What if the Germans were the first to develop a tank during World War I?

During World War I, the German military was very slow to adapt to the integration of tanks into the war on the Western Front. In fact, they were the last nation on the Western Front to begin a tank program, being beaten by Britain and France and this was one year after said tank programs began.

When they did develop their tank program, the end result was the Sturmpanzerwagen A7V, production of which began in October 1917. It first went into battle in March 1918, providing support for German troops north of the Saint Quentin canal. Three of the tanks broke down and it inability to cross trenches cause it to lag behind the advancing troops. Other flaws in the design of the A7V included it's short tracks limiting it's off road performance and it's high centre of gravity causing it to tip over or get stuck.

Only 20 A7V tanks were built and due to their problems, were only valuable as a propaganda tool, rather than as a proper weapon of war.

Eventually, the Germans decided to commandeer Allied tanks, repaint them with German colours and use them in the battlefield. These stolen tanks were called Beutepanzers.

However, the use of Beutepanzers itself had problems. they were unable to be resupplied or repaired effectively in the field. The German High Command disliked the use of captured tanks since their cumbersome size and slow speed did not fit with German tactics which favoured speed and aggression.

So, what if the Germans were able to beat the French and British to the punch and be the first to introduce tanks to the battlefield in World War I in 1915 or 1916?
 
There was an Austrian engineer named Günther Burstyn who designed a vehicle that could've been the world's first tank had anyone in the Austro-Hungarian empire seen its potential. It was designed in 1911 and would've been armed with a 47 mm gun inside a fully rotating turret.

Burstyn-Tank.png
BurstynTankAustro-Hungarian2_zps43549cd1.jpg


The vehicle had articulated arms linked to the rear and front axles to assist in crossing trenches.

In an alternate timeline, Günther Burstyn could've taken his design to Germany in 1912 and have a prototype ready by the time the great war started and ready for combat in 1915-16? If the designed worked as good as it looked and had been combined with storm trooper tactics, maybe it could've broken the stalemate of the trenches but there still would've been other components of mobile warfare missing and the Burstyn might have sent shock waves through the Allied high commands but the Brits and the French already would've had tank prototypes of their own in the works so the shock would've been short lived.

I don't think the Burstyn would've been a war winner or a game changer but maybe it could've had the war end in a draw?
 
Last edited:
When the Germans used 14 tanks to support their attack on Villers Bretoneux in 1918, their psychological impact on the British troops was out of all proportion to their numbers. The British troops either fled or surrendered. Their number was far too small to have a decisive impact, but it does tend to suggest that if the German March Offensive had been supported by large tank forces, British morale would have suffered a decisive collapse.
 
There was no powerful incentive to develop tanks for the Western Front. Whenever the Germans started planning for a decisive offensive in the west, they were soon compelled to shift these forces to the east, where the Austro-Hungarians had to be saved from Russian superiority. Even Verdun was not designed as breakthrough, but as battle of attrition. In fact,the Kaiserschlacht 1918 was the first time - after the Schlieffen Operation in 1914 - that they were undertaking a major offensive in the west.
For successfully fighting the Russians, however, the traditional combintion of infantry and artillery proved sufficient. Nevertheless, the supply situation in the east caused them to look for cross-country transport. IOTL, this initiative soon lost priority, as the frontlines stabilised by the end of 1915 - and thefocus shifted to the Balkans and Verdun. So, let's suppose ITTL that the attempt to produce a tracked vehicle is more successful and happens faster than IOTL. By initiative of a frontline commander, some of those tracked transports are provisionally armed and armoured. They spread terror and panic among the Russian troops. The OHL takes notice and demands production to be stepped up. As a consequence, the initial attack at Verdun is supported by 50 to 70 Sturm-Panzer-Kraftwagen, some of which carry flamethrowers. The heights east of the Meuse are taken, and the battle of attrition can unfold as originally planned. As a consequence, construction of Stupaks becomes a first priority - and OHL contemplates a major offensive for 1917, hence no Alberich retreat but a Siegfried attack. Might buttefly away USW. And might be a war winner for the Central Powers.
 
Even Verdun was not designed as breakthrough, but as battle of attrition.

Wasn't this a lie von Falkenhayn made up after the battle turned into a slog of attrition to cover his ass? If they reached the Meuse so early, they would attempt to make a full breakthrough and force the French lines back. This may or may not be successful but it wouldn't fix the blockade, turnip winter, the Brusilov Offensive, and also I don't think OHL would've been as open to tanks as you say. The British high command, ex Douglas Haig, didn't like tanks and they were to the first to introduce them and the British military didn't have the same entrenched ideas the Germans did. I'm not saying they couldn't build them first, but they wouldn't be the war winner themselves. If Germany doesn't fix its food problems, time is against them. And having better tanks doesn't help when your soldiers refuse to fight because they're starving and dieing in a foreign land for no good reason.
 
Last edited:
Wasn't this a lie von Falkenhyn(?) .

No, it wasn't a post-factum lie. The idea was to burn up the French reserves - and to goat the English into staging a premature relief attack. The German attack formations, three army corps, were clearly too weak to achieve a breakthrough. They might have just been sufficient to take the key Meuse heights, if the attack had taken place on February 13th as originally planned.
 
Top