In the previous article, German tanks of the First World War were considered. Evolution and prospects of tanks contributed to the creation of tanks in France.
Requirements of the French military for a tank
Almost simultaneously with England, at the beginning of 1916, the development of assault tanks to overcome the prepared enemy defenses began in France, culminating in the creation of the CA-1 Schneider and Saint-Chamond medium tanks. A little later, in May 1916, at the Renault company, which produces cars, under the leadership of Louis Renault, the concept of creating a tank of a fundamentally different light class was proposed - a tank for direct support of the infantry.
Tanks SA-1 and "Saint-Chamon" by their purpose and capabilities could not meet the requirements of the military. Bulky and clumsy medium tanks, which were assigned the role of "battering ram", were easy prey for enemy artillery, and they had to be supplemented with numerous light combat vehicles for direct support of the infantry and action in its battle formations, which would have a better chance of success and survival on the field battle.
At first, the military department was in no hurry to support this project, focusing on the development of assault tanks, but later supported the launch of the tank into mass production, and it became the most massive tank of the First World War. The tank entered service in 1917 under the designation Renault FT-17.
The most massive tank of the First World War
This tank became the world's first mass-produced light tank and the first tank to be produced on a conveyor belt. The Renault FT-17 was also the first tank with a classic layout - it had a rotating turret, a control compartment in the front of the hull, a fighting compartment in the center of the tank and a motor-transmission compartment in the rear of the hull. Renault FT-17 became one of the most successful tanks of the First World War and largely determined the further development of design ideas in tank building. The massiveness of the Renault FT-17 tank was ensured due to the simplicity of its design and low cost in production. The tank was developed at a company that mass-produced cars, in this regard, many ideas and method of production from the automotive industry migrated to the design of the tank.
The adopted layout of the tank with two crew members eliminated a number of drawbacks in the habitability of the crew of medium and heavy tanks of that time. The driver was positioned in the bow of the hull, and he was provided with a good view. The shooter with a weapon (cannon or machine gun) was in a rotating turret standing or half-sitting in a canvas loop, which was later replaced by a height-adjustable seat. Tank Renault FT-17 compared to other tanks was unobtrusive, its dimensions are 4, 1 m (without "tail"), 5, 1 m (with "tail"), width 1, 74 m, height 2, 14 m.
The inhabited compartment was fenced off from the engine compartment by a steel partition with two barred windows for air circulation. The windows were equipped with flaps to protect the crew in the event of an engine fire. This eliminated the ingress of gasoline vapors and exhaust gases into the control compartment, reduced the danger to the crew in the event of a fire in the MTO, ensured a better weight distribution along the length of the tank and improved maneuverability.
The landing of the crew was carried out through a three-piece bow hatch or through a spare hatch in the rear of the turret.the turn of the tower of the shooters was carried out by the effort of the shoulders and back with the help of the shoulder pads, producing a rough aiming of the weapon. With the help of the shoulder rest of a cannon or machine gun, he more accurately pointed the weapon at the target. The weight of the tank in the machine-gun version was 6.5 tons, in the cannon version it was 6.7 tons.
The hull of the tank was of a "classic" riveted design, armor plates and suspension parts were fastened to the frame made of corners and shaped parts with rivets and bolts. The first samples of the tank had a cast frontal part of the hull and a cast turret with a spherical observation "dome", which was made in one piece with the roof of the turret. Subsequently, the "dome" was replaced by a cylindrical dome with five viewing slots and a mushroom-shaped hinged lid. This simplified manufacturing and improved ventilation.
Difficulty with the production of armor castings of the desired profile forced to switch to the hull and turret completely riveted from rolled sheets. The thickness of the armor of the forehead of the hull and turret in the cast version was 22 mm, in the riveted 16 mm. The thickness of the armor in the riveted version of the hull is 16 mm, the front of the turret is 16 mm, the stern of the turret is 14 mm, the roof of the turret is 8 mm and the bottom is 6 mm.
The use of a rotating turret provided greater firepower in battle compared to reckless tanks. The tank was produced in two versions - "cannon" and "machine-gun", differing in the installation of the corresponding weapons in the turret. Most of the tanks were produced in the "machine gun" version. In the "cannon" version, a semi-automatic 37-mm rifled gun "Hotchkiss" with a barrel length of 21 caliber was installed, in the "machine-gun" version a "long" 8-mm machine gun "Hotchkiss" was installed in the turret.
