Aussies talk about Mephisto

[John Wagenseil]

Mephisto: the only remaining WW1 German A7V tank - ABC Conversations with Richard Fidler

[herky]

is this the beastie in question

[CharlieC]

The story of Mephisto's recovery is mostly rubbish. The tank was recovered by the 1st Gun Carrier Company, British Army using labour and support supplied by the 26th Battalion AIF. The local Australian command had requested the tank's recovery. The legend of Australian troops recovering the tank seems to have become embedded. It's always interesting to see the reaction of the legend purveyors when you point out the A7V tank weighed 26 tons and it's a bit hard to see an understrength battalion of infantry dragging the tank behind the Allied lines at night under shell fire and gas attack.

More at: Seizure of "Mephisto." - Landships WW1 Forum

The image on the cover of that A7V book isn't Mephisto - the gun is a "sockel" mount. #506 "Mephisto" was supposed to be a female (all MG tank) but was rearmed before completion with a front 57mm Nordenfeld gun in an improvised trestle mount known as a bocklafette mount.

Regards,

Charlie

[herky]

Originally Posted by CharlieC

The story of Mephisto's recovery is mostly rubbish. The tank was recovered by the 1st Gun Carrier Company, British Army using labour and support supplied by the 26th Battalion AIF. The local Australian command had requested the tank's recovery. The legend of Australian troops recovering the tank seems to have become embedded. It's always interesting to see the reaction of the legend purveyors when you point out the A7V tank weighed 26 tons and it's a bit hard to see an understrength battalion of infantry dragging the tank behind the Allied lines at night under shell fire and gas attack.

More at: Seizure of "Mephisto." - Landships WW1 Forum

The image on the cover of that A7V book isn't Mephisto - the gun is a "sockel" mount. #506 "Mephisto" was supposed to be a female (all MG tank) but was rearmed before completion with a front 57mm Nordenfeld gun in an improvised trestle mount known as a bocklafette mount.

Regards,

Charlie

ok thought it looked similar

[CharlieC]

I should have posted images of the front of Mephisto. The images are from the Queensland Museum in Brisbane when the tank was behind glass before the flood in 2011.

Regards,

Charlie

[John Wagenseil]

Originally Posted by CharlieC

The story of Mephisto's recovery is mostly rubbish. The tank was recovered by the 1st Gun Carrier Company, British Army using labour and support supplied by the 26th Battalion AIF. The local Australian command had requested the tank's recovery. The legend of Australian troops recovering the tank seems to have become embedded. It's always interesting to see the reaction of the legend purveyors when you point out the A7V tank weighed 26 tons and it's a bit hard to see an understrength battalion of infantry dragging the tank behind the Allied lines at night under shell fire and gas attack.

More at: Seizure of "Mephisto." - Landships WW1 Forum

The image on the cover of that A7V book isn't Mephisto - the gun is a "sockel" mount. #506 "Mephisto" was supposed to be a female (all MG tank) but was rearmed before completion with a front 57mm Nordenfeld gun in an improvised trestle mount known as a bocklafette mount.

Regards,

Charlie

The last 100 yards of Mephisto's journey to the Queensland Museum is well documented, there is a picture of Mephisto being pulled through the Museum gates by a steam roller. This would make a nice subject to model, showing the contrast between Victorian era steam powered construction machinery and a German internal combustion engine powered infernal machine.
The Landships 2 thread Charlie linked to says Mephisto was dragged out of non man's land by a Mark IV female, but still leaves a bit of uncertainty by mentioning supply tanks of both French and English origin. I will have to wait until more information turns up before attempting that diorama.

[CharlieC]

Originally Posted by John Wagenseil

The last 100 yards of Mephisto's journey to the Queensland Museum is well documented, there is a picture of Mephisto being pulled through the Museum gates by a steam roller. This would make a nice subject to model, showing the contrast between Victorian era steam powered construction machinery and a German internal combustion engine powered infernal machine.
The Landships 2 thread Charlie linked to says Mephisto was dragged out of non man's land by a Mark IV female, but still leaves a bit of uncertainty by mentioning supply tanks of both French and English origin. I will have to wait until more information turns up before attempting that diorama.

Agreed - Mephisto being towed into the museum would be a nice diorama.

The forum thread gets a bit muddled - the A7V tow by a pair of Mark IV females is referring to the recovery of #524 "Elfriede". The type of vehicle that recovered Mephisto isn't known. The 1st GC Co. had both Mark I Gun Carriers and Mark IV Supply tanks on strength.

Regards,

Charlie