1919 when reporting of the arrival of the tank in Brisbane reported , “… Firstly the Imperial authorities claimed it ,then the Melbourne people wanted it for their city. Finally, largely owing to the strenuous and unceasing efforts of the Queensland Agent – General (Sir Thomas Robinson) and General E. Wisdom,’Mephisto’, is out of the hold of the (SS) Armagh waiting on the wharf to be taken to its ultimate destination, wherever that may be…. .” Who actually organized the Mephisto to be delivered to Brisbane is probably of no consequence but perhaps of some interest to certain Guides.
I have not incorporated any of the images of the restored Mephisto that may be attributed to the Queensland Museum to avoid any copyright issues. In due course I will reissue the BACKGROUNDER with some of my own or AWM images.
There is a useful link to Mephisto in the Australia In the Great War -Western Front Gallery in the Defence of Villers-Bretonneux & The German Flanders Offensive relic case as shown below:
Crisis in Flanders A German tank captured by the 26th Battalion, at Monument Wood, near Villers-Bretonneux, in an operation on 14 July 1918. The photograph was taken after the tank, known as Mephisto, had been salvaged and handed over to the Australian War Records Section for despatch to Australia.E02876
Hope this helps.
Peter Hugonnet Voluntary Guide July 2015
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MEPHISTO
CONTENTS
TALKING POINTS
FOREWORD
Section 1 QUEENSLAND MUSEUM’S MEPHISTO Section 2 AV7 -TANK – AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Section 3 26TH AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY BATTALION
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MEPHISTO
Section 1
QUEENSLAND MUSEUM’S MEPHISTO (Reference: Queensland Museum website June 2015)
The Loan
One of Australia’s most significant war artefacts Mephisto will be temporarily loaned by Queensland Museum to the Australian War Memorial from June 2015 until April 2017, after which it will be returned to go on permanent display in the Queensland Remembers Gallery, which is due to open late 2018 at Queensland Museum Southbank.
Loans of collection objects are common between museums, but loans of objects of this size and weight are not. This loan was made possible due to the Centenary of World War One celebrations.
Mephisto is one of the Queensland Museum Network’s best known and most popular exhibits, and temporarily displaying the vehicle at the Australian War Memorial provides the opportunity for more Australians to experience this war artefact and the stories associated with it.
This loan is a unique opportunity for the Museum to share one of Queensland’s most significant Anzac stories with a national audience.
Upon its return to Queensland, Mephisto will go on permanent display in the new Queensland Remembers Gallery at the Queensland Museum South Bank which was announced in 2014 as part of Queensland’s Anzac Centenary commemoration.
Mephisto
Mephisto is the only surviving German A7V Sturmpanzerwagen tank in the world, captured during World War One in July 1918 near the French town of Villers-Bretonneux.
The tank was salvaged by soldiers from the 26th Battalion, comprised mainly of Queenslanders, who helped recover the abandoned tank and drag it behind allied lines.
It was sent to Australia as a war artefact, arriving in Brisbane in June 1919 where it was towed by two Brisbane City Council steamrollers to the Queensland Museum.
Mephisto is one of the best known objects in the Queensland State collection and has been the subject of significant research and conservation work.
Specification
Weight: 33.4 tonnes (73,700 lbs) Length: 8 metres (26 ft 3in) Width: 3.2m (10ft 5in) Height: 3.3m (10ft 10in) Range: 40km (25 miles) Speed: 16 km/h (10mph) – with ‘tail wind’, Armour: 10 -30mm Crew: 18
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Combat History
The First World War represents one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of humankind. The war witnessed the mechanisation of armed forces across the world. All sides raced to develop new weaponry that would bring some advantage over their opponents, especially in the landlocked stalemates in the trenches of the Western Front. In 1916 the British Army deployed the first tanks at the battle of the Somme. The allied forces continued to use tanks in larger numbers in 1917. The potential of this new weapon was realised perhaps too late by the German Army.
