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The turret made the employment of it's armament much more flexible and effective, and the whole vehicle was considerably more agile and easy to drive than it's heavier partners, yet better protected. The whole track assembly with it's large front wheel gave the tank good ability to cross difficult terrain and trenches and to climb high obstacles. It also proved easily adapted to form numerous variations (besides the basic variants, equipped with either one MG or one 37mm cannon), including a Signals and Command tank, a 75mm gun tank and a Fascine Carrier. This tank was produced long after the war, and was exported to more than ten countries, including Japan, Poland, Canada, Spain and Brazil, clones or copies were made in Italy, USA and the Soviet Union, and it was used in practically all the armed conflicts of the Twenties and Thirties. |
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The Renault FT-17 - FT being Renaults internal product designation, 17 the year of its construction - was first used in combat on the 31 May 1918, in support of an attack by Marrocan Infantry in the Retz forest, as a part of the attempts to halt the German Spring Offensive. This is an excerpt from a report written by one of the participants, capitaine Aubert, 304th Company: "The signal was given, 'Advance'. After a few hundred yards suddenly the corn ceased. We were in open, uncultivated ground. As soon as we debouched we were subject to heavy machine-gun fire directed particularly against the slits and port holes. The hammer of the bullets against the armour, accompanied by the splash, showed us the general direction of the fire. In our case it was coming from the left. Many bullets struck the gun shield and made traversing difficult. But we swung the turret and there was the machine gun, not more than 50 yards away. It took five rounds to put it out, and the tracks completed the work. All the tanks were now on the same alingement. They were all in action firing and manoeuvring, which showed us that we were on the enemy's line of resistance." |
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shows the gun-variant, mounted in a cast turret. The turret and the tracks are from BW Models FT-17, the body comes from Matchbox nice little kit. I've added som stowage and a small flag - which I believe was used for signalling, not only to show the armamernt type of that particular tank. It is made out to look like a generic FT-17, in factory dark green. Click on the thumbnails below to see more photos of this model:
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Weight Maximum Armour Maximum Road Speed Armament Crew |
If it were the French who made the worst tanks of the
war, it should also be noted that they also made the very best one, the Renault FT-17, a quite revolutionary vehicle which set the shape and pattern for tanks of the
future, even up til today. It came out of a desire to give the standard tanks like the CA 1 a light partner, designed to be more more fitting than the heavies for the exploitation of
breakthroughs. It was a joint semi-private project between the maverick father of the french tank
weapon, Estienne, and the french firm of Renault. After some bureaucratic delays the first prototypes were tested in early 1917, and proved to be an immediate
success. It included a number of very innovative features, including an easily turned
turret, which was moved manually.
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