Post by lordroel on Dec 29, 2019 12:14:20 GMT
What if: German tanks of the Great War
How would the Great War have looked like if the Germans manged to field their own tanks in larger numbers together with the Beutepanzers (captured British ore French tanks) already in service.
History of the Beutepanzers
The German Army only operated 20 Sturmpanzerwagen A7Vs and it deployed more captured British tanks on the battlefield than German-built ones. They were known as beute-tanks or Beutepanzern – trophy tanks. As most of the captured tanks were British Mark IV heavy tanks they were also referred to as schwerer-Kampfwagen (beute).
By the beginning of summer 1918 the Germans had recovered a large number of abandoned Allied tanks. After the successes of the spring offensive in 1918 and the recapturing of most of the November 1917 Cambrai battlefield, more than 300 damaged tanks were now situated behind German lines.
The Bayerischer Armee-Kraftwagen-Park (BAKP 20, the Bavarian Army-Motor-Park) special recovery units went out on to the old battlefields with the objective of salvaging as many Allied tanks and parts as was possible and bringing them to their tank repair workshops in Monceau-sur-Sambre, Marchienne-au-Pont and Roux, all near Charleroi. It was here that the tanks were refurbished and prepared to fight for their new masters. This unit, commanded by Oberst Meyer, had been operational at this location since 12 November 1917 after it transferred from the Eastern Front following the Russian Revolution and the subsequent ceasefire. It was at full capacity by February 1917 and more than 100 captured tanks are known to have been repaired.
Apart from changes made to the weaponry of the captured tanks, very little was altered apart from a large escape hatch being fitted to the driver’s cabin. This feature later appeared on the British-operated Mark V tank. (No British Mark V tanks were ever used as Beutepanzern during the war.)
The Germans had access to a supply of Belgian 5.7cm quick-firing Maxim Nordenfelt Model 1888 guns and ammunition. Supplies of British 6-pounder ammunition were very hard to obtain so the guns on the Male tanks were replaced. The 1888 could fire two types of rounds: a 2.7kg shell with a range of 2.7km and a grapeshot shell used by the Navy that could project 196 lead balls against infantry up to a range of 300m. The German Army called these guns ‘Belg 5.7cm K’.
Grapeshot was recorded being fired at British infantry from a Belgian 5.7cm-armed Mark IV Male Beutepanzer belonging to Abteilung 16 as it joined a German counter-attack near Séranvillers on 8 October 1918. It avoided the British tanks and withdrew once it had used up all its ammunition. Its Lewis guns were damaged and five of the tank crew wounded.
It had been accompanied by two other machine gun-only Female tanks but they were both knocked out by 6-pounder shells and set on fire during a tank battle with two British Mark IV Males, L45 and L49, from ‘C’ Company, 12th Tank Battalion, Tank Corps.
On some vehicles Mauser 13mm Tankgewehr (anti-tank rifles) replaced machine guns. Produced after May 1918, the Mauser was a single shot bolt-action rifle that fired armour-piercing, hardened steel-cored, 13mm semi-rimmed cartridges. Each round had an initial velocity of 785m/s (2,580 ft/s) and could penetrate 22mm armour plate at 100m.
Each Beutepanzer appears to have had its own different camouflage pattern. There does not seem to be any standardisation, although some of them were painted very similarly to the German-built A7V tanks. This may have been because these tanks were also serviced at this location. Some of the workshops were based in Belgian railway facilities. It has been suggested that the paints used by Belgian railway engineers were commandeered by the Germans and used to paint the A7V tanks as well as the captured Allied tanks.
The colours used for the Belgian railway rolling stock were cream/ivory, red/brown and dark green. The Germans would have had access to their Army-standard feldgrau grey paint. A large German Army black cross, called a ‘Bundeswehr Schwarzes Kreuz’, which was a type of Christian cross with arms that narrowed in the centre and had a white border, was painted on the captured tanks to identify the fact they were under new management. The design of the German identification black cross changed in the second half of 1918 to the ‘Balkenkreuz’ (beam or bar cross). Some of the later repaired Beutepanzern had this newer cross design painted on their sides instead.