In late 1917 the German Army produced 20 A7V Sturmpanzerwagen’s which were deployed in combat the following year. Crewed with 18 men, the cumbersome war machines clambered into action in April 1918. The German tanks were engaged in actions at such places as Villers-Bretonneux, a small French village that was recaptured by Australian soldiers at the cost of 1,200 lives. The A7V’s were involved in the first tank versus tank action.
The A7V Sturmpanzerwagen known as Mephisto was immobilised in an area close to Villers-Bretonneux called Monument Wood. In July 1918 a detachment of soldiers from the 26th Battalion, mainly comprised of Queenslanders, helped recover the abandoned tank and drag it back to the allied lines. It was sent to Australia as a war trophy, arriving at Norman Wharf in June 1919 where it was towed by two Brisbane City Council steamrollers to the Queensland Museum, then located in Fortitude Valley. It remains the sole surviving A7V tank in the world .
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MEPHISTO
Section 2
AV7 -TANK – AN HISTORICAL PERSEPTIVE
Contents
• AV7 .Wikipedia. June 2015 • Sturmpanzerwagen A7V- German’s only tank in the First World War. Peter Judge .
Guide Post May 2015. • The Brisbane Courier Mail 12 June 1919
1. AV7 (Reference :Wikipedia June 2015)
Ipedia.June 2015)
Place of origin German Empire Service history In service 21 March 1918 – 16 October 1918 Used by German Empire Wars World War I Production history Designer Joseph Vollmer Designed 1916 Number built 20 Specifications Weight 33 t (32 long tons; 36 short tons) battle weight Length 7.34 m (24 ft 1 in) Width 3.1 m (10 ft) Height 3.3 m (10 ft 10 in) Crew 18 Armor front 30 mm, sides 15 mm, rear 20 mm Main armament
57 mm gun 500 rounds
Secondary armament
6 × 7.9 mm machine guns 36,000 rounds
Engine 2 × Daimler-‐Benz 4-‐cylinder 200 hp (149 kW) total
Power/weight 6.5 hp/tonne Transmission Adler gearboxes and differentials Suspension Holt track, vertical springs Operational range
30–80 km (20–50 miles)
Speed 15 km/h (9 mph) on roads 4 mph cross-‐country
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The A7V was a tank introduced by Germany in 1918, during World War I. One hundred chassis were ordered in early 1918, ten to be finished as fighting vehicles with armoured bodies, and the remainder as cargo carriers. The number to be armoured was later increased to 20. They were used in action from March to October of that year, and were the only tanks produced by Germany in World War I to be used in operations.[1]
History
Following the appearance of the first British tanks on the Western Front, the Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement, 7. Abteilung, Verkehrswesen ("General War Department, 7th Branch, Transportation"),[2] was formed in September 1916.
The project to design and build the first German tank was placed under the direction of Joseph Vollmer, a reserve captain and engineer. It was to have a mass of around 30 tons, be capable of crossing ditches up to 1.5 metres wide, have armament including cannon at front and rear as well as several machine-‐guns, and reach a top speed of at least 12 km/h. The running gear was based on the Holt tractor, copied from examples loaned by the Austrian Army. After initial plans were shared with the Army in December 1916 the design was extended to be a universal chassis which could be used as a base for both a tank and unarmoured Überlandwagen ("over-‐land vehicle") cargo carriers.
The first prototype was completed by Daimler-‐Motoren-‐Gesellschaft at Berlin-‐Marienfelde and tested on 30 April 1917. A wooden mockup of a final version was completed in May 1917 and demonstrated in Mainz with 10 tons of ballast to simulate armour. During final design the rear-‐facing cannon was removed and the number of machine-‐guns was increased to six. The first pre-‐production A7V was produced in September 1917, followed by the first production model in October 1917. The tanks were given to Assault Tank Units 1 and 2, founded on 20 September 1917, each with five officers and 109 NCOs and soldiers.[3]
Naming
The tank's name was derived from that of its parent organization, Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement, 7. Abteilung, Verkehrswesen.[1] In German the tank was called Sturmpanzerwagen, (roughly "armoured assault vehicle").
