From the very beginning of the dawn of the era of tank building, France was a country that went its own way in this area. Many original projects were created here, some of which were embodied in metal and even mass-produced, and some were never built, leaving behind only drawings. At the same time, it was the paper projects of French tanks, which were being developed just before the outbreak of World War II, that simply boggled the imagination with their size and weight. Already in 1939 in France there were projects of armored mastodons that would not get lost against the background of the later German "Maus" or even surpass it.
We have already written about two super-heavy tanks in France of this period. You can read about amazing combat vehicles, which, of course, were the Char 2C, also known as FCM 2C, and the 140-ton FCM F1, in the article “Steel Monsters: Super Heavy Tanks in France”. Today we will take a closer look at two other, no less surprising, French projects: the heavy tank FCM 1A, the layout of which was more familiar and more characteristic of the tanks of the Second World War than in 1917, and the super-heavy tank AMX "Tracteur C", which, according to the French terminology referred to "tanks-fortresses" (Char de forteresse).
Heavy tank FCM 1A
The history of this tank dates back to the summer of 1916. It was then that the French military were able to formulate all those qualities that they would like to see in a heavy tank. They didn't want so much, but for those years, their vision of the development of tanks was advanced. This will be confirmed later by the Renault FT-17 light tank, which became the first tank with a classic layout and a very successful combat vehicle actively exported. From a new heavy tank in the summer of 1916, the French wanted: a turret installation of armament, the ability to confidently overcome trenches and folds of the terrain, which the Schneider and Saint-Chamond could not boast of, as well as normal anti-cannon armor (by that time, the Germans had already learned how to deal with French tanks with the help of their 77-mm field guns). It was planned to put as many machine guns on a heavy tank as it would fit. At the same time, the French military urgently needed a new heavy combat vehicle, as they say, yesterday.
Against the background of the first French tanks, the project, which was presented by the Mediterranean Society of Ironworks and Shipyards (F. C. M.), looked much better. The company received an assignment to develop a heavy tank in July 1916 from the head of the French Army's Automotive Service. Almost immediately after receiving the first information about the combat use of British Mk. I tanks, specialists from the French company FCM created their own project of a tank weighing more than 38 tons, armed with a 105-mm cannon and distinguished by 30-mm armor. It was planned to install a 200 hp Renault engine on the tank.
Soon enough, on December 30, 1916, the project of the tank, designated Char Lourd A, was submitted for consideration to the Advisory Committee of the Assault Artillery of the French Army. The efforts of FCM engineers were assessed positively, but the commission's conclusions were not so optimistic. A preliminary assessment of this project showed that with a full set of weapons, ammunition and fuel, as well as with 30-mm armor, the mass of the tank would exceed 40 tons. With the technologies existing at that time, it was not possible to create a convenient and reliable mechanical-type transmission for such a tank, so it was decided to create an electric transmission. This project was also developed by General Etienne, who proposed two alternative tanks with 75 mm guns and different types of transmissions - electrical and mechanical.
At the same time, the reservation requirement remained unchanged, the tank had to be protected from hits from German 77-mm field guns. Also, the experience of the combat use of the first French tanks showed that it was impossible to do without placing the main armament in a rotating turret, the same Saint-Chamond could direct its cannon in a very limited sector, being more of an SPG than a tank. From this position, the FCM 30mm armored turret looked very dignified for its time period.
The undercarriage of the tank was not particularly original in design. According to the requirements, on a heavy tank it had to be made quite high, almost in human height. The suspension of the small diameter road wheels was blocked, but the rigidity of the course was partially compensated for by their number. The drive wheels were in front, the ridge-toothed guide wheels were at the rear. All open elements of the chassis were reliably covered with armored screens.
