The Germans began exploring the possibility of developing their own armoured vehicles soon after the first encounter with British tanks in September 1916. However, the process was slow and clearly had lower priority than the British and French efforts.

The A7V committee oversaw development of a Germandesigned tank, and by the end of October 1916 they had developed the specifications for the tank. The initial design was completed by December 1916, but revised in February 1917 to incorporate the updated specification of 30mm of frontal armour plate.

The resulting A7V tank was a 24’ by 10’ (7.3m x 3m) box with two track units slung beneath the fighting compartment. Armour thickness was 30mm on the front, 15mm on the sides, and 20mm on the rear. Armament consisted of one 5.7cm Maxim-Nordenfelt gun facing front and a total of six Maxim machine-guns arrayed around the sides and rear.

Two 100hp four-cylinder engines powered the tank, giving the vehicle a reasonable power to weight ratio for the time. The caterpillar track system of the A7V also had one key advantage over its Allied contemporaries, the A7V utilized a spring loaded suspension system rather than the crude un-sprung systems found on Allied tanks. This gave the A7V a speed of roughly 8 mph on flat ground, making the German heavy tank roughly as quick as the British Whippet or nearly twice as fast as the Mark IV.

As with all early tanks, the A7V had its share of problems. The engines tended to overheat and were difficult to start, the gearboxes were fragile, the tracks were weak, and even the armour plate had severe variations in strength and thickness. The A7V required a crew of 18 to operate properly, though 12 members of the crew were responsible for the six machineguns in two man teams. Trench-crossing ability and ground clearance were inferior to many of the Allied tanks resulting in the A7V frequently bogging down in soft terrain.

Production of the A7V tanks was painfully slow. Although the Germans placed an order for 100 vehicles, the first vehicle was not delivered until 1 October 1917. By the end of the war only 20 were produced requiring the Germans to rely on captured British and French tanks for much of their armoured strength.

A7V IN COMBAT
The A7V first saw combat on 21 March 1918 where 1. Abteilung (or ATD 1) stopped a British advance with three A7V. Perhaps the most famous engagement involving the A7V was on 24 April 1918 at the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IV tanks (one male and two female) engaged a total of three German A7V tanks in history’s first tank versus tank engagement. The A7V ‘Nixe’ (mermaid) engaged the Mark IV female tanks and heavily damaged them with its 57mm gun. As their machine-guns were ineffective against the German tanks’ armour, the female tanks limped away.

The remaining Male tank (interestingly Number 1 tank of Number 1 section of A Company of the British 1st Battalion) opened fire on the German behemoth with its six pounders, disabling it. With its crew in retreat, the male was joined by several Whippet tanks and engaged the supporting German infantry and the two A7Vs.

In the face of these superior numbers, the A7Vs withdrew to the safety of their lines. They returned once German artillery disabled the male. The A7Vs engaged the Whippets and destroyed a couple before the British tanks quit the field. All of the tanks were later recovered by their respective sides.

THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS:

• 1x resin and metal A7V Tank
• 1x Decal Sheet

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These miniatures are supplied unassembled and unpainted