Design
The A7V was 7.34 metres (24.1 ft) long, 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide, and the maximum height was 3.3 metres (11 ft). The tank had 20 mm of steel plate at the sides, 30 mm at the front and 10 mm for the roof;[3] however the steel was not hardened armour plate, which reduced its effectiveness. It was thick enough to stop machine-‐gun and rifle fire, but not larger calibres. This offered protection comparable to the thinner armour of other tanks of the period, which used hardened steel.
The crew normally consisted of up to seventeen soldiers and one officer: commander (officer, typically a lieutenant), driver, mechanic, mechanic/signaller, twelve infantrymen (six machine gunners, six loaders), and two artillerymen (main gunner and load
Armament
The A7V was armed with six 7.92 mm MG08 machine guns and a 5.7 cm Maxim-‐Nordenfelt cannon mounted at the front. Some of these cannons were of British manufacture and had been captured in Belgium early in the war; others were captured in Russia in 1918 and appear to have included some Russian-‐made copies.
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Ammunition
Between forty and sixty cartridge belts, each of 250 rounds, were carried; as well as 180 shells for the main gun, split 90:54:36 between canister, antitank, and explosive. These were the official figures — up to 300 rounds for the main gun were stowed for combat.
The "female" variant had two more machine guns in place of the main gun. It is believed that only chassis number 501 saw combat as a female before being converted to accommodate the 5.7 cm gun.[3]
Propulsion
Power came from two centrally mounted Daimler 4-‐cylinder petrol engines delivering 75 kW (101 hp) each; the A7V carried 500 litres (110 imp gal) of fuel. The top speed was about 15 kilometres per hour (9.3 mph) on roads and 5 kilometres per hour (3.1 mph) across country. The 24 wheel suspension was individually sprung—an advantage over the unsprung British tanks.
Compared to that of other World War I tanks, the road speed was quite high, but the A7V had very poor off-‐road capability and a high centre of gravity, which made it prone to getting stuck or overturning on steep slopes. The large overhang at the front and the low ground clearance meant trenches or very muddy areas were impassable. The driver's view of the terrain directly in front of the tank was obscured by the vehicle's hull, which meant there was a blind spot of about 10 metres. However, on open terrain the A7V could be used to some success, and offered more firepower than the armoured cars that were available. Power-‐to-‐weight ratio was 5.1 kW/ton(6.8 hp/ton), trench crossing: 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in), ground clearance: 190 to 400 mm (7.5 to 15.7 in).
Combat history
St. Quentin Canal
The A7V was first used in combat on 21 March 1918. Five tanks of Abteilung I under the command of Hauptmann Greiff were deployed north of the St. Quentin Canal. Three of the A7Vs suffered mechanical failures before they entered combat; the remaining pair helped stop a minor British
breakthrough in the area, but otherwise saw little combat that day.
A7V TANK AT ROYE ON 21 MARCH 1918
Villers-Bretonneux
A CAPTURED GERMAN TANK AT SALEUX, MAY 1918
The first tank against tank combat in history took place on 24 April 1918 when three A7Vs (including chassis number 561, known as "Nixe") taking part in an attack with infantry incidentally met three Mark IVs (two female machine gun-‐armed tanks and one male with two 6-‐pounder guns) near Villers-‐Bretonneux. During the battle tanks
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on both sides were damaged. According to the lead tank commander, Second Lieutenant Frank Mitchell, the female Mk IVs fell back after being damaged by armour-‐piercing bullets. They were unable to damage the A7Vs with their own machine guns. Mitchell then attacked the lead German tank, commanded by Second Lieutenant Wilhelm Biltz,[4] with the 6-‐pounders of his own tank and knocked it out. He hit it three times, and killed five of the crew when they bailed out. He then went on to rout some infantry with case shot. The two remaining A7Vs in turn withdrew. As Mitchell's tank withdrew from action, seven Whippet tanks also engaged the infantry. Four of these were knocked out in the battle, and it is unclear if any of them engaged the retreating German tanks. Mitchell's tank lost a track towards the end of the battle from a mortar shell and was abandoned. The damaged A7V was later recovered by German forces.