The British tanks in 1918 were now painted with large white-red-white strips on their sides and roofs so they could be distinguished from German-operated Mark IVs.
When a Beutepanzer suffered a mechanical breakdown or ditched on the battlefield they were very rarely recovered; after the weapons were removed the tank was abandoned and blown up. A newly repaired one from the Charleroi workshops was sent to the front to fill the gap in the Abeteilung (battalion) allotted vehicle strength. As time went on and losses increased, BAKP 20 could not keep up with the demand for newly repaired captured tanks.
A small number of other captured Allied tanks were used by the Germans. Between ten and fifteen medium Mark A Whippets were captured but only two were repaired to operational condition and painted with Bundeswehr Schwarzes Kreuz crosses. One of them was sent to Abteilung 13 for the German tank crews to use. Whippets that were beyond repair were still sent to the Abeteilungs so they could inspect them and be familiar with the enemy’s tanks. There are no records of a Whippet Beutepanzer being used in action during the war.
Most of the captured French tanks were used for evaluation and not operationally. There is a First World War photograph of a Renault FT, known as the leichten Kampfwagen FT-17 Renault ‘Hargneuse III’, parked next to a Beutepanzer Mark IV but there is no evidence to suggest it was used in action. There are lots of photographs of Renault FTs with black Balkenkreuz crosses on them but nearly all these were taken during the Second World War when they were used for internal security work in occupied countries.
Beutepanzer Mark IV Male
By the beginning of the summer in 1918 the Germans had recovered a large number of abandoned Allied tanks. After the successes of the Spring Offensive in 1918 and the recapturing of most of the November 1917 Cambrai battlefield, over 300 damaged tanks were now situated behind German lines. Over 100 British Mark IV tanks were refurbished and prepared to fight for their new masters. They were called Beutepanzers (Trophy tanks).
BeutepanzerWagen IV(b) female
Large German Army black crosses, a type of Christian cross with arms that narrow in the centre and have a white border called a ‘Bundeswehr Schwarzes Kreuz’ were painted on the captured tanks to identify the fact that they were under new management. The design of the German identification black cross changed in the second half of 1918 to the ‘Balkenkreuz’ (beam or bar cross). Some of the later repaired Beutepanzers had this newer cross design painted on their sides instead.
Beutepanzer medium Mark A Whippet
The Germans captured fewer than fifteen Whippets, two of which were in running condition. They were kept exclusively for tests and training purpose during the war, the Germans gave them the designation Beutepanzer A.
German tank designs
YouTube (German WW1 Prototype Tanks Of 1918)
Sturmpanzerwagen A7V-U
The very inferior cross-country performance of the A7V was apparent at an early stage: the capture of British Mark IV tanks at Cambrai in November 1917 enabled the German engineers to examine the British machines in detail and better appreciate the good points of their design as well as their weaknesses. The great feature of the British tanks was their ability to move across shell-torn and entrenched ground - a feature owing much to the overall tracks and low centre of gravity helped by the armament being placed in side sponsons. The British machines were designed only for a short life and for ease of production, however, and lacked refinements and did not even have sprung tracks.
It was at first proposed that an exact copy of the British Tank, Mark IV should be put into production in Germany where drawings could have been made up from dimensions taken from captured vehicles. This suggestion was impracticable, first because of the difficulty in many cases of manufacturing identical components and, secondly, would have been wasteful of effort in that most if not all of the materials already in production for the A7V could not continue to be used.
