Description

The British Mark V tank was an upgraded version of the Mark IV tank, deployed in 1918 and used in action in the closing months of World War I. Thanks to Walter Wilson’s epicyclic gear steering system, it was the first British heavy tank that required only one man to steer it; the gearsmen needed in earlier Marks were thus released to man the armament.
The Mark V was first used in the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918, when 60 tanks contributed to a successful assault by Australian units on the German lines. It went on to take part in eight major offensives before the end of the War.
Canadian and American troops trained on Mk Vs in England in 1918, and the American Heavy Tank Battalion (the 301st) took part in three actions on the British Sector of the Western Front in late 1918. During the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, 288 Mark V tanks, along with the new Whippet and Mk V*, penetrated the German lines in a foretaste of modern armoured warfare.

At the Battle of Amiens, B Company was organised into 5 sections of 4 tanks each. Three tanks per section were in front or alongside the first infantry wave. One tank would be in reserve. At least one of these tanks in the front section would be a ?Female? variant of the Mark V.
The ?FEMALE? tank featured multiple machine guns instead of the heavier armament seen on the much more common “MALE” tanks. As such, female tanks were normally cast in an anti-infantry role.