Three detachments (Abteilungen) of five tanks each were at Villers-‐Bretonneux at the head of the four German divisions committed over a 4-‐mile front. One tank refused to start, but the fourteen that saw action achieved some success, and the British recorded that their lines were broken by the tanks. Two A7Vs toppled over into holes, and some encountered engine or armament troubles.
After a counterattack, three fell into Allied hands. One was unusable and scrapped, one was used later for shell testing by the French, and the third was eventually recovered by Australian troops.
BY PJH:
1.Volume # 5 of the Official History p 632n:Two German tanks were eventually captured: (1) Elfriede in the quarry south west of the Monument, salved by the French on May 15; (2) Mephisto, in the orchard east of Monument Farm, captured by the 26th Battalion July 14th.
2. Volume V1 of the Official History p366n: See Note on p357. It (Mephisto) had been disabled on April 24 ( see V P 552 ,632n. It was now salved on the night of July 22 by British tanks in conjunction with a working party of Queenslanders. See Vol X11 Plate 467.
Other actions
In May, A7Vs used in an attack on the French near Soissons, during the Third Battle of the Aisne were unable to cross a wide trench known as the "Dardanelles".[5]
On 15 July, at Rheims (during the Second Battle of the Marne), the Germans put eight A7Vs and twenty captured Mk IVs against the French lines. Although 10 of the Mk IVs were lost in this action, no A7Vs were lost.
The final use in World War I of A7Vs was in a small but successful action on 11 October 1918, near Iwuy.
Assessment
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, the 120-‐ton K-‐Wagen, and the light LK I or LK II).
The extremely limited production of twenty made a very minor contribution, and most of the tanks (about 50 in total) that were fielded in action by Germany in World War I were captured British Mark IV tanks (Beutepanzer).[6] In contrast, the French had produced over 3,600 of their light Renault FT, the most numerous tank of World War I, and the British over 2,500 of their heavy Mark I to V* tanks.
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After the war
Two lightly armoured vehicles broadly resembling the A7V, one of which was named "Hedi", were used by a Freikorps tank unit to quell civil unrest in Berlin in 1919, and were constructed after the war, using the chassis from Überlandwagens and armed with four MG08/15 machine guns.[7]
Some sources say that several A7Vs were handed over by France to Polish forces and used during the Russo-‐Polish war of 1920.[8] However, the fate of each A7V that saw service in WWI is known, and there is no known official record or photographic evidence of A7Vs in Polish service.[9][10]
The design of the A7V is featured on the tank badge of 1921, awarded to commemorate service in the German Panzer forces of 1918.
A7V chassis listing
Chassis number
Tank name(s) Notes Fate
501 Gretchen Armed only with machine guns until fitted with 57-‐mm cannon in late 1918
Abandoned at Sainte-‐Cécile (Belgium), believed scrapped in situ by Allies, 1919
503* Faust, Kronprinz Wilhelm, Wilhelm, Heiland
Possibly named König Wilhelm at one point
Scrapped by Germans in October 1918
504 Schnuck Lost at Fremicourt, 31 August 1918. Captured by New Zealand Division.
Displayed in London on Horse Guards Parade[11] 1918/19. Given to the Imperial War Museum in 1919 but disposed of in 1922 with only the main gun kept.[12]
505 Baden I, Prinz August Wilhelm, August Wilhelm
Scrapped by the Allies in 1919
506 Mephisto Lost at Villers-Bretonneux, 24 April 1918; recovered by Australian and British troops in July; now at Workshops Rail Museum at North Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.[13]
507 Cyklop, Prinz Eitel Friedrich, Eitel Friedrich, Imperator
Briefly in hands of Freikorps at Lankwitz after Armistice. Scrapped in 1919
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525 Siegfried Scrapped by the Allies in 1919
526 Alter Fritz Scrapped by Germans, 1 June 1918
527 Lotti Lost at Fort de la Pompelle, Rheims on 1 June 1918
528 Hagen Lost at Fremicourt, 31 August 1918; captured by British troops and displayed on Horse Guards Parade; scrapped in 1919
529 Nixe II Replaced 561 Nixe Lost at Rheims, 31 May 1918; recovered by Americans and displayed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds Museum; scrapped in 1942