The best solution for the A7V committee was to design a new tank on the lines of the British tanks, but utilizing as many of the original A7V components as possible. The result was known as A7V/U - the suffix denoting "umlaufende Ketten", or "tracks going all around". This tank, the prototype of which appeared in June 1918, was generally similar to the British tanks in appearance, although the side sponsons necessitated by the use of overall tracks were placed rather further to the rear. The fact that the tracks were sprung and the relatively high power of the twin Daimler engines uprated to a total of 300 h.p. gave the A7V/U on trials a maximum speed of about 12 km/h – around twice that of the British heavy tanks. Its suspension was based on Holt tractor (just as A7V) and was 8.5m long. Improvements over the A7V included increased armour protection and better ventilation. Armament consisted of two Nordenfeld 57mm guns mounted in side sponsons along with four to six 7.92mm Maxim 08/15 machine guns. Armor protection ranged from 20mm to 30mm and entire tank weighted 39.6 tons. A7V/U was operated by the crew of 7 men.
The trials of the A7V/U showed that its heavier weight (as mentioned, nearly 40 tons) made it clumsy in action and limited its tactical employment and, furthermore, the track was liable to be shed by the design of the guide rails. These faults could be overcome, however, and twenty A7V/Us were ordered on 12 September 1918 although the end of the war put a stop to their production.
There were also plans to make two variants: A7V/U2 was to be a version with smaller sponsons and machine gun mounted in a cupola, while A7V/U3 was to be armed only with machine guns. These projects never materialised.
Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien
The Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien ("Upper Silesia assault armoured wagon" from German: der Sturm, the storm, the assault; German: der Panzer, gepanzert the armour, armoured; German: der Wagen the vehicle, wagon) was a German design which included a track which was placed under the tank and only wrapped around half of it. The design sacrificed armour for the sake of speed and only required a 180 hp engine for the 19 ton body, giving it a projected ground speed of 16 km/h (9.9 mph).
The tank featured such advanced features as the main armament mounted on top of the tank in a centrally placed revolving turret, separate fighting and engine compartments, a rear-mounted engine and a low track run.
Großkampfwagen ("K-Wagen")
The hull of the K-Wagen consisted of six modules that could be transported separately by rail: the control room, the fighting room, the engine room, the transmission room and the two sponsons. The commander could give orders to the crew by means of electric lights: fire control was comparable to that of a destroyer, the Germans seeing the vehicle as a veritable "landship". The drivers would have had to steer the vehicle blindly, directed by the commander.
The K-Wagen was to be armed with four 77 mm fortress guns and seven MG08 machine guns and had a crew of 27: a commander, two drivers, a signaler, an artillery officer, 12 artillery men, eight machine gunners and two mechanics. At the beginning of the project the incorporation of flamethrowers was considered but later rejected.
The K-Wagen never became operational as under the conditions of the Armistice Germany was forbidden to possess tanks. One of the tanks, "Ribe"was complete at the end of the war, but it never left the factory and was scrapped under the watchful eyes of the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control.
Leichter Kampfwagen I ("LK I)
The Leichter Kampfwagen (English: light combat car) or "LK I" was a German light tank prototype. Designed to be a cheap light tank as opposed to the expensive heavies coming into service at the time, the tank only reached the prototype stage before the end of the war.
The LK I was based on a Daimler car chassis, using the existing axles to mount sprocket and idler wheels. Its design followed automobile practice, with a front-mounted engine and a driving compartment behind it. It was the first German armored fighting vehicle to be equipped with a turret, armed with a 7.92 mm MG08 machine gun
Leichter Kampfwagen II ("LK II)
The Leichter Kampfwagen II ("light combat car") or LK II was a German light tank prototype. A development of the LK I, it incorporated a fixed rear superstructure and was armed with a 37mm Krupp or 57mm Maxim-Nordenfelt gun. Its armor was 8 to 14 mm thick, which increased total weight to 8.75 tons. Power was provided by a Daimler-Benz Model 1910 4-cylinder 55-60 hp gasoline engine, giving a maximum speed of 14 to 18 km/h with range of 65–70 km.
A version armed with one or two 7.92 mm MG 08/15 machine guns was also planned but progressed no farther than a project.
