A7V

A7V
Sole surviving A7V (Mephisto) on display at the Australian War Memorial
Type	Tank
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	21 March 1918 – 16 October 1918
Used by	German Empire
Wars	World War I German Revolution
Production history
Designer	Joseph Vollmer
Designed	1916
No. built	20
Specifications
Weight	33 t (32 long tons; 36 short tons) battle weight
Length	7.34 m (24 ft 1 in)
Width	3.1 m (10 ft 2 in)
Height	3.3 m (10 ft 10 in)
Crew	A minimum of 18
Armor	Hull – Front: 30 mm (1.2 in), rear & sides: 15 mm (0.59 in), top:6 mm (0.24 in) Command cupola – Front: 20 mm (0.79 in), rear & sides: 15 mm (0.59 in), top 5 mm (0.20 in)
Main armament	57 mm gun (initially with 180 rounds; later 300)
Secondary armament	6 × 7.9 mm machine guns 36,000 rounds
Engine	2 × Daimler-Benz 4-cylinder 200 hp (149 kW) total
Power/weight	6.5 hp/tonne
Transmission	Adler gearboxes and differentials
Suspension	Holt track, vertical springs
Operational range	30–80 km (19–50 mi)
Speed	15 kilometres per hour (9.3 mph) on roads 4 mph cross-country

The A7V was a tank introduced by Germany in 1918, during World War I. One hundred chassis were ordered in early 1917, 10 to be finished as fighting vehicles with armoured bodies, and the remainder as the Überlandwagen cargo carriers. The number to be armoured was later increased to 20. They were used in action from March to October 1918, and were the only tanks produced by Germany in World War I to be used in combat.

Following the appearance of the first British tanks on the Western Front, the Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement, Abteilung 7 Verkehrswesen ("General War Department, Section 7, Transportation"), was formed in September 1916.

The project to design and build the first German tank was placed under the direction of Joseph Vollmer, one of Germany's foremost automobile designers. It was to weigh around 30 tons, be capable of crossing ditches up to 1.5 metres wide, have armament including cannon at the front and rear as well as several machine-guns, and reach a top speed of at least 12 km/h. The running gear was based on the Holt tractor, copied from examples loaned by the Austrian Army. After initial plans were shared with the army in December 1916, the design was extended to be a universal chassis that could be used as a base for both a tank and unarmoured Überlandwagen ("over-land vehicle") cargo carriers.

The first prototype was completed by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft at Berlin-Marienfelde and tested on 30 April 1917. A wooden mockup of a final version was completed in May 1917 and demonstrated in Mainz with 10 tons of ballast to simulate the weight of the armour. During final design, the rear-facing cannon was removed and the number of machine-guns was increased to six. The first pre-production A7V was produced in September 1917, followed by the first production model in October 1917. The tanks were given to Assault Tank Units 1 and 2, founded on 20 September 1917, each with five officers and 109 NCOs and soldiers.

The tank's name was derived from that of its parent organization, Allgemeines Kriegsdepartement, 7. Abteilung, Verkehrswesen. In German, the tank was called Sturmpanzerwagen, (roughly "armoured assault vehicle").

The A7V was 7.34 metres (24.1 ft) long, 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide, and the maximum height was 3.3 metres (11 ft). The tank had 20 mm of steel plate at the sides, 30 mm at the front and 10 mm for the roof; however, the steel was not hardened armour plate, which reduced its effectiveness. It was thick enough to stop machine-gun and rifle fire, but not larger calibre rounds.