The weapon was located in the frontal part of the tower, in a hemispherical armor mask on horizontal trunnions, installed in a vertically swiveling armor plate. Guidance of the weapon was carried out by its free swing using a shoulder rest, the maximum vertical guidance angles ranged from -20 to +35 degrees.
The ammunition load of 237 rounds (200 fragmentation, 25 armor-piercing and 12 shrapnel rounds) was located on the bottom and walls of the fighting compartment. Ammunition for the machine gun was 4800 rounds. A telescopic sight, protected by a steel casing, was used for firing. The gun provided a rate of fire of up to 10 rds / min and a firing range of up to 2400 m, however, according to the visibility of a target from a tank, effective firing was up to 800 m. An armor-piercing projectile could penetrate 12-mm armor at a range of up to 500 m.
As a power plant, the tank was equipped with an engine from a Renault truck with a capacity of 39 hp, providing a maximum speed of only 7, 8 km / h and a cruising range of 35 km, which was clearly not enough for a light tank. The torque was transmitted through a conical clutch to a manual transmission, which had four speeds forward and one backward. The steering mechanisms were side clutches. To control the tank, the driver used two swing levers, a gear lever, gas pedals, clutch and foot brake.
The undercarriage on each side consisted of 9 support and 6 support rollers of small diameter, guide and drive wheels and tracks. The balance suspension was mounted on leaf springs covered with armor plates. Six carrier rollers were combined in a cage, the rear end of which was attached to a hinge. The front end was sprung with a coil spring to maintain a constant track tension. The chassis provided the tank with a minimum turning radius of 1.4 m, equal to the vehicle's track width. The tank was well recognizable by the large diameter of the guide wheel, brought forward and upward in order to increase the cross-country ability when overcoming vertical obstacles, trenches and craters on the battlefield.
The caterpillar of the tank was large-link, pinned engagement 324 mm wide, provided a small specific ground pressure of 0.48 kg / sq. cm and satisfactory cross-country characteristics on loose soil. To increase the cross-country ability through ditches and trenches, the tank had a detachable "tail" that could be turned onto the roof of the engine compartment by turning, with the help of which the machine was able to overcome a ditch up to 1.8 m wide and a escarp up to 0.6 m high and did not overturn on slopes up to 35 °.
At the same time, the tank had a low speed and a small power reserve, which required the use of special vehicles for delivering tanks to the place of use.
Despite the shortcomings, the Renault FT-17, due to its small dimensions and weight, was much more effective than medium and heavy tanks, especially on rough and wooded terrain. It became the main vehicle of the French armored forces, the "symbol of victory" for France in the war, and in the best way demonstrated the promise of tanks. The Renault FT-17 tank became the most massive tank of the First World War, and about 3,500 of these tanks were produced in France. Under license, it was produced in other countries, a total of 7,820 of these tanks of various modifications were produced, and it was in operation until 1940.
In 1919, six Renault FT-17 tanks were captured by the Red Army near Odessa. One tank at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant was carefully copied and produced with an AMO engine and armor from the Izhora plant under the name "Freedom Fighter Comrade Lenin", which became the first Soviet tank.
Assault tank SA-1 "Schneider"
In France, almost simultaneously with England, the development of tanks began. The concept of the tank also included the idea of creating an assault tank to break through the prepared enemy defenses. The decision to develop the tank was made in January 1916, and on the initiative of the "father" of French tanks, Jean Etienne, its development was entrusted to the Schneider company. In a short time, prototypes of the tank were manufactured and tested, and in September 1916, the first SA-1 assault tanks began to enter the army.
The French, like the British, created the SA-1 tank as a "land cruiser". The body of the tank was an armored box with vertical walls. The front of the hull was in the shape of the bow of the ship, making it easier to overcome ditches and cut wire barriers.
The body of the tank was assembled from armor plates, bolted and riveted to the frame, mounted on a rigid rectangular frame and towered above the chassis. At the rear, the hull was equipped with a small "tail", which helped to increase the vehicle's cross-country ability and ensured overcoming trenches up to 1.8 m wide. The tank was impressive in size, length 6, 32 m, width 2.05 m and height 2.3 m and weighed 14, 6t.
The crew of the tank is 6 people - the commander-driver, the deputy commander (who is also the gunner of the gun), two machine gunners (the left one is also a mechanic), loading the cannons and a carrier of machine-gun belts. The landing of the crew was carried out through a double door in the rear of the vehicle and three hatches on the roof, one in the roof of the commander's cabin and two behind the machine-gun installations. An engine was installed in front of the left, to the right of it was the place of the commander-driver. For observation, a viewing window with a folding armored damper and three viewing slots was used.
