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Posted on 01/03/2005 10:19:01 PM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 German tank development can be traced back to 1911, when Austrian Oberleutenant Gunther Burstyn proposed a design for "motor vehicle gun" ("Motorgeschutz") with a turret. He patented his design in 1912 in Germany but it never progressed beyond paper. In 1916, development of tracked armored vehicles started again with Marienwagen I and II (also known as Bremer-Wagen), followed by Duer-Wagen and in 1917, Treffas-Wagen  The success of British tanks in 1916 did not worry the German General Staff. They felt their troops could defeat the tank threat and that the overall condition of the various theaters did not warrant the efforts in producing a tank. Despite this, the War Ministry, on November 13, 1916, issued a contract to the Motor Vehicle Technical Testing Commission (VPK) to develop a tank. As a ploy to maintain secrecy, this tank was to have the name A7V, which stood for Allgemeine Kriegsdepartment 7 Abteilung Vehkerwesen (which translated to War Department General Division 7 Transport). The specifications issued by the War Ministry called for a vehicle with a gross weight of 30 tons, able to traverse cross-country, span a ditch 1.5 meters wide, and reach a road speed of 12kph. It was to be armed with two cannon, one at the front of the tank, one in the back, plus several machine guns. A motor developing between 80 to 100 horsepower was to be sufficient. With contract in hand, the lead designer for the project was Reserve Hauptmann und Oberingeneur Joseph Vollmer. He headed up a commission, along with the VPK, comprised of military and business officials with whom to conduct the efforts of putting a design together. During the design phase, demands such as making the tank proof against artillery to using is only as a overland tractor were put forth but mostly ignored. Having nothing to truly draw upon in terms of tank and fully tracked vehicle production and also due to the pressures of time and the lack of strong support and backing, Vollmer contacted Herr Steiner of Holt-Caterpillar Company after Vollmer's first prototype tank failed because of weak tracks. The Holt tractor chassis was brought out of mothballs in Austria and lengthened. When the plans of this tank were made public in December 22, 1916, it sported two engines instead of one. By April and May of 1917, the first A7V chassis was under test at Berlin-Marienfelde. The wooden mock-up body had been made at the Daimler works and was mated to the chassis. This prototype (which had ballast to simulate the armament and armor) was displayed before VPK officials and OHL (Army High Command) officials in the months of April and May. Later, in June, it was displayed before the Kaiser himself.  Though the chairman of the VPK, General Friedrich, wasn't too pleased with the performance of the tank, he nevertheless authorized more work. Also, the desire to put the A7V at the top of the priority list for war materials was soundly rejected by the OHL. Despite this, an order for 100 Holt chassis was placed. Initially, 38 A7Vs (some sources say 35) were to be built using the Holt chassis...but, this was cut down to between 20 to 23. During the testing months, many of the faults of the A7V appeared. Things such as engine overheating, low ground clearance, being underpowered, finding a suitable cannon to mount, constant running gear troubles, armor plating, lack of climbing ability, and a high center of gravity leading to maneuverability woes all worked against the A7V. But the German general staff couldn't wait for anything better and ordered that the A7V be ready for operations for the 1918 spring offensives, months after the initial acceptance date of July, 1917. The A7V was, to put it bluntly, an armored box on tracks. Uninspired to say the least and almost seeming to pander to the "land fortress" design the Kaiser dreamt up in 1900, his being a steam-driven, wheeled box with cannon and spikes protruding from its slab sides. The chassis was a lengthened Holt tractor (as a side note, both the French M.16 CA1 Schneider and the M.16 St. Chamond used the Holt tracked chassis) with the dual Daimler engines situated in the center of the chassis. Each of the in-line engines were four cylinder and watercooled and produced 100hp at 1,600rpm. A large radiator was situated in front of the engines. These engines were tied into a Adler gearbox thru dual transmission shafts. Drive was transferred by shafts to the sprockets, the shafts going thru the steering brakes. The exhaust muffler (one for each engine) was located inside the tank, the exhaust pipe coming thru the armor plate to the outside. The sprocket and drive train was at the rear of the vehicle, driving two, approximately 60 link, tracks. The tracks were made of pressed steel plates bolted to cast steel links. There were three sets of bogies, each consisting of five road wheels and two return rollers. The suspension consisted of two springs, arranged much like a rail car. These bogies were all connected to each other and the chassis thru tie-rods. To contend with the tracks slipping off the rollers (a problem which occurred on several occasions with the prototypes), grousers were added to the bogies to help keep the tracks in place. Track tension adjustments were made with the mechanism at the idler wheel at the front of the vehicle.  