QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Unique survivor of the Western Front

Upper background: view from the window of an upper-floor ruin in Villers-Bretonneux, looking west to the ridgeline where Monument Wood seems a misnomer for such a treeless landscape. Image E04834 courtesy Australian War Memorial, Canberra

Allies’ counter-attack

27 April

lines

to Amiens

Villers Bretonneux

British trenches

24 April

Bois d’Aquenne German

Bois l’Abbe

“Monument Wood”

German lines 26 April

Allies’ counter-attack

German trenches

A7V Specifications Crew: 18 Weight: 33.4 tonnes (73,700 lbs) Length: 8.0m (26ft 3in) Width: 3.2m (10ft 5in) Height: 3.3m (10ft 10in) Range: 40km (25 miles) Armor: 10–30mm (0.39–1.18in) Armament: 57mm, 6 x MG

Above: Contemporary satellite image of Monument Wood (left) and Villers-Bretonneux (centre) with overlays showing the dogged advance of Allied battalions during 24-26 April 1918 which reclaimed the village from the Germans and witnessed the world’s first armoured encounters between tanks. The challenges of fighting these rudimentary monsters across muddy countryside churned by shell craters and scored by trenches can scarcely be imagined today. Imagery courtesy of Google Maps and Australian War Memorial ‘Wartime’ magazine No.2 April 1988

Engines: 2 Daimler 100hp, 4 cylinder engines Speed: 16km/h (10 mph) “with tail wind” Clearance: 12.7cm (5in)

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