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Remembered Today:

British tank photos


morrisc8

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I have just bought these photos taken of what looks like a German officer. The tanks are near to a wooden road/track.

Does anyone have a photo of this these tanks that they could ID the tank/unit.  

  Thanks for any help.

ww1 tank blown up 3.jpg

ww1 tank blown up 2.jpg

ww1 tank eng 1.jpg

Edited by morrisc8
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Fantastic photos, and thanks for sharing them. I'm not sure what uniform/cap badge the man is wearing but they definitely look like post-war photos - the debris is battered and rusty and has obviously been there a long time. The tank is a Mark IV female and would be impossible to identify unless there are other photos of the same wreckage. This is quite likely as some of the old tank wrecks were frequently visited and photographed. Unfortunately this one doesn't ring any bells with me, but someone else may well recognise it, or at least suggest a location.

John

 

Edited by johntaylor
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Having looked at these again, there are clearly two different tanks - photos 1 and 2 (which you've so expertly colourised) show what looks like the same Mark IV female, but photo 3 shows another tank which could be a male. Let's see what others think.

John

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5 hours ago, morrisc8 said:

I have just bought these photos taken of what looks like a German officer...

ww1 tank blown up 3.jpg

 

 

 

2 hours ago, johntaylor said:

... I'm not sure what uniform/cap badge the man is wearing...

He is a Belgian officer, so he is essentially wearing something very similar to this:

 

Belgian front peaked cap in 2023 | Military cap, Cap, Peaked cap

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That's brilliant! I did wonder if these photos were taken in the Ypres Salient and this tends to confirm it. To be honest I thought the background was a bit too hilly, but the straight road and flooded crater in photo 3 do look very like Flanders after the war.

John

Edited by johntaylor
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Just need a few photos of this one, must be nearby. I added some colour.

 You can see a shell on the top,

 

ww1 tank eng 1_colorSAI_result.jpg

Edited by morrisc8
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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I have just bought these photos taken of a captured British tank used by the Germans and knocked out at Tahure .

Does anyone have any info on this tank that they could ID the tank/unit German or when in British use.

Can you spot the baby in two of the photos that were taken in 1919.

The tank has a letter 4 on the front side.

Original photos from my collection.  

  Thanks for any help.

    Keith

 

ww1 tank 1919 german use. baby.jpg

ww1 tank 1919 german use.jpg

ww1 tank 1919.jpg

Edited by morrisc8
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I added a bit of colour. The AI came up with the colour of the tank after it had been there for a long time., the same colour came out as the same on the other photos of this tank.

 

ww1 tank 1919 german use. baby_colour.jpg

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1 hour ago, morrisc8 said:

I have just bought these photos taken of a captured British tank used by the Germans and knocked out at Tahure .

Does anyone have any info on this tank that they could ID the tank/unit German or when in British use.

Can you spot the baby in two of the photos that were taken in 1919.

The tank has a letter 4 on the front side.

Original photos from my collection.  

  Thanks for any help.

    Keith

 

ww1 tank 1919 german use. baby.jpg

ww1 tank 1919 german use.jpg

ww1 tank 1919.jpg

I think that one was captured by the Americans in late September.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not a baby, but a schoolboy in this tank photo. I believe that this is another one of the tanks in the tank cemetery, near clapham junction, off the menin road.

 

Michael

tank_coloured_v3.1001.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Two original photos from my collection of a whippet tank A227. 

A227 with E. and a P. and a name Clara.  other side Eo and a number 236?. There are French troops looking at it. Could it be in French use and has a new name? in chalk over the old name Chili II.

Landships has A227 as Chili II or A277 Centaur III

Link to more info https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/gb/British_medium_Mark-A_whippet.php#

                               https://sites.google.com/site/landships/home/lists/whippets/200-299

ww1 wippit tank.jpg

A227   tank.jpgA227   Eo.jpgww1 wippit tank.2.jpg

Edited by morrisc8
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One more original photo came in the post. Two tanks next to a railway.

 Could be at a workshop? Looks like a wheel behind the tank on the right.

ww1 tanks train. close up.jpg

ww1 british tanks.jpg

ww1 tank train back.jpg

Edited by morrisc8
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Fascinating photos - many thanks for sharing. The last one seems to be in an industrial setting and I'm wondering about the Central Workshops at Erin. As you say, it looks as though the right-hand one has a Mark I steering mechanism, and the left-hand one has an unusual superstructure which I've never seen before.

The writing on the back must be in French but I can't read the words between "Tank" and "un train". I wondered if the second word was "dessous" but it doesn't really fit.

Would be interested to see what others think about these.

All the best, John

 

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Saw this on another site and thought it might interest the good folk here:

image.png.d03b55950ed19fa5d2fc97a9b9966170.png

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2 hours ago, johntaylor said:

Fascinating photos - many thanks for sharing. The last one seems to be in an industrial setting and I'm wondering about the Central Workshops at Erin. As you say, it looks as though the right-hand one has a Mark I steering mechanism, and the left-hand one has an unusual superstructure which I've never seen before.

The writing on the back must be in French but I can't read the words between "Tank" and "un train". I wondered if the second word was "dessous" but it doesn't really fit.

Would be interested to see what others think about these.

All the best, John

 

Could it be the wooden beam on top

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Could it be something akin to the bars used by the Palestine Tank Detachment to help lift the sponsons on and off. 

4B9D51D4-A177-452E-98A0-CA9F161127B8.jpeg

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Thanks for sharing all these amazing photos! The platform in the railway workshop photo isn't the unditching beam as it looks flat and is supported on vertical legs rather than rails. I think the suggestion of bars for removing sponsons is a good one, particularly as the photo is slightly foreshortened.

The photo of F13 Falcon II in German hands is excellent - this was captured in Bourlon on November 27, 1917, and was fully exploited by the Germans for propaganda purposes: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205215592

Thanks also for the link to the French photos. That's a hell of a collection.

John

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