Situated over the engines, on a raised platform, was the driver and commander compartment. The driver was surrounded by the controls needed to drive the tank. They were:
The question of the armament was not finally resolved until the spring of 1918. Initially, it was to be the 2cm Becker cannon which would provide the heavy firepower. Looking much like an oversize, clip fed, machine gun, the Becker proved to be both a unreliable weapon and also one which proved to be lacking in hitting power. Also, it was initially stated that four machine guns would compliment the Beckers, with all weapons being able to be interchangeable within their mountings.  With the poor showing of the Becker, it was decided to utilize weapons from the stock of old Belgian 5.7cm Maxim-Nordenfelt casemate cannons (also identified as Sokol cannons; manufactured c.1888). These weapon had been utilized in open mountings on trucks by the Germans following Cambrai as anti-tank artillery. They were quite capable of penetrating all known armor out to 2,000 meters (recall that the greatest armor thickness fielded by the Allies was between 16mm to 19.5mm; this could be defeated even by the 13mm Mauser Tank-Gewehr M1918 anti-tank rifle!). Another asset of the cannon was its low recoil, only 150mm. The original request for two cannons was dropped to one, the 5.7cm cannon being mounted in the front of the A7V. Two different mounting styles for the cannon were to be seen on production A7Vs. The first was the trestle mounting, developed by the Artillery Testing Commission. The cannon was set into the mantlet, with a balance weight, and two hand wheels were used for traverse and elevation aiming. Aiming was done via two sights, one inside the tank, the other on the end of the barrel. The slit to allow for aiming exposed the gunner to small arms fire. The second, and more common mounting, was the socket mantlet, produced by Spandau's artillery shops. This mount was, in fact, designed for the A7V-U project (discussed later). It was found, however, to be perfectly suited for the A7V and even for use in captured British tanks. The gunner sat on a seat which was connected to the cannon so that, were his cannon went, so did he. He used a dual handwheel combination which elevated and traversed the cannon. Over this handwheel was the sight. A slit in the mantlet allowed for aiming. To the right of the cannon was the firing lever. In action, though, this mount had the potential to disorientate the gunner as the tank moved. The gunner was provided with a direction indicator thru which the commander could give a rough direction of targets. This was located over the recoil brakes of the cannon. To the right of the mount was a series of lights that the commander would use for cannon fire control. A white light ment attention, a red light ment fire the cannon, and no lights ment load the cannon. Secondary armament of the A7V consisted of six Maxim MG08 machine guns. This was two more than initially called for. Two machine guns were located on the sides of the A7V and two were located in the rear of the tank. No machine guns were mounted up front. The gunner sat in a seat which was attached to the mantlet port thus when he turned the weapon, he went with it. Under his seat were stored the ammunition to feed his weapon. Each of the six machine gun stations had the same white/red indicator lights as the cannon gunner.  Should the tank be involved in shock-troop operations, it would carry the Maxim 08/15 light machine gun, several rifles (typically the M1898), and hand grenades to supplement its already large firepower. One A7V, Tank 501, mounted two flamethrowers during its trials but these were not retained. However, for shock-troop missions, flamethrowers were listed as planned equipment though they were not used in action. Ammunition carried varied. The book standard was 180 rounds of 5.7cm rounds. In practice, between 300 to 500 were carried. These were stored in a box in front of the radiator. The usual mix of 5.7cm ammunition was the following: 50% canister rounds, 30% anti-tank rounds, and 20% impact fused HE rounds. For the machine guns, between 10,000 to 15,000 rounds were carried, broken down into 250 round belts. These belts were kept in Type 15 cartridge-belt cases and distributed to machine gun stations for storage under the gunners seat.  