Scenes of War - German Tanks

Regarding the world's first tank battle, Thomas Weißbrich of the German Historical Museum (Berlin) reports the following: "It took place on April 24, 1918, between three British Mark IVs and three German A7Vs at Villers-Bretonneux. During the course of the fight two British and one German tank were damaged and put out of action. Although the German infantry managed to take the contested location, Australian troops recaptured it shortly thereafter."

Lacking a sufficiently strong native tank force, captured British tanks were used on the German side. Germany developed its own tank force only very hesitantly. For example the AZV. This type of heavy tank weighed 32 t, was 7.4 m long, had 200 hp and could cover 9 km per hour. The crew comprised 18 men.

No more than 20 examples of this tank type are said to have been built.

There were also armored cars, e.g. the Ehrhardt E-V/4.

The few vehicles produced were in 1916 combined into an armored motorcar MG unit, Panzerkraftwagen MG-Zug 1. Later further similar units were formed. In total, 33 examples of the aforementioned model are said to have been built.

The A5P with all-around drive from the firm Büssing saw service on the Eastern Front.

In total, Germany ultimately had 45 tanks, whereas the Allies had about 4,500 tanks by the end of the war.

This tactical misjudgment certainly contributed significantly to the German defeat.

There was also an A7V tracked cargo truck.