How would the Great War have looked like if the Germans manged to field their own tanks in larger numbers together with the Beutepanzers (captured British ore French tanks) already in service.
History of the Beutepanzers
The German Army only operated 20 Sturmpanzerwagen A7Vs and it deployed more captured British tanks on the battlefield than German-built ones. They were known as beute-tanks or Beutepanzern – trophy tanks. As most of the captured tanks were British Mark IV heavy tanks they were also referred to as schwerer-Kampfwagen (beute).
By the beginning of summer 1918 the Germans had recovered a large number of abandoned Allied tanks. After the successes of the spring offensive in 1918 and the recapturing of most of the November 1917 Cambrai battlefield, more than 300 damaged tanks were now situated behind German lines.
The Bayerischer Armee-Kraftwagen-Park (BAKP 20, the Bavarian Army-Motor-Park) special recovery units went out on to the old battlefields with the objective of salvaging as many Allied tanks and parts as was possible and bringing them to their tank repair workshops in Monceau-sur-Sambre, Marchienne-au-Pont and Roux, all near Charleroi. It was here that the tanks were refurbished and prepared to fight for their new masters. This unit, commanded by Oberst Meyer, had been operational at this location since 12 November 1917 after it transferred from the Eastern Front following the Russian Revolution and the subsequent ceasefire. It was at full capacity by February 1917 and more than 100 captured tanks are known to have been repaired.
Apart from changes made to the weaponry of the captured tanks, very little was altered apart from a large escape hatch being fitted to the driver’s cabin. This feature later appeared on the British-operated Mark V tank. (No British Mark V tanks were ever used as Beutepanzern during the war.)
The Germans had access to a supply of Belgian 5.7cm quick-firing Maxim Nordenfelt Model 1888 guns and ammunition. Supplies of British 6-pounder ammunition were very hard to obtain so the guns on the Male tanks were replaced. The 1888 could fire two types of rounds: a 2.7kg shell with a range of 2.7km and a grapeshot shell used by the Navy that could project 196 lead balls against infantry up to a range of 300m. The German Army called these guns ‘Belg 5.7cm K’.
Grapeshot was recorded being fired at British infantry from a Belgian 5.7cm-armed Mark IV Male Beutepanzer belonging to Abteilung 16 as it joined a German counter-attack near Séranvillers on 8 October 1918. It avoided the British tanks and withdrew once it had used up all its ammunition. Its Lewis guns were damaged and five of the tank crew wounded.
It had been accompanied by two other machine gun-only Female tanks but they were both knocked out by 6-pounder shells and set on fire during a tank battle with two British Mark IV Males, L45 and L49, from ‘C’ Company, 12th Tank Battalion, Tank Corps.
On some vehicles Mauser 13mm Tankgewehr (anti-tank rifles) replaced machine guns. Produced after May 1918, the Mauser was a single shot bolt-action rifle that fired armour-piercing, hardened steel-cored, 13mm semi-rimmed cartridges. Each round had an initial velocity of 785m/s (2,580 ft/s) and could penetrate 22mm armour plate at 100m.
Each Beutepanzer appears to have had its own different camouflage pattern. There does not seem to be any standardisation, although some of them were painted very similarly to the German-built A7V tanks. This may have been because these tanks were also serviced at this location. Some of the workshops were based in Belgian railway facilities. It has been suggested that the paints used by Belgian railway engineers were commandeered by the Germans and used to paint the A7V tanks as well as the captured Allied tanks.
The colours used for the Belgian railway rolling stock were cream/ivory, red/brown and dark green. The Germans would have had access to their Army-standard feldgrau grey paint. A large German Army black cross, called a ‘Bundeswehr Schwarzes Kreuz’, which was a type of Christian cross with arms that narrowed in the centre and had a white border, was painted on the captured tanks to identify the fact they were under new management. The design of the German identification black cross changed in the second half of 1918 to the ‘Balkenkreuz’ (beam or bar cross). Some of the later repaired Beutepanzern had this newer cross design painted on their sides instead.