The FCM 1A tank was distinguished by its classic layout. In front of its hull, there was a control compartment, which housed the seats of the driver and his assistant. Further there was a combat compartment, along the sides of which there was one viewing device and two embrasures for firing from machine guns. The combat compartment housed 5 crew members at once: the tank commander, gunner, loader, machine gunner and mechanic. Thus, the tank's crew consisted of 7 people. The engine and transmission compartments were located in the rear of the combat vehicle, occupying more than 50% of the entire length of the tank. The FCM 1A booking was differentiated. So the tower and the frontal part of the hull had 35-mm armor, the sides and rear of the hull - 20 mm, the roof and bottom of the hull - 15 mm. There were few observation devices on the tank. In the body of the combat vehicle there were 4 viewing slots, covered with bulletproof glass (two in front and two on the sides). In addition, the tank commander could monitor the battlefield using a commander's cupola or a telescopic gun sight.
The armament of the FCM heavy tank was impressive. In the conical turret, which was located on the roof of the fighting compartment, it was planned to install a 105-mm gun and an 8-mm Hotchkiss machine gun. According to the project (and on the layout), another machine gun was to be installed in a ball mount in the forehead of the hull with a slight offset to the left side of the tank, but this machine gun was not on the built prototype. In addition, in the stowage inside the fighting compartment there was a 4x8-mm Hotchkiss machine gun, which could be used for firing from embrasures in the sides of the hull.
Before building a prototype of a tank in metal, the French created a life-size wooden model. The mock-up commission, which examined the work, was pleased with what they saw. The appearance of the heavy tank FCM 1A was very impressive. At the same time, the combat vehicle received a rotating turret and armor, which surpassed any of the English "rhombuses". The prototype was able to enter the sea trials of the tank, which took place near the city of Seine, on December 10, 1917. Officially, the test cycle of the combat vehicle began on December 21-22 with a run on the road between the cities of Seine and Sublette, after which it was decided to send the tank to a sandy beach. Due to the presence of a high undercarriage, the FCM 1A was relatively easy to overcome obstacles, among which were: a vertical wall with a height of 0.9 meters, a trench 2 meters wide and a pit with a diameter of 3.5 meters. Wire barriers, as well as small craters from shells, were not an obstacle for him. At full speed, the tank could knock down a tree with a diameter of about 35 cm. But the tank also had obvious weaknesses that concerned mobility. The FCM 1A was difficult to handle when cornering. The tank could only move well in a straight line. When trying to "lay a turn", the combat vehicle, due to the large length of the undercarriage and its small width, unfinished transmission and the design of tracked tracks, could hardly make turns even on a hard surface.
At the same time, the tank's fire tests were very successful. Shooting from a 105-mm gun proved its high efficiency in combat conditions, but 75-mm guns were still going to be installed on serial tanks. The choice in favor of a smaller caliber was determined by the French military by several factors: lower recoil when fired, smaller gun dimensions and a large ammunition load, which was already large. So, for a 105-mm cannon, 120 rounds could fit in a tank, and for a 75-mm cannon, 200 pieces at all. In addition, for each of the 5 machine guns, there were from 2500 to 3000 rounds.
Along the way, FCM engineers created two more variants of the FCM tank, 1B and FCM 1C. The last one was the hardest. Its mass was supposed to be 62 tons, and its length increased to 9, 31 meters. At the same time, the booking and armament remained unchanged. The FCM 1C variant was manufactured in mid-1918, it was even planned to purchase 300 of these machines, but the surrender of Germany and the end of the First World War led to the fact that in war-torn France there was simply no need for such heavy breakthrough tanks.
Despite this, the modified version of the 1C tank, which received the new Char 2C index, was nevertheless put into mass production a few years later. The tank was produced in a small batch. The Char 2C remained forever the crown of the development of heavy armored vehicles during the First World War, however, the combat vehicle intended for positional warfare turned out to be completely unsuitable for World War II, a motorized war, with rapid breakthroughs into the depth of defense, strategic outreach and a race along the undefended rear of the enemy. Late for the First World War, by the next war, heavy French tanks were hopelessly outdated.