540 Scrapped by the Allies in 1919.
541 Scrapped by the Allies in 1919
542 Elfriede Lost at Villers-‐Bretonneux, 24 April 1918; displayed at Place de la Concorde in Paris in late 1918
543 Bulle, Prinz Adalbert, Adalbert
Tank was renamed twice, first around April/May 1918 and again in late May 1918
Scrapped by the Allies in 1919
560 Lost at Iwuy, 11 October 1918
561 Nixe Disabled, destroyed on battlefield by Germans, 24 April 1918
562 Herkules Scrapped by Germans, after 31 August 1918
563 Wotan Scrapped by the Allies in 1919; a replica A7V was built in the late 1980s, based largely on Mephisto but named "Wotan". It is now in the Deutsches Panzermuseum in Munster, Germany.
564 Prinz Oskar, Oskar Scrapped by the Allies in 1919
• 502 became a Geländewagen, and was not fitted with armour.
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Surviving example
The only surviving A7V is Mephisto, which was abandoned by its crew during the Battle of Villers-‐Bretonneux in April 1918. It was recovered three months later by Australian and British troops, and taken to Australia in 1919 as a trophy. The vehicle stood in the open for many years until being moved into the Queensland Museum in 1986. It was damaged by flood-‐water in 2011, and taken for restoration to the Workshops Rail Museum, North Ipswich, Queensland, Australia, where it remains.
Replicas
THE BOVINGTON TANK MUSEUM'S A7V REPLICA DURING A PUBLIC DISPLAY (JUNE 2009)
A running replica was built in 2009 by Bob Grundy of British Military Vehicles, Wigan, U.K., a company that specialises in the restoration of old military vehicles. The replica is constructed of plywood and angle iron, using the engine, transmission, and tracks from two Fordson County Crawlers -‐ tracked agricultural vehicles -‐
and is painted to represent A7V number 504, Schnuck. It was purchased by the Bovington Tank Museum in November 2012. It is on display inside the Museum, and takes part in outdoor displays alongside the Museum's replica British Mark IV that appears in the film "War Horse.".[14]
STURMPANZERWAGEN A7V REPLIKN DISPLAY AT THE DEUTSCHES PANZERMUSEUM MUNSTER , GERMANY.
A static replica is in the Deutsches Panzermuseum in Munster. It is named Wotan, but is largely based on the surviving example, Mephisto.
A mobile mock-‐up of an A7V appears in the East German feature film "Trotz Alledem" (1972), the story of Karl Liebknecht and the 1919 Spartacist rising in Berlin.[15]
A mobile mock-‐up is among the vehicles at the Milovice Tankodrome in the Czech Republic.[16]
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2. Sturmpanzerwagen A7V
Germany’s only tank in the First World War
he British tanks that first came into action in September 1916 were a rude shock not only for the soldiers opposing them but also for the German High Command, which immediately initiated
planning for its own armoured fighting vehicles. The plans were approved just six weeks later, and a prototype (but with only a wooden superstructure!) was rolled out in January 1917.
The Daimler factory in Berlin was entrusted with the project, giving it the code name ‘A7V’, the abbreviated title of the defence unit directing all army transport. (Sturmpanzerwagen means ‘Armoured attack vehicle’.) The contract was for 100 of these vehicles, initially only ten of which were to be armoured. However, after the successful test of the wooden prototype, this was increased to 20. The chassis of the remainder were to be used for ‘Überlandwagen’, ‘cross-country cargo carriers’. Two armoured units were formed, each to have just five of the new tanks, leaving the other 10 in reserve.
The tank was room-sized: 7.35 m long, 3.06 m wide and 3.35 m high, weighing 30 tonnes. It had 30 mm of steel plate at the front, 15 mm at the sides and 6 mm for the roof. This was not hardened steel, so that while it was thick enough to stop machine-gun and rifle fire, it was useless against larger calibres. It was armed with six 7.92 mm MG08 machine guns (only a fraction larger than .303 in) and a 5.7 cm Maxim-Nordenfelt cannon mounted at the front. Its crew numbered from 16 to 26, typically comprising an officer and seventeen soldiers: commander (generally a lieutenant), driver, mechanic, mechanic/signaller, twelve infantrymen (six machine gunners, six loaders), and two artillerymen (main gunner and loader).
