K-Wagen: German super-heavy tank of the World War I period

It would seem that the era of large and very heavy tanks in history coincided with the period of World War II - then in the Third Reich, the designs of a number of tracked combat vehicles weighing more than a hundred tons were being worked out, and some were even implemented (E-100, Maus, etc.). However, it is often forgotten that the Germans began working on tanks with such characteristics during the Great War, shortly after the debut of this new type of weapon on the side of the Allied battlefield. The final result of engineering efforts was the K-Wagen, the largest and heaviest tank of the First World War.

When the Germans first encountered tanks on the Western Front in September 1916, the new weapon caused two opposite feelings: horror and admiration. It would seem that the unstoppable machines seemed to the Imperial soldiers and commanders who fought on the front line, a formidable weapon, although at first the German press and some high-ranking officers treated this invention with great disdain. However, the unjustified, disrespectful attitude was quickly replaced by a real calculation and a sober assessment of the potential of tracked combat vehicles, which led to interest on the part of the Supreme Command of the German Ground Forces, who wanted to have an analogue of the British machine in their arsenal.

Germany's efforts to create the first tanks basically ended (not counting the tank designs left on the drawing boards) with the construction of two cars: A7V and Leichter Kampfwagen versions I, II and III (some historians and military enthusiasts say that the development of the LK III stopped at the design stage). The first of the machines - slow, not very maneuverable, produced in an amount of only twenty copies - managed to enter service and take part in hostilities, but the general dissatisfaction with its design led to the fact that the development of the machine was abandoned.

The experimental design remained more promising even thanks to the best characteristics, although not without drawbacks. The inability to supply hastily created German armored troops with tanks of domestic production meant the need to supply their ranks with captured equipment. The soldiers of the imperial army strenuously "hunted" the Allied vehicles, but without much success. The first serviceable tank (Mk IV) was captured only on the morning of November 24, 1917 in the Fontaine-Notre-Dame area after an operation carried out by a team under the command of Corporal Fritz Leu from Armee Kraftwagen Park 2 (of course, before that date, the Germans managed to destroy a number of British tanks, but they were damaged or damaged so much that were not subject to repair and combat use). Bir çoxunuz hər şeyə mərc edə bilsəniz də, mən yalnız bukmeker kontorunda Çempionlar Liqasına mərc edirəm mostbet az 90 heç bir analitika və ya strategiya olmadan, idman bahislərində yeni başlayanlar arasında ümumi bir səhvdir