Abandoned French Mark V*

[Witt]

Hallo all,

Here is a photo taken during by a German soldier during the Battle of France. Number 10008 was a male Mark V* tank dated 23 October 1918. It is one of 579 that Metropolitan Carriage completed before the Armistice although it never made it to the front. This was one of 100 Mark V* tanks (one of 80 males, 20 females) sold to France before the end of the war. They were used by the French for use and training in the 1920s up until being retired from active service in 1930. If these were retired long before WW2, why were so many found abandoned between the Siegfried Line and Paris? Models sold to Russia were used in the Russian Civil War, early positions made from buried Estonian models, and a couple that were supposedly active in Berlin, but I have not been able to find information about the French maybe resurrecting them for service.

In this photo, the 6-pounders and the Vickers had been removed. German soldiers are standing on the tank while smoke billows out from the top hatch. This makes me question that it had been freshly burnt out when this was taken. Somehow this came out quite dark when it was developed but it still turned out sharp enough and a keeper for the photographer. Short inscription on the reverse is a little tricky to read other than it looks to give a location.





Below are other known fotos of 10008 that were collected by a French website










Thanks, Ben

[Danmark]

Well, no suspension and poor crew ventilation may well be a factor - poor buggers probably died from carbon monoxide poisoning before seeing any action!!

[BlackCat1982]

With the main armament removed I would guess it was only used for training. I think the 501e Regiment de Chars Combat was based at Mourmelon in 1940. I can't decode the writing on the back of this photo.

[Willmore]

Hi there.

I am not 100% positive, but this is how I would read the text from the photo -

Es war im schönen Marat.
Mai.
Es war ??? Zeit.

I had a search and found a place called Les Marats.
Les Marats Map - Grand Est, France - Mapcarta

The distance from Mourmelon le Grand (where BlackCat thinks the 501e Regiment de Chars Combat were based in 1940) to Les Marats is 1 hr 10 min (80.9 km).
Both are also close to Verdun, so maybe there is a link there.

I had a search and found a casualty card for a German who fell in Les Marats in June 1940, so with the May date on the photo this could fit together.

Full name: Friesenborg, Otto
Birth date: 13 March 1922
Birth Place: Holzwickede Unna
Military Rank: Soldat
Military Unit: 3./Kompanie Infanterie Regiment 77
Death date: 16 June 1940
Death Place: Conde/Les Marats

I found another place called Marat. Marat is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France, but I cant find any evidence of the Germans being there.
Marat, Puy-de-Dome - Wikipedia

I hope this helps in some way.

Kind regards,

Will.

[BlackCat1982]

Interesting Will. Les Marats, 55000 Les Hauts-de-Chée, France is about 50 miles (80.9KM) from Mourmelon which puts the tank just over its operational range of 45 miles (without refuelling). Could it be that lack of fuel as well as effective armament might be the cause of its loss?

[Willmore]

They are really good points you bring up BlackCat. Pure superstition on my part, but maybe it ran out of fuel and without armaments for defence, it was destroyed by its own crew.

[toot]

#3, I agree that it was towed out & used for target practice.

[BlackCat1982]

They are really good points you bring up BlackCat. Pure superstition on my part, but maybe it ran out of fuel and without armaments for defence, it was destroyed by its own crew.

On the other hand, when taking the other pictures of 10008 into consideration it appears to have been moved "after being captured" by the Germans.

[Witt]

Thank you all for the comments. Another thanks to BlackCat and Willmore for digging deep and providing a possible location from which this photo was taken.
I like the theories presented here especially since other photos of it seem to have been taken in different locations. I suspect it was being used for training an armored unit such as the 501e, and then it broke down since it was an old, problematic tank. I saw once that some Mark V’s became command centers or bunkers for the French after being abandoned but I’m unsure the validity of this claim. Another similar photo I have shows another Mark V off the roadside near a telephone pole so this could be possible.