German tank captured by 26th Australian Infantry Battalion, 4 August 1918.
Towards the end of World War I, German Army tank A7V 506 ‘Mephisto’ became stuck in a shell crater.
In July of 1918, some Queenslanders and Tasmanians of the 26th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Forces captured Mephisto and decided that it should be taken as a war trophy.
There was an intense battle, all 13 members of the 26th Battalion who took part in the retrieval were injured by gas from the German shells hailing down on them and 2 sustained gunshot wounds. All members of the retrieval party survived and were evacuated for medical treatment. Support was also provided by British forces in the form of recovery tanks and aircraft flyovers to mask the noise of Mephisto's retrieval.
Mephisto 506 being the sole survivor of 20 A7V’s ever produced, is cared for by the Queensland Museum at Southbank, Queensland Australia.
Detailed amongst the digital stories of the Anzac Square Memorial Galleries Anzac Square & Memorial Galleries is the incredible account of the Mephisto.
Germany developed their own tanks from studying the British tanks they had captured earlier. The A7V’s were faster and more maneuverable than the British tanks, however the A7V’s struggled with low track height and an underbelly vulnerable to entanglement.
The Driver’s elevated position gave him an excellent all-round view, except for the 10-11 meter blind spot directly in front of him. Combined with dim light, smoke and fog many A7V’s including the Mephisto came to grief on steep slopes, shell craters and pits.
Mephisto arriving at the Queensland Museum, Bowen Hills, Brisbane, August 1919.
Transported by rail and sea, Mephisto was unloaded in Brisbane and was moved to the old Queensland Museum Building (then at Bowen Hills) on 22 August 1919.
Detailed in the picture above is one of the steam rollers used to move the Mephisto into the Old Queensland Museum, as well as some cars, horses and carts.
Mephisto remained on display outside Queensland Museum, on Gregory Terrace, for more than 60 years.
Mephisto was moved to the Southbank campus of the Queensland Museum in 1986
Mephisto was damaged by the 2011 Brisbane floods and was taken to the Queensland Museum Rail Workshops in North Ipswich for significant restoration.
Mephisto being moved from its first Queensland home to the new Queensland Museum in 1986.
Following the restoration, during 2013-2017 Mephisto travelled to Canberra however Mephisto is now safely high and dry Anzac Legacy Gallery at Queensland Museum, South Bank.
Mephisto on display at The Workshops Rail Museum, 2013.
References
Marg Powell (26 November) Captain Murphy, 26th Infantry Battalion, State Library of Queensland Website, accessed 2 December 2024.
Queensland Museum (n.d.) Mephisto, Queensland Museum Website, accessed 2 December 2024.
Mephisto (tank), Wikipedia website, accessed 2 December 2024.
Hopkins-Weise, Jeff and Czechura, Gregory. 2018. Mephisto: Technology War and Remembrance. 2018.
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