The performance characteristics of FCM 1A:
Overall dimensions: length - 8350 mm, width - 2840 mm, height - 3500 mm.
Combat weight - approximately 41 tons.
Reservations: turret forehead and hull forehead - 35 mm, hull sides and stern - 20 mm, hull roof and bottom - 15 mm.
Armament - 105-mm cannon or 75-mm cannon, 5x8-mm machine guns.
Ammunition - 120 rounds for a 105-mm cannon, 200 rounds for a variant with a 75-mm cannon and more than 12.5 thousand rounds for machine guns.
The power plant is an 8-cylinder gasoline engine with a capacity of 220-250 hp.
The maximum speed is up to 10 km / h.
The cruising range on the highway is about 160 km.
Crew - 7 people.
Super heavy assault tank or "tank-fortress" AMX "Tracteur C"
In the 1920s and 1930s, the French tank industry was struck by a long period of "stagnation", which was interrupted only before the outbreak of World War II. However, this breakthrough did not mean that the theory of using tanks and tank formations by the General Staff of the French army could go as far as the design idea. With such a huge network of fortifications as the "Maginot Line", the command of the French ground forces until May 1940 was in full confidence that it was simply impossible to break through this line of defense. Exactly the same they expected from the eternal enemy - Germany, which had its own "Siegfried Line". It was for the breakthrough of the latter, as well as the well-fortified enemy defensive zones in France, that projects of tanks with large-caliber guns were developed, which in British and German terminology were called assault, and in French - “fortress tanks” (Char de forteresse). The horrors of the trench war of the First World War and the psychological trauma inflicted on it were so strong in France that several projects of fantastic mastodons were born that were supposed to break through any enemy defenses.
In November 1939, when Poland had already fallen the first victim of the outbreak of World War II, the General Staff of the French Army put forward technical requirements for the next "tank-fortress", which could overcome even the most well-fortified defense lines. For this, according to the generals of the old school, it was necessary to equip a combat vehicle with cannons of two calibers in order to successfully fight different types of targets on the battlefield. Here you can see an analogy with the multi-turret tanks being developed in the USSR, but the rest of the requirements clearly went beyond reason and led to the emergence of projects of such steel monsters as the FCM F1 and AMX Tractuer C. The devastating and quick defeat of Poland did not teach the French generals anything.
The order for the development of a super-heavy tank for the AMX company did not come as a surprise, although meeting all the requirements of the military, even at the project stage, seemed a difficult task. The new tank got its name "Tractuer C" for secrecy reasons. At the same time, the company was working on the Tracteur B medium tank project, which was more adequate and met the requirements of the time. In terms of layout, the hull of the 1939 Tractuer C tank was very similar to the "ancient" Char 2C, which was produced in a small batch by FCM. In the bow of the combat vehicle there was a control compartment, in which there was a place for a driver (left) and a radio operator (right). In the front fighting compartment, it was planned to place the places of the tank commander and loader. Behind them was the power plant and transmission of the tank, and in the rear of the vehicle it was planned to install a small gun turret and a seat for the rear driver (!). The presence of a second mechanic drive in the stern was a relic of the First World War, since it was simply impossible to provide an equivalent maneuvering of the tank forward and reverse in those years, no one succeeded.
The 105th cannon was chosen as the main weapon for the "fortress tank", most likely the Canone 105L mle1913, which was located in the main turret, the maximum diameter of which was 2.35 meters, and the 47-mm SA35 gun in a small hemispherical turret in the rear of the hull, located with a slight offset to the right side of the central spine of the tank. Due to the significant mass, the rotation of the main tower was planned to be carried out using an electric motor. Additional armament for the Tractuer C was supposed to be a 4x7, 5-mm MAC31 machine gun, which were placed along the sides in the front and rear of the hull.
