page_title: A7V
section_title: Villers-Bretonneux
hierarchical_section_title: A7V / Combat history / Villers-Bretonneux
caption_attribution_description: A German A7V tank captured by the 26th Australian battalion, at Monument Wood, near Villers-Bretonneux, in France, on July 14th, 1918.; Black &amp; white - Glass original half plate negative. Unknown Australian Official Photographer. France: Picardie, Somme, Corbie Albert Area, Vaux. Image made on 4 August 1918.Copyright expired - public domain. See: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1261?image=1
context_page_description: The A7V was a heavy tank introduced by Germany in 1918 during World War I. One hundred chassis were ordered in early 1917, ten to be finished as fighting vehicles with armoured bodies, and the remainder as Überlandwagen cargo carriers. The number to be armoured was later increased to 20. They were used in action from March to October 1918, and were the only tanks produced by Germany in World War I to be used in combat.
context_section_description: Three detachments (Abteilungen) of tanks were assigned to an attack at Villers-Bretonneux at the head of the four German divisions spread over a 6.4-kilometre (4 mi) front. Two tanks broke down en route, but the 13 that saw action achieved some success, and the British recorded that their lines were broken by the tanks.
  A counter attack later re-established the Allied line, by which time three A7Vs were out of action in No Man's Land or behind German lines. Nixe was badly damaged, and a German team destroyed it with explosive charges during the night of the 24th. Elfriede had overturned; it was righted and recovered from No Man's Land three weeks later by French troops and British tanks, and handed over to the French for examination. Mephisto lay stuck in a crater behind German lines for almost three months. After the area was taken by Australian troops, in July, the tank was towed to the rear by British tanks and, eventually, transported to Australia.
  The first tank-against-tank combat in history took place on 24 April 1918 when three A7Vs (including chassis number 561, known as Nixe) taking part in an attack with infantry incidentally met three British Mark IVs (two female machine gun-armed tanks and one male with two 6-pounder guns) near Villers-Bretonneux. During the battle, tanks on both sides were damaged. According to the British lead tank commander, Second Lieutenant Frank Mitchell, the female Mk IVs fell back after being damaged by armour-piercing bullets. They were unable to damage the A7Vs with their own machine guns. Mitchell then attacked the lead German tank, commanded by Second Lieutenant Wilhelm Biltz, with the 6-pounders of his own tank and knocked it out. He hit it three times, and killed five of the crew when they bailed out. He stated that he then went on to rout some infantry with case shot. The two remaining A7Vs in turn withdrew. As Mitchell's tank withdrew from action, seven British Whippet tanks also engaged the German infantry. Four of these were knocked out in the battle, and it is unclear if any of them engaged the retreating German tanks. Mitchell's tank lost a track towards the end of the battle due to damage from an exploding mortar shell and was abandoned. The damaged A7V limped back to the German lines, but eventually broke down.
caption: A7V tank (Mephisto) after recovery from the battlefield
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