The British tanks in 1918 were now painted with large white-red-white strips on their sides and roofs so they could be distinguished from German-operated Mark IVs.
When a Beutepanzer suffered a mechanical breakdown or ditched on the battlefield they were very rarely recovered; after the weapons were removed the tank was abandoned and blown up. A newly repaired one from the Charleroi workshops was sent to the front to fill the gap in the Abeteilung (battalion) allotted vehicle strength. As time went on and losses increased, BAKP 20 could not keep up with the demand for newly repaired captured tanks.
A small number of other captured Allied tanks were used by the Germans. Between ten and fifteen medium Mark A Whippets were captured but only two were repaired to operational condition and painted with Bundeswehr Schwarzes Kreuz crosses. One of them was sent to Abteilung 13 for the German tank crews to use. Whippets that were beyond repair were still sent to the Abeteilungs so they could inspect them and be familiar with the enemy’s tanks. There are no records of a Whippet Beutepanzer being used in action during the war.
Most of the captured French tanks were used for evaluation and not operationally. There is a First World War photograph of a Renault FT, known as the leichten Kampfwagen FT-17 Renault ‘Hargneuse III’, parked next to a Beutepanzer Mark IV but there is no evidence to suggest it was used in action. There are lots of photographs of Renault FTs with black Balkenkreuz crosses on them but nearly all these were taken during the Second World War when they were used for internal security work in occupied countries.
Beutepanzer Mark IV Male
By the beginning of the summer in 1918 the Germans had recovered a large number of abandoned Allied tanks. After the successes of the Spring Offensive in 1918 and the recapturing of most of the November 1917 Cambrai battlefield, over 300 damaged tanks were now situated behind German lines. Over 100 British Mark IV tanks were refurbished and prepared to fight for their new masters. They were called Beutepanzers (Trophy tanks).
BeutepanzerWagen IV(b) female
Large German Army black crosses, a type of Christian cross with arms that narrow in the centre and have a white border called a ‘Bundeswehr Schwarzes Kreuz’ were painted on the captured tanks to identify the fact that they were under new management. The design of the German identification black cross changed in the second half of 1918 to the ‘Balkenkreuz’ (beam or bar cross). Some of the later repaired Beutepanzers had this newer cross design painted on their sides instead.
Beutepanzer medium Mark A Whippet
The Germans captured fewer than fifteen Whippets, two of which were in running condition. They were kept exclusively for tests and training purpose during the war, the Germans gave them the designation Beutepanzer A.
German tank designs
YouTube (German WW1 Prototype Tanks Of 1918)
Sturmpanzerwagen A7V-U
The very inferior cross-country performance of the A7V was apparent at an early stage: the capture of British Mark IV tanks at Cambrai in November 1917 enabled the German engineers to examine the British machines in detail and better appreciate the good points of their design as well as their weaknesses. The great feature of the British tanks was their ability to move across shell-torn and entrenched ground - a feature owing much to the overall tracks and low centre of gravity helped by the armament being placed in side sponsons. The British machines were designed only for a short life and for ease of production, however, and lacked refinements and did not even have sprung tracks.
It was at first proposed that an exact copy of the British Tank, Mark IV should be put into production in Germany where drawings could have been made up from dimensions taken from captured vehicles. This suggestion was impracticable, first because of the difficulty in many cases of manufacturing identical components and, secondly, would have been wasteful of effort in that most if not all of the materials already in production for the A7V could not continue to be used.
