page_title: Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux
section_title: German 2nd Army attack
hierarchical_section_title: Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux / Battle / German 2nd Army attack
caption_attribution_description: English: Mephisto, German tank used in World War I, held in Museum of Brisbane, Australia (Kodachrome slide scanned at 6400, originally shot 1988)
context_page_description: The Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux took place from 24 to 27 April 1918, during the German Spring Offensive to the east of Amiens. It is notable for being the first occasion on which tanks fought against each other; it was the biggest and most successful tank action of the German army in the First World War.
  Three German A7Vs engaged three British Mark IV tanks, two of which were female tanks armed only with machine-guns. The two Mark IV females were damaged and forced to withdraw but the male tank, armed with 6-pounder guns, hit and disabled the lead A7V, which was then abandoned by its crew. The Mark IV continued to fire on the two remaining German A7Vs, which withdrew. The "male" then advanced with the support of several Whippet light tanks which had arrived, until disabled by artillery fire and abandoned by the crew.
  A counter-attack by two Australian brigades and a British brigade during the night of 24 April partly surrounded Villers-Bretonneux and on 25 April the town was recaptured. On 26 April, the role of the Moroccan division of the French army was crucial in pushing back German units.
context_section_description: On 17/18 April, the Germans bombarded the area behind Villers-Bretonneux with mustard gas, causing 1,000 Australian casualties. On the evening of 23/24 April, an artillery barrage was fired, using mustard gas and high explosive rounds. Next morning, the Germans attacked the village with four divisions. The German infantry, with thirteen supporting A7V tanks, broke through the 8th Division, making a 3-mile (4.8 km) wide gap in the Allied line. Villers-Bretonneux fell to the Germans and the railway junction of Amiens became vulnerable to capture. After the Germans took Villers-Bretonneux, the first engagement between opposing tanks took place. Three British Mark IV tanks from No. 1 Section, A Company, 1st Battalion, Tank Corps had been dispatched to the Cachy switch line, at the first reports of German advance and were to hold it against the Germans. One was a "male" (the No. 1 Tank of the section) armed with two 6-pounder guns and machine guns, under the command of Lieutenant Frank Mitchell. It was crewed by only four of the normal crew of eight, as the others had been gassed. The other tanks were "females" armed with 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine-guns, for use against infantry. All were advancing when they encountered a German A7V, "Nixe" of Abteilung III Imperial German Tank Force, commanded by 2nd Lieutenant Wilhelm Biltz.
  Nixe fired on the two "females", damaging them to the extent that it left holes in the hull leaving the crew exposed. Both retreated; their machine guns were unable to penetrate the armour on the German tank. Mitchell's "male" Mark IV continued to fire at the A7V, while on the move to avoid German artillery fire and the gun of the German tank. The movement meant Mitchell's gunner had difficulty in aiming the 6-pounders. The tanks fired at each other on the move, until the Mark IV stopped to allow the gunner a clear shot and the gunner scored three hits (a total of six shell hits). Nixe heeled over on its side, possible as a result of crossing an incline at the wrong angle. The surviving German crew (out of 18 men), including Biltz, alighted from the vehicle and the British fired at them as they fled on foot, killing nine.
  The British tank was next faced by two more A7Vs, supported by infantry; Mitchell's tank fired several ranging shots at the German tanks and they retreated. Mitchell's tank continued to attack the German infantry, firing case-shot. Seven of the new British Whippet medium tanks arrived, attacked the Germans, encountered some battalions "forming up in the open" and killed many infantry with their machine-guns and by running them down. Mitchell later remarked that when they returned their tracks were covered with blood. Only four of the seven Whippets came back, the rest were destroyed by artillery and five crew were killed.
  Being the last tank on the field and slow moving, the Mark IV became a target for German artillery and Mitchell ordered the tank back, manoeuvring to try to avoid the shells but a mortar round disabled the tracks. The crew left the tank, escaping to a British-held trench, much to the surprise of the troops in it. Leutnant Biltz and his crew re-boarded "Nixe" and attempted to return to their base, but had to abandon the vehicle again when the engines failed. Attempts by the Germans to recover it were unsuccessful, and it was blown up by a demolition crew during the night of April 23–24. Earlier in the day, another A7V, No 506 "Mephisto", became ditched in a crater and was abandoned by its crew. It was recovered by British and Australian troops some three months later, and is now held at the Queensland Museum.
caption: Mephisto, German tank now held in the Queensland Museum
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