The thickness of the armor of the tank hull was 11.4 mm, the bottom and roof were 5.4 mm. Reservations turned out to be weak, the armor was pierced by new German rifle bullets. After the first battles, it had to be reinforced with additional sheets with a thickness of 5, 5 to 8 mm.
The armament of the tank consisted of a 75-mm short-barreled howitzer Blockhaus-Schneider with a barrel length of 13 calibers, specially designed for this tank, and two 8-mm Hotchkiss machine guns with a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute.
Since most of the bow of the tank was occupied by the engine and the workplace of the commander-driver, there was simply no room left for the installation of the gun, it, in the manner of a ship, was installed on the starboard side of the tank in a sponson, in order to somehow provide acceptable angles of fire, but it still had a very small horizontal sector of fire of only 40 degrees. The commander-driver had to show extraordinary dexterity in order to keep the target in the engagement zone of the gun when maneuvering.
The aiming range was 600 meters, the effective range was no more than 200 m. The initial projectile speed of 200 m / s was quite enough to deal with light fortifications at a short distance, such as wooden dugouts,. The gun was fired by the assistant commander, behind whom was an ammunition reserve of 90 shells.
Machine guns were installed along the sides in the middle of the hull in gimbal mountings covered with hemispherical shields. The fire from the right machine gun was fired by the machine gunner, from the left - by the mechanic, who also monitored the operation of the engine. The machine guns also had large dead zones that did not provide effective fire.
A 65 hp Schneider or Renault engine was used as a power plant, a 160 liter fuel tank was first placed under the engine, then it was moved to the rear of the tank. The transmission included a 3-speed reverse gearbox that allowed speed changes in the range of 2-8 km / h, and a differential steering mechanism. The power plant provided a maximum highway speed of up to 8 km / h, but the actual speed was 4 km / h on the highway and 2 km / h on rough terrain. The tank's cruising range was 45 km on the highway, 30 km on rough terrain.
One of the advantages of the tank was its high ride comfort, thanks to good shock absorption in the suspension system, this reduced crew fatigue and increased firing accuracy. The undercarriage of the tank was borrowed from the Holt tractor, which underwent a major overhaul.
On each side, the undercarriage consisted of a pair of bogies with road wheels (three on the front, four on the rear), directing wheels in front and leading at the rear. The advantage of the suspension design was the semi-rigid suspension. The 360 mm wide caterpillar contained 34 large tracks, consisting of a pad and two rails along which track rollers with flanges rolled. With the length of the supporting surface of the caterpillar 1, 8 m, the specific ground pressure of 0, 72 kg / sq. cm.
The efficiency of the CA-1 tanks was not as high as planned. An unsuccessful layout with a too short undercarriage for such a massive hull, sluggishness, insufficient maneuverability and poor protection made the tank vulnerable to enemy fire.
The first mass use of the SA-1 tanks took place in April 1917. The French command planned to throw a large number of tanks into battle at once and with their help break through the German defenses. However, the Germans were able to accurately determine the place of the impending offensive and prepared anti-tank defenses in the direction of the strike, bringing up additional artillery.
The ensuing offensive turned into a real massacre for the French. The tanks came under massive artillery fire. In total, the French were able to throw 132 SA-1 tanks into battle, while the tanks only managed to break through the first line of the German defense, losing 76 vehicles and their crews, which were shot by German aircraft. So the first debut of the SA-1 tanks was not entirely successful.
The total number of SA-1 tanks produced is estimated at about four hundred and it did not become a massive tank of the First World War.
Assault tank "Saint-Chamond"
The development of the second assault tank "Saint-Chamond" in addition to the already developed CA-1 of the French army was not needed, but the ambitions of the military commanders played a role here. The development of the SA-1 tank was ordered by the "father" of French tanks, Jean Etienne, who realized his project on his own initiative at the Schneider firm without the consent of the artillery department. The management of the department decided to implement a project to develop the same machine at the FAMH firm located in the city of Saint-Chamond. This is how two assault tanks appeared, not fundamentally different from each other.
In February 1916, an assignment was issued to design a tank, and in April the project was prepared. Tests of the first samples began in mid-1916, and the first deliveries to the army in April 1917, initially as armored supply vehicles without weapons
Outwardly, the Saint-Chamond differed from the SA-1 in its larger size and the presence of a long-barreled cannon in the nose of the tank. The hull was an armored box with vertical sides and with beveled bow and stern cheekbones, far beyond the dimensions of the tracks. The hull was assembled from sheets of rolled armor by riveting on the frame and mounted on the frame to which the chassis was attached. Initially, the armor plates of the sides covered the chassis and reached the ground, but after the first tests, this was abandoned, since such protection worsened the already low cross-country ability.