The best solution for the A7V committee was to design a new tank on the lines of the British tanks, but utilizing as many of the original A7V components as possible. The result was known as A7V/U - the suffix denoting "umlaufende Ketten", or "tracks going all around". This tank, the prototype of which appeared in June 1918, was generally similar to the British tanks in appearance, although the side sponsons necessitated by the use of overall tracks were placed rather further to the rear. The fact that the tracks were sprung and the relatively high power of the twin Daimler engines uprated to a total of 300 h.p. gave the A7V/U on trials a maximum speed of about 12 km/h – around twice that of the British heavy tanks. Its suspension was based on Holt tractor (just as A7V) and was 8.5m long. Improvements over the A7V included increased armour protection and better ventilation. Armament consisted of two Nordenfeld 57mm guns mounted in side sponsons along with four to six 7.92mm Maxim 08/15 machine guns. Armor protection ranged from 20mm to 30mm and entire tank weighted 39.6 tons. A7V/U was operated by the crew of 7 men.
The trials of the A7V/U showed that its heavier weight (as mentioned, nearly 40 tons) made it clumsy in action and limited its tactical employment and, furthermore, the track was liable to be shed by the design of the guide rails. These faults could be overcome, however, and twenty A7V/Us were ordered on 12 September 1918 although the end of the war put a stop to their production.
There were also plans to make two variants: A7V/U2 was to be a version with smaller sponsons and machine gun mounted in a cupola, while A7V/U3 was to be armed only with machine guns. These projects never materialised.
Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien
The Sturmpanzerwagen Oberschlesien ("Upper Silesia assault armoured wagon" from German: der Sturm, the storm, the assault; German: der Panzer, gepanzert the armour, armoured; German: der Wagen the vehicle, wagon) was a German design which included a track which was placed under the tank and only wrapped around half of it. The design sacrificed armour for the sake of speed and only required a 180 hp engine for the 19 ton body, giving it a projected ground speed of 16 km/h (9.9 mph).
The tank featured such advanced features as the main armament mounted on top of the tank in a centrally placed revolving turret, separate fighting and engine compartments, a rear-mounted engine and a low track run.
Großkampfwagen ("K-Wagen")
The hull of the K-Wagen consisted of six modules that could be transported separately by rail: the control room, the fighting room, the engine room, the transmission room and the two sponsons. The commander could give orders to the crew by means of electric lights: fire control was comparable to that of a destroyer, the Germans seeing the vehicle as a veritable "landship". The drivers would have had to steer the vehicle blindly, directed by the commander.
The K-Wagen was to be armed with four 77 mm fortress guns and seven MG08 machine guns and had a crew of 27: a commander, two drivers, a signaler, an artillery officer, 12 artillery men, eight machine gunners and two mechanics. At the beginning of the project the incorporation of flamethrowers was considered but later rejected.
The K-Wagen never became operational as under the conditions of the Armistice Germany was forbidden to possess tanks. One of the tanks, "Ribe"was complete at the end of the war, but it never left the factory and was scrapped under the watchful eyes of the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control.
Leichter Kampfwagen I ("LK I)
The Leichter Kampfwagen (English: light combat car) or "LK I" was a German light tank prototype. Designed to be a cheap light tank as opposed to the expensive heavies coming into service at the time, the tank only reached the prototype stage before the end of the war.
The LK I was based on a Daimler car chassis, using the existing axles to mount sprocket and idler wheels. Its design followed automobile practice, with a front-mounted engine and a driving compartment behind it. It was the first German armored fighting vehicle to be equipped with a turret, armed with a 7.92 mm MG08 machine gun
Leichter Kampfwagen II ("LK II)
The Leichter Kampfwagen II ("light combat car") or LK II was a German light tank prototype. A development of the LK I, it incorporated a fixed rear superstructure and was armed with a 37mm Krupp or 57mm Maxim-Nordenfelt gun. Its armor was 8 to 14 mm thick, which increased total weight to 8.75 tons. Power was provided by a Daimler-Benz Model 1910 4-cylinder 55-60 hp gasoline engine, giving a maximum speed of 14 to 18 km/h with range of 65–70 km.
A version armed with one or two 7.92 mm MG 08/15 machine guns was also planned but progressed no farther than a project.