The armor for the A7V was one which generated some variation in appearances. Krupp and Rochling both produced five of the armored hulls. The Krupp plating was held up when it had to be cut to fit onto the A7V chassis' skeletal box frame. What resulted was a five sectioned hull, a two sectioned front, and a two sectioned rear. You can see this in the rivet patterns as compared to the single sectioned sides of other A7V tanks. In any event, each of the A7Vs, in both chassis and armor, were mostly handmade and thus differences in external rivet and bolt order, dimensions, and segments vary. Armor skirting was dipped to just above the bogies. A7Vs in the field removed this skirting since it inhibited the self-cleaning of the tracks and running gear. The armor thickness of the A7V was as follows: Front= 30mm, sides=20mm, rear=20mm, top=7.5mm, "turret"=15mm. As can be seen, this armor was far superior to any Allied tank fielded. In fact, it might very well have been proof to the British 6pdr. which typically armed British "Male" rhomboids. However, most of the armor supplied to protect the A7V was unhardened, thus lowering the effective value of the armor thickness. As in all World War One tanks, "splash" and "spray" (both terms for the results of hits to the armor and the affects on the interior; "splash" is molten metal played about the interior after a penetration and "spray" is metal flakes sent around the interior after a non-penetrating strike to the outside armor) were common hazards.  Two towing hooks were to be found on the front and rear of the A7V. To protect them and prevent snagging, a flap of armor plate hung down over them. A access door into the A7V was found on the front, left hand side of the tank and the rear, right hand side of the tank. An armored panel could be removed to give access to the idler wheel and the sprocket. Two pistol ports were to be found on each side of the A7V. On the top deck, both in front and behind the "turret", were ventilation louvers. At the rear of the A7V, below the stern armor, was a round escape hatch. Vision slits, protected by armored shutters, were to be found on the front (two), the sides (one per side), and the "turret" (two on the front face and rear, and one on each side face). A feature to help protect the unarmored underbody consisted of armored plates which hung down from the front and rear sections of the A7V, much like the neck guard of baseball catchers. The "turret", and I use quotes since it really isn't a turret in the true sense, was situated in the middle of the armored body, over the driver/commander compartment. Asides from the vision slits, it had two hatches in the top and the entire "turret" could be laid flat for transport by rail.  The majority of the A7V crew rides atop their vehicle at the railhead near Villers-Bretonneux , April 1918. This 32 ton monster required twin Daimler engines (105 h.p. each) and a crew of 16 for operation. It was armed with one 57mm cannon and six Maxim machine guns. Here is a listing of statistics concerning the A7V:
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I ended up running the router cables myself and the pole they brought didn't have the proper cutouts for the phone or computer outlets, so the phone guy and I jury-rigged the connections. What fun!
ooops. I'm sorry, you said WWI, not WWII. My mistake, nevermind.
Oh, college football. Okay then, you're allowed. ;-)
We're off to Atlanta to the trade show in about a week. Once we return we'll be better able to deal with both places.
It's good to have two 'home away from home' places to be. :-)
No worries, it's good to have something to read!
Thanks!
LOL! Nah, I've got my un-PC SUV that can get me to the PX with four-wheel drive.
There were cars slipping off the road all over last night. The accident picture the Rocky Mountain News ran today showed an SUV rollover - with California plates. Some SUV owners don't understand a fundamental rule of physics that a four-wheel drive tire is just a slippery on ice as a two-wheel drive tire. In fact, the tire stores will sell you the same tire for either kind of car, if you want. :)
Take care of yourself, PE.
One of these days the President will give me the job of fixing NASA, carte blanche. (Well, maybe not.) Figure you would enjoy being aboard, it's a job needs doing.
LOL I love it!!!!!!!
Sounds good, count me in.
My kind of guy!!
YAY!
Good Ole Dad.
Bet mom wouldn't have forgotten the password. ;-)
Yeah, if dad hadn't changed it without telling anyone...LOL (but now, I know the new one)
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