Mephisto (A7V chassis no. 506) was lost at Villers-Bretonneux 24 April 1918, recovered by Australians and shipped home to dear old Oz, as the Brits and US had their own captured vehicles. It is now preserved in a Perspex case at the Queensland Museum, some 35 k’s from me. Anyone interested in a few detail shots, drop me a line.
The fact that the Brits and US decided to scrap and blow up their own pieces of irrecoverable history seems to be the start of a similar approach by their successors in WW2. To quote that famous Aussie Bush Ranger, Ned Kelly’s last words, ‘Such is life’. When will they learn?
Basically this baby was built as a joint secret project between Germany and Russia. Not exactly the indy tank, but close enough with the rhomboidial track arrangement and turret.