On the first samples on the hull in front there were the commander and driver's cylindrical turrets, then instead of the cylindrical turrets, box-shaped turrets were installed. The cannon along the axis of the tank was located in a large forward protrusion of the hull, which was balanced by the aft niche, and the engine and transmission were in the middle of the hull.
The crew of the tank was 8-9 people (commander, driver, gunner, mechanic and four machine gunners). Ahead, on the left, was the driver, and on the right, the commander, using observation slots and turrets for observation. To the left of the cannon was the gunner, to the right of the machine gunner. In the stern and at the sides were four more machine gunners, one of whom was also a mechanic. For the landing of the crew, doors served on the sides of the front of the tank. Viewing slits and windows were fitted with shutters.
The length of the hull without the cannon was 7.91 m, with the cannon 8.83 m, the width of 2.67 m, the height of 2.36 m. The weight of the tank was 23 tons. The thickness of the armor plates on the forehead of the hull was 15 mm, the side was 8.5 mm, feed - 8 mm, bottom and roof - 5 mm each. In the future, the thickness of the frontal armor was increased to 17 mm, to exclude penetration by new German armor-piercing bullets.
A 75-mm long-barreled field gun with a barrel length of 36, 3 caliber and an eccentric bolt was used as cannon armament. The dimensions of such an installation and the relatively long recoil of the gun when fired resulted in a large length of the nose of the hull.
The aiming range of the gun was up to 1500 m, but it was impossible to achieve such characteristics due to the unsatisfactory conditions of firing from the tank, since the guidance along the horizon was limited to 8 degrees. So the transfer of fire was accompanied by the rotation of the entire tank, moreover, the vertical aiming angle of the gun was only from -4 to +10 degrees. Frontal, aft and two side mounts of 8-mm Hotchkiss machine guns were used to combat the infantry. Ammunition for the gun was 106 rounds, for machine guns 7488 rounds.
The tank used a Panar-Levassor gasoline engine with a capacity of 90 hp as a power plant, the fuel supply to which was 250 hp. The original feature of the tank was its electric transmission. The engine ran on an electric generator, the voltage from which was supplied to two traction electric motors, each of them, through a mechanical step-down gear, set in motion the caterpillar of one side. The power plant provided the tank with an average speed of 3 km / h, maximum 8 km / h and a cruising range of 60 km.
The driver simultaneously controlled the throttle valve of the carburetor with one pedal, adjusting the engine speed, and changed the resistance of the primary winding by adjusting the current in the primary winding of the generator. When turning, the speed of rotation of the electric motors changed, and when they were switched to reverse, the tank was reversely moved. The electric transmission provided a smooth change in speed and turning radius in a wide range, reduced the load on the tank's engine and required little effort from the driver when controlling the movement. But the electric transmission was bulky and heavy, which led to an increase in the tank's weight.
The chassis was also based on the components of the Holt tractor, which were significantly improved. The undercarriage included three bogies with double road wheels on one side. The frame of the body was supported by bogies through vertical helical coil springs. The track was 324 mm wide and consisted of 36 tracks, including a shoe and two rails. The length of the supporting surface was 2.65 m. With such a caterpillar, there was a high specific pressure on the grant and the width of the caterpillar was increased to 500 mm, while the specific pressure decreased to 0.79 kg / sq. cm.
Due to the overhang of the front of the hull over the tracks, the vehicle could hardly overcome vertical obstacles and ditches with a width of 1, 8 m. The tank's permeability on the ground was noticeably worse than that of the CA-1 tank. The heavy nose led to frequent deformation of the front bogies and the fall of the tracks.
In general, the Saint-Chamond tank was much inferior to the same SA-1, which itself did not shine with reliability and maneuverability, so the army ended up with a second assault tank with very mediocre characteristics.
In the very first battle in May 1917, the Saint-Chamond tanks could not overcome the trenches, stopped in front of them and were hit by enemy artillery or were out of order due to breakdowns. Other battles were equally unsuccessful for these tanks.
In the last months of the war, Saint-Chamond was often used as self-propelled guns, thanks to the long-barreled 75-mm cannon, they successfully fought against German melee batteries. This tank also did not become widespread during the war; a total of 377 tanks of various modifications were manufactured.
