"WW I british tank during the Battle for Berlin 1945?" Topic

I was searching for some colour photos for the battle for Berlin the other day and found this:

It was taken shortly after the battle with many wrecks still in place. Now what irritates me is the tank in the middle. It looks like a British WWI tank (MK III or later… I always have a hard time telling the differences). Can this actually be?

Yes, the WW1 Beutepanzer has been mentioned in a few threads in the context of the fighting in Berlin in 1945.

I think it was a Mark IV.

With the after cupola, it looks like maybe a British Heavy Tank Mk V (female). "Female" tanks were armed with machine guns only, and usually were fitted with smaller sponsons than the cannon armed "male" tanks.

Ron

I've seen that photo before in Black and White – is that an original colour image (from one of the battery of reporters there) or is it false coloured post event?

Last time this came up on a forum there was a lot of discussion over 'real or photoshop'….but there's a lot of images from other angles including one out there with two such tanks in frame including a visible serial number and a potential source as to how they got there (plus one suggestion they were Russian vehicles at one stage).

Everytime this or a related image crops up I find it fascinating what nuggets of info crop up

militaryberlin.wordpress.com

"Where the tanks came from is another thing. Some sources suggested they were captured in Russia; Britain supplied such tanks to the White Russians during the Russian Civil War. However, there were a number of such tanks placed on war memorials in France, and it is possible they were retained by the Nazis as war booty, and that these might be examples of that. A serial number is visible on one of the tanks and some work on that is on-going".

Having been introduced mid to late in WWI, is it possible that after deployment into France, it took 27ish years for it to complete the drive on Berlin? We need to take into account maintenance halts, fuel stops, potty breaks, etc. I'm just sayin'… it could happen!

There is a picture in Len Deighton's book Blitzkrieg showing an old British tank being use by troops and Freikorps in Berlin during the Spartacist uprising in 1919. So whatever other vehicles they may have obtained then could well have been used in the last desperate days of the defence of Berlin in 1945.

A Google search found an image:
link

Story is that the Estonians had three (or 4?) Mark Vs (www.esm.ee for pix) that they acquired after WWI. When the Russians overran Estonia in 1940, they were acquired as trophies. Subsequently taken by the Germans, two were shipped off to Berlin as trophies. They were pulled out of storage in 1945 to be used as extemporaire pillboxes during the defence of that city. The one shown was one of them. Another was nearby. There are other photos around too. Search under "WWI tanks Berlin 1945" or go to link

There's also a rumour that an A7V was also used in 1945 & somewhere there was a report of one possibly being found overturned in a river recently. The Land ships Website reckons there was an A7V replica in the same collection so that may be the same one.

The French also had some Mark V** tanks in 1940 and used for training. The Germans captured some but these aren't the ** variant.

I've always fancied giving one of the panzer fanboy gamers "these" Marks V's for a game instead of the PzV Panther, just to watch their face.

Of course today's date remains the likeliest explanation.

Thanks guys!

The real tragedy is that Ukraine still uses these as their main battle tank…

Thus Russia easily took Crimea.

Lots of whacky things used in Berlin…

can you imagine being told to get into one of these antique deathtraps? not only are you in the mist of a city battle, but then you are told to man this old ww1 tank? really?

There were indeed British tanks in Berlin in 1919 but in '45? Maybe with photoshop.

Go to the link from Etranger.

link

That is mostly a series of photos of the same tank from different angles. The photos were taken behind the Reichstag. There is a canal behind the Reichstag. Across the canal is the Altes Museum, the building with the long line of vertical columns and a Catholic church with a dome. There is a large open area between the canal, museum and church. This open area contains the Mark IV tank.

I have seen several other photos of this tank, and I have been to that part of Berlin and looked around to see where the battle had been fought.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

There are reports by British troops in 1939 seeing ww1 tanks in use, I think the beat explanation is "Gate Guardian" hulks were dragged out to form road blocks?
Ian ( Shell Hole & 20mmZone )