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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
2/Lt. Alfred Edward "Ted" Ashworth CdeG.
British Army Tank Corps
from:Waterfoot
Abandoned German tank Elfriede, which was recovered from a quarry, some 50 yards in front of the French front line below Villers Bretonneux by 2Lts Ashworth & Gibbings of the Tanks Corps.
My Grandfather was 2nd Lieutenant A E Ashworth of the 1st Battalion Tank Corps during WW1. I have the Croix de Guerre which he was awarded by the French and two original photographs of the Tank Elfriede, taken after it was captured south of the Somme in 1918.I had always wanted to confirm my grandfather's involvement in the capture of Elfriede and in 2012 paid a visit to the British National Archives at Kew where I read the war diaries of the 1st Battalion and also of the 5th Brigade, under whose temporary command the 1st Battalion was on the date in question. What I discovered makes the capture of Elfriede all the more memorable. It is clear that the tank was captured by the British with the help of a French guide and that the expedition took two nights, not one as had been previously reported.
1st Battalion Tank Corps received an order from 5th Brigade Tank Corps on 14th May 1918 to send out two tanks to tow out an abandoned German tank from No Man's Land. At 23.00 two tanks left Querrieu Wood, and reached the location of the German tank Elfriede, which was lying on its side in a quarry, some 50 yards in front of the French front line below Villers Bretonneux. It had been jacked up by the French Tank Corps but they needed British help to tow it out.
At 04.00 the next morning the two British female Mark IV tanks, commanded by 2nd Lts A E Ashworth and E Gibbings, under the overall command of Lt (later Captain) E Hawthorn, reached the German tank but had to lay up for the entire day, until 21.00 when they proceeded to tow the tank out a distance of some 9000 yards. Amazingly they do not seem to have come under German fire, no one was injured and the three British Officers were highly praised in the orders of French General Bebeney, Commander of the First French Army. 10 of the 13 British involved were awarded the Croix de Guerre and the trophy was handed over to the French Engineers who subsequently put Elfriede on public display in Paris. Sadly the tank was scrapped in 1919. It seems a miracle that the two British tanks were not attacked in No Man's Land during the daylight hours of 15th May 1918, and the bravery of their crews who waited inside them for a whole day for darkness to fall is immense.
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