Reservation of the tank was planned to be quite impressive. The hull of a welded structure was to be assembled from armor plates up to 100 mm thick (forehead and sides), the probable booking of the main tower was within the same limits, the booking of the rear small tower was about 60 mm. The chassis of the combat vehicle clearly gravitated towards the tanks of the First World War. For each side, it consisted of 24 small diameter road wheels, as well as 13 support rollers, a rear drive wheel and a front idler.
The dimensions of the Tractuer C tank were also appropriate (length along the tracks - 9.375 meters, width - 3 meters, height - 3.26 meters), although in this regard it did not differ much from the Soviet mastodon T-35. The weight of the AMX tank was estimated at 140 tons. In order to set such a heavy vehicle in motion, the tank was planned to be equipped with two engines, the power of which remained unknown, as well as an electric transmission. But the volume of the tank's fuel tanks was agreed immediately - 1200 liters.
The projects of the FCM F1 and AMX Tractuer C tanks presented to the French military in December 1939 aroused genuine interest in the army command, but the first project was recognized as the winner. Probably, the military commission considered the layout and placement of weapons on this tank more rational, but the main trump card of FCM at that time was a wooden model of their combat vehicle. Having lost the first round of the struggle, AMX engineers did not give up. Already in January 1940, they presented the military with a significantly redesigned tank, which remained known as the AMX Tractuer C of 1940.
The body of the "fortress tank" has undergone major changes. As in the previous project, its structure was welded and assembled from 100-mm armor plates, but the layout was completely different. The designers abandoned the small aft turret as a relic of the past, it was moved to the bow of the tank, which gave it some resemblance to the FCM F1 and the Soviet T-100 and SMK tanks. Fuel tanks and engines were moved to the rear of the tank hull. In the middle of the hull, a fighting compartment was located, on the roof of which the main tower of the ARL8 type appeared, with a 90-mm gun installed in it. In the small turret, which was now in front of the combat vehicle, just to the right of the driver's seat, the 47 mm SA35 cannon was retained. Also preserved and 4x7, 5-mm machine gun MAC1931 on the sides of the hull.
Due to the modifications made to the project, the length of the tank increased, which also led to improvements in the chassis. Now there were already 26 road wheels on each side. The overall dimensions of the 1940 Tractuer C were as follows: length - 10 meters, width - 3.03 meters, height - 3.7 meters. However, it never came to the implementation of this project in metal, although some prerequisites still existed. The French army commission, most likely for the purpose of reinsurance, allowed FCM, ARL and AMX to release one prototype each in order to carry out comparative tests of machines - the tanks had to be handed over by the summer of 1940. In parallel with this, Schneider received an order for 4 towers for prototypes of future super-heavy tanks in January 1940. At the same time, it was announced that the towers would be produced only for the installation of 105-mm guns. But very soon it became clear that AMX was simply not able to provide the Tracteur C tank project by the summer of 1940, the project remained only on paper, and already at the end of June 1940 France suffered a catastrophic defeat, becoming another victim of the German Blitzkrieg.
Even if this steel monster had made it to the battlefields of World War II, the German war machine would have rolled over it. The super-heavy tanks of France were not adapted for lightning war. These huge slow monsters were the perfect targets for enemy artillery and aircraft. The famous "Stuks" would not have left a stone unturned from these "turtles". There were also big claims to the running "centipede" with a large number of small road wheels and tracks from the aging B1 Bis tank. And the French military and designers did not seem to think about such issues as cross-country ability on soft and swampy soils.
The performance characteristics of the AMX Tractuer C 1939:
Overall dimensions: length - 9375 mm, width - 3000 mm, height - 3260 mm.
Combat weight - about 140 tons.
Reservations - the forehead and sides of the hull, as well as the main tower - 100 mm, aft tower - 60 mm.
Armament - one 105-mm Canone 105L mle1913 cannon, one 47-mm SA35 cannon and 4x7, 5-mm MAC1931 machine gun.
The power plant is two carburetor engines (power and type are unknown).
Fuel capacity - 1200 liters.
Crew - 6 people.