The chassis was based on an American Holt caterpillar tractor design, with a pair of Daimler engines fuelled by a petrol-benzene mixture. Top speed was 16 km/h on roads and 4–8 km/h off-road. The specification called for it to cross trenches, but once in the field it was soon found to be in trouble with soft mud, shell-holes and trenches over 2 metres across; barbed wire entangled its caterpillar drive, or the drive chains snapped. It also suffered from overheating, problems with its 3-speed gearbox and carburettor, and various other manufacturing defects. In spite of all this, the German troops loved it, and each of the 20 tanks had a name: Gretchen, Schnuck (‘Sweetheart’), Kronprinz Wilhelm, Lotti, Nixe, Hercules, Wotan and so on; the War Memorial’s A7V, shown in the photo taken after its capture, was called Mephisto. The history and ultimate fate of each of the 20 is known in detail.
Germany’s limited supplies of raw materials were already fully committed for building submarines and planes, so that no more than 20 A7Vs were ever made. They entered service on 22 March 1918, far too late in the war to affect the outcome. Together with about 35 battle-worthy re-
T
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badged British Mark IV tanks (from a total of 170 captured by the Germans), they faced around 6000 allied tanks! Ultimately all the A7Vs were destroyed except ours, which remains the sole surviving A7V tank in the world. Mephisto survived because on 24 April 1918 it toppled into a shell-hole near Villers-Bretonneux and was abandoned by its crew. The Queensland Museum’s website tells us that, three months later, ‘In July 1918 a detachment of soldiers from the 26th Battalion, mainly comprising Queenslanders, helped recover the abandoned tank and dragged it back to the allied lines. It was sent to Australia as a war trophy, arriving at Norman Wharf, Brisbane, in June 1919, from where it was towed by two Brisbane City Council steamrollers to the Queensland Museum, then located in Fortitude Valley.’
As Gerard said at CT, we are borrowing it while the Queensland Museum is undergoing construction work, and it will be on display in ANZAC Hall from about July.
Peter Judge
Source: website of the German Panzermuseum, Essen <http://wp.panzermuseum.org/sturmpanzerwagen-a7v>
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The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Thursday 12 June 1919, page 7
3.
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National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article20368244
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BACKGROUNDER # 117
MEPHISTO
Section 3
26TH AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY BATTALION (Reference: AWM website June 2015)
4 AUGUST 1918:THE 5TH TANK BRIGADE DEMONSTRATION GROUND, VAUX-EN-AMIENOIS, FRANCE, AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS INSPECT MEPHISTO, A GERMAN A7V TANK. AFTER BEING BOGGED AND ABANDONED ON THE BATTLEFIELD IT WAS RECOVERED ON 14 JULY 1918 BY THE 26TH BATTALION AND A BRITISH ROYAL ARMOURED CORPS UNIT. AFTER HAVING BEEN RECOVERED FROM THE BATTLEFIELD AND STUDIED BY THE ALLIES, MEPHISTO WAS HANDED OVER TO THE AUSTRALIAN WAR RECORDS SECTION FOR DESPATCH TO AUSTRALIA.
The 26th Battalion was raised at Enoggera, Queensland, in April 1915 from recruits enlisted in Queensland and Tasmania, and formed part of the 7th Brigade. It left Australia in July, and, after training in Egypt, landed at Gallipoli on 12 September. At Gallipoli, the 26th played a purely defensive role and at various times was responsible for the defence of Courtney's and Steele's Posts, and Russell's Top. It withdrew from the peninsula on 12 December.
After another stint in Egypt, the 7th Brigade proceeded to France as part of the 2nd Australian Division in March 1916 In concert with the 28th Battalion, the 26th mounted the first trench raid undertaken by Australian troops on the Western Front on 6 June. The Battalion fought in its first major battle around Pozieres between 28 July and 7 August. After a short spell in Belgium, the 2nd Division came south in October to attack again in the Somme Valley. The 26th Battalion took part in two attacks to the east of Flers, both of which floundered in mud and slush.
