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The A7V Mystery

The Austrian book, "Heigl's Taschenbuch der Tanks" by von Zezschwitz printed 1938 started it all...

Did a Polish A7V ever exist? I doubt it. One source in Austria sites that A7V units were transferred to Poland via France after the Great War. Historical writer after writer quotes the same Austrian source*. The problem is, nobody has ever seen a picture of a Polish A7V tank. Did any Polish A7V tanks take part in the war with the Soviet Union just following the Great War? Written combat records have never surfaced, nor has any historian in Poland or France ever documented any information on this tank. The Soviets did not record an encounter with an A7V specifically. Were the tanks immediately scrapped by Poland? Did France ever really transfer these units? Did Germany "hide" these tanks? Was it a clerical mistake? Perhaps it is simply a myth - just like Polish cavalry charging German tanks.

Current re-milled information that western authors state...

An example:

AFV 1914'19 (Profile, England 1970) edited by Duncan Crow (again) has:

German A7V; used captured 57 mm Russian Sokol gun as this was better than the 50 mm infantry or naval guns tried. "After the war some surplus A7Vs were acquired by Poland, and these played a brief and undecisive role in the Russo-Polish war of 1920. Five are reported to have taken part in the Battle of Warsaw. The A7V remained officially in Polish service until 1921." (page 64)

The last surviving A7V, residing in a museum in Queensland

And now the truth: "I carefully read the page from the Heigl book, which you have on Internet. It states that Poland had some A7V tanks as well as British Mark V and Mark V* tanks and that is nonsense. Such a story goes against the credibility of the author. I am beginning to think that Heigl did not have good information, rather some rumors. I will ask again: which A7V did Poland get? I can account for each and every tank, hence where are they coming from? Few words on the unending story of German A7V in Polish army during the war of 1920. I hope to put the whole issue to rest. Based on the available information all A7V tanks were destroyed during or after the end of the First World War. Walther Nehring made the first mention of A7V in literature, afterwards writers just keep rewriting it. No Polish source mentions use of A7V by Polish troops. Sources to Battle of Warsaw, which is particularly well described in literature, does not mention use of A7V in any of the encounters. Until proven wrong I will unequivocally state that Poland did not use or own A7V at all. None of Polish publications on tanks and specifically on A7V claims any of these tanks in Polish army. There is no documentation to support Nehrings claim. The total production was 20 tanks. I can account for each and every of these tanks:

501 "Gretchen" scraped by the Allies in 1919.
502 Scraped by Germans in October 1918.
503 Scraped by Germans in October 1918.
504 "Schnuck" lost at Fremicourt 08/31/1918.
505 Baden 1 scraped by the Allies in 1919.
506 Mephisto lost at Villers-Bretonneux 04/24/1918, recovered by Australians, now in Queensland Museum in Brisbane, Australia.
507 "Cyklop" scraped by the Allies in 1919.
525 "Siegfried" scraped by the Allies in 1919.
526 Scraped by Germans in 06/1/1918.
527 "Lotti" lost at Pompelle Fort 06/01/1918.
528 "Hagen" lost at Fremicourt 08/31/1918.
529 "Nixe 2" lost at Remis 05/31/1918, recovered by Americans and scraped at Aberdeen Proving Grounds Museum in 1942.
540 "Heiland" scraped by the Allies in 1919.
541 Scraped by the Allies in 1919.
542 "Elfride" lost at Villers-Bretonneux 04/24/1918
543 "Hagen", "Adalbert", "Konig Wilhelm" scraped by the Allies in 1919.
560 "Alter Fritz" lost at Iwuy 10/11/1918.
561 "Nixe" scraped by Germans 04/24/1918.
562 "Herkules" scraped by Germans after 08/31/1918.
563 "Wotan" scraped by the Allies in 1919.
564 Scraped by the Allies in 1919.

There was one more A7V tank, probably completed after the war from existing parts. It belonged to Kampfwagenabteilung Vetter and later participated infighting Communists in Lipsk in first half on 1919. Later scraped. This account should put an end to the on going saga of A7V in Polish army. Heigl who mentioned that rumor was clearly wrong.

Sincerely,

Witold J. Lawrynowicz

Mr. Lawrynowicz is an expert on Polish armor.

Additional Sources:

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
mailer.fsu.edu
www.directart.co.uk
www.geocities.com/iturks
www.worldwar1.com
www.achtungpanzer.com

Percival Phillips, The Daily Express (26th April 1918)

The Mark IV Tank of Lt. F. Mitchell MC, 1st battalion, Tank Corps engages German A7V tanks at Villers-Bretonneaux, 24th April 1918.

For the first time British and German tanks have met in battle, and the victory is ours. They fought yesterday in the open fields round Villers-Brettonneux, east of Amiens, where the enemy made a determined and, for the moment, a successful attack on that town and high ground round it.

The German tanks led the attack, swinging on the town from the north-east and from the south, and in their wake came infantry with their machine guns and heavy mortars and light artillery.

Although there were four or five tanks. They were bulky, ungainly creatures, quite unlike the British tank in appearance, with a broad, squat turret containing quick-firing guns. Hidden in the thick mist until very close to our trenches, they crawled up in the wake of an intense barrage about six o'clock in the morning.

They concentrated their guns on one British tank, but others came to the rescue, and in the brief duel that followed one enemy tank was put out of action by an opponent of less bulk and lighter armament and the others scuttled away.

The lesson of this first engagement between German and British tanks seems to be that we have nothing to fear from the enemy despite the greater size and armament of his machine. The crews plainly showed their unwillingness to stand when invited to fight out to a finish.