1945, Berlin is occupied and the war in Europe is ended. In the center of Berlin, in the Lustgarten square we see two heavily damaged tanks of WWI. These are real photos, not fake ones.
These are British Mark V tanks. They were produced in 1917-1918 and took part in the very last months of WWI. In Berlin we see two versions - one of them is Composite and another - Female.
To distinguish male, female and composite:
Male is the tank which is armed with the machine guns and cannons in their right and left sponsons.
Female is the tank without cannons and it has machine guns in sponsons too.
Later because of less effectiveness of female tanks, one machine gun sponson replaced by cannon sponson. It was named Hermaphrodite, the same Composite.
These tanks are taken from the Soviet Union, Russian city Smolensk. The Soviet Red Army captured them during the Russian Civil War, from the Russian White Army, supplied by the UK.
There is no doubt that they are the same tanks. Even comparing photos is enough to be sure.
To start from the very begining, these two tanks with other ones were given to the Whites in 1919. British Mark Vs were fighting in the North of Russia, in The Baltic states specifically in Estonia and in the South that are the modern Ukrainian and south Russian territories.
These two tanks are from the south front because every tank from the North and the Baltic front are well known.
The Composite tank number 9146 and one another arrived in Georgia in 1920 when in South Russia defeated white army parts saved themselves by internment in Georgia.
In 1921 after occupying Georgia, Bolsheviks found these two tanks in Tbilisi in non-combat condition and took them to Russia. In the photo there are “Georgian” tanks, Number 9146 which ended its career in Berlin and Number 9330 which isn’t interesting for us.
Unlike the Composite we can not say anything about the female one at that time because it hasn’t got the name or number.
Captured Mark V tanks were served in the Soviet army as late as 1930. Then they were sent to depots and various tank schools or academies.
In 1938 in the Russian city Smolensk, two Mark V type tanks were mounted as monuments in front of the cathedral. Even from the photos it’s easy to identify the two tanks that we started the story with.
The first tank composite Number 9146 is armed with a gun in the left sponson and machine gun in the right one.
The second tank is female without number but with the camouflage which helps to identify it.
An interesting detail: On the cathedral area Bolsheviks made several museums and one of them was anti-religious. The cathedral became operational again after being occupied by Germans.
Germans captured Smolensk in summer of 1941 and both tanks were sent to Berlin but the specific date is unknown.
The tanks were displayed with other trophies at the Lustgarten square in front of the Berlin cathedral.
It is unknown who damaged these tanks, allied bombers or the soviet army during The Battle of Berlin. Both versions are possible.
After the war, unfortunately they have been cut up for scrap. Only photos and an interesting story remained.
There is supposition that they were used by the Germans to defend the city, but there are not any relevant sources.
They were just rusting relics, nothing more.
P.S. If you have any information about the tanks please share with us.
That’s all…