In early 1917, the 26th Battalion joined the follow-up of the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line and attacked at Warlencourt (1-2 March) and Lagincourt (26 March). For his valorous actions at Lagincourt, Captain Percy Cherry was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. On 3 May, the Battalion was also involved in the second attempt to breach the Hindenburg Line defences around
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Bullecourt. Later that year the focus of the AIF's operations switched to Belgium. There, the 26th battalion fought in the battle of Menin Road on 20 September, and participated in the capture of Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October.
Like most AIF battalions, the 26th fought to turn back the German spring offensive in April 1918, and in the lull that followed mounted "peaceful penetration" operations to snatch portions of the German front line. In one such operation in Monument Wood on 14 July the 26th Battalion captured the first German tank to fall into Allied hands - No. 506 "Mephisto". In another, on 17 July, Lieutenant Albert Borrella was awarded the Victoria Cross. Later in the year the 26th participated in the great offensive that began on 8 August, its most notable engagement being an attack east of Mont St Quentin on 2 September. The Battalion's last action of the war was the capture of Lormisset, part of the operation to breach the Beaurevoir Line, on 3 October 1918. The 26th Battalion was disbanded in May 1919.
4.AUGUST 1914: AN ENEMY TANK CAPTURED BY THE 26TH BATTALION AT MONUMENT WOOD, NEAR VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, FRANCE, ON JULY 14TH, 1918. AN ENEMY ARTIST HAD PAIINTED A SCENE ON THE FRONT OF THE TANK REPRESENTING A GERMAN TANK CRUSHING A BRITISH LION. A BRITISH ARTIST RETALIATED,AS THE PICTURE SHOWS, BY VERSING THE IDEA" (OFFICIAL CAPTION). ON THE FRONT LEFT OF THE TANK, AN UNKNOWN GERMAN ARTIST HAD PAINTED A FIGURE PRESENTING A LEGENDARY FAUSTIAN DEMON KNOWN AS ‘MEPHISTO’ (SHORT FOR MEPHISTOPHELES) CARRYING AWAY A BRITISH TANK UNDER HIS LEFT ARM. AFTER RECOVERY, AN UNKNOWN ALLIED ARTIST PAINTED A LARGE LION WEARING A SYMBOLIC BRITISH ROYAL CROWN. UNDER ITS RIGHT PAW, IS AN A7V TANK.
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THREE GERMAN TANKS AND THEIR CREWS. COPIED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN FROM A GERMAN OFFICER AT HARBONNIERES, AUGUST 1918." THREE A7V TANKS D THEIR CREWS, FROM LEFT TO RIGHT ‘BADEN I’, ‘CYKLOP’ AND ‘GRETCHEN’. AFTER THE SECOND BATTLE OF VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, MEPHISTO’S TANK UNIT ‘ABTEILUNG REGROUPED AT THE NEARBY TOWN OF POZIERES. THE GERMAN USE OF A7V TANKS AT VILLERS-BRETONNEUX WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE TANK ATTACK OF THE WAR.
JULY 1918:AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER CLIMBS ON MEPHISTO, A GERMAN A7V TANK WHICH WAS DISABLED DURING AN ATTACK ON BRITISH UNITS AT MONUMENT WOOD, SOUTH OF VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, ON 24 APRIL 1918. AFTER BEING BOGGED AND ABANDONED ON THE BATTLEFIELD IT WAS RECOVERED ON 14 JULY 1918 BY THE 26TH BATTALION AND A BRITISH ROYAL ARMOURED CORPS UNIT. EVIDENCE OF THIS RECOVERY CAN BE SEEN BY THE STILL ATTACHED METAL TOW CABLES ATTACHED TO THE FRONT OF THE MEPHISTO AND LOOPED AROUND THE NORDENFELT 57 MM GUN. THE HAND WRITTEN SIGNS ON THE SIDE OF THE TANKREAD: "CAPTURED BY 26TH BATT, A.I.F." AND SALVED BY 1ST G C COY 5TH BDE TANKS." (SEE ALSO P01445.001)
