What ranks were crew members of World War One tanks?

Submitted by Delvestius t3_zn0rxf in history

Specifically the British Mark variants and the German A7V. I'v been doing some research but I can only find information about World War Two and later armored ranks. I'v learned the following:

- The gunner was the second in command, then the driver, then the loaders.
- Tank crews were almost all COs and NCOs
- The rank of tank commanders depended on their role in the company

One thing that I would like clarification on is the rank of World War 1 tank machine gunners and engineers. I wonder how the machine gunners and artillery gunners match up compared to the driver and gearsman/engineer.

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manic47 t1_j0fpnef wrote

The Tank Museum at Bovington has a load of information about WW1 crews.

There’s a big exhibit there about Fray Bentos and which details the crew and their ranks.

They have details of lots of other tanks and their crew too, this is just the most famous one.

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Delvestius OP t1_j0guozv wrote

This is helpful, but I'd like more information. It just says "gunner" between sargent and lance corporal. Does this mean they were corporals?

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manic47 t1_j0gwwjo wrote

Gunner was a rank - basically the Royal Artillery equivalent of a private.

AFAIK Lance Bombardier & Bombardier was the RA equivalents to Lance Corporals and Corporals. I'm not sure why Fray Bentos is listed as having an LC serving in it - it might simply have been due the way ranks were structured at that exact time, and the fact the RA was three separate branches.

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LambdaMale t1_j0gjxr2 wrote

The German Wikipedia lists the crew for the A7V as 1 officer, 5 ncos and 10 enlisted men. Another 7 to 10 enlisted men in battle configuration (adding messengers, carrier pigeon handler, 2nd rifleman for each MG, etc.).
The article cites a book called "Sturmpanzerwagen A7V : vom Urpanzer zum Leopard 2", which, if you can find a copy, might be able to get you more detailed information on what positions were supposed to be NCOs and which ones enlisted men. Given how haphazard everything was at the front by that time though, what was supposed to be and what was reality might be somewhat different.

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