Welcome back to the Tanks & The First World War series, with today's post containing two tanks, from the German side.
The first is the Schwerer Kampfwagen, the German's response to the British Mark tank which had recently been deployed on the front line. It was first demonstrated at the German Spring Offensive in 1917, so a while after the British started using tanks but didn't go into battle until March 1918 at St Quentin. It was powered by 2 x Daimler engines and carried 6 water-cooled machine guns as well as 1 x 5.7cm Sokol gun. The Schwerer Kampfwagen was plagued with mechanicle problems throughout its service and found it extremely difficult crossing trenches, so they often got stuck.
This brings me on to the second of the tanks today - the Leichter Kampfwagen II. This tank was designed as a replacement after the poor performance of the Schwerer Kampfwagen. This new design contained a tank with a rotating turret, with the tanks overall length of 16 ft 8in, combating the problem of crossing a trench which usually measured 6ft 6in. The Leichter Kampfwagen was armed with a 5.7cm gun and weighed in at nearly 9 tons. This design started being produced in the summer of 1918 but never saw action as the war had come to a close before they were finished. In fact only two prototypes were ever made.
Remember to join us next week for another edition of the Tanks & The First World War series.
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