Designed as an interim successor to the Mark V, David Fletcher investigates the Mark V* tank, a little known but incredibly important World War One weapon of war
In many of the earliest books written about World War One tanks you will read that the Mark V* was created by taking an ordinary Mark V, slicing it more or less in half and inserting an extra six feet of hull. However, this is entirely incorrect. The Mark V* was a completely new design, not adapted from a Mark V at all. A total of 400 Mark V tanks were built in the first half of 1918, with Mark V* tanks following them on the production lines. The true origin of this vehicle is that, in the summer of 1917, Central Workshops in France authorised the modification of a Mark IV tank by chopping it in half and inserting an extra six feet of the hull amidships. This produced a longer tank, more rigid than ones fitted with the Tadpole Tail device. However, being heavier and longer, it proved very sluggish with the old 105hp Daimler engine and very difficult to steer with so much track on the ground.
‘The reason for developing a longer tank was to tackle wider trenches’
‘On August 8, 1918, the so-called Black Day of the German A…
