Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux

The Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux came during the period of the battle of Lys, 24–27 April 1918, but was launched against the British lines in front of Amiens. It is the first tank-versus-tank battle in history.

The Germans only developed a small number of tanks, and used them in this offensive. Fourteen of their A7V tanks supported the advance, making it one of the biggest uses of German tanks in World War I (the Germans only built 21 tanks in total during the war).

During the battle, a group of three advancing German A7V tanks happened upon a group of three British Mark IV tanks, two of which had been outfitted with only machine guns for anti-infantry support. In the resulting engagement, the two anti-infantry Mark IV's were damaged and forced to withdraw, but the remaining Mark IV (outfitted with 6 pound guns) entered into a protracted running duel with the lead A7V, as each tried to fire upon the other while avoiding artillery fire. The Mark IV was eventually able to hit and disable the lead A7V, which was then abandoned by its crew. The Mark IV continued to fire on the two remaining German A7Vs, which withdrew. The remaining Mark IV then advanced with the support of newly arrived British Whippet light tanks, but was then itself disabled by artillery fire, and its British crew in turn abandoned it to retreat to their own trenches. The crews of both the disabled German A7V and British Mark IV recovered their vehicles later in the day, and successfully returned them to their own lines.

The overall battle involved a successful counterattack by Australian forces against a numerically superior German force.