The idea of tanks that could combine the FT’s modernity and agility but mount larger, more destructive weaponry, was particularly attractive at the conclusion of the conflict. However, the FT had light armament: either an 8 mm machine gun or a short 37 mm infantry support gun. It is often considered the best tank of the war, all nations taken into consideration. In 1918, the much lighter Renault FT was deployed en masse, and with its modern features such as a fully-rotating turret (which had been used in armored cars previously, but not in operational tanks, though the Little Willie prototype mounted one) and a separate engine and crew compartment, proved vastly effective. Production of tanks began in 1916 for France, with the Schneider CA1 and the Saint-Chamond, which both proved rather ineffective designs. France suffered the second-highest casualties per population rate during the war, behind only Serbia (as well as Russia if the civil war is counted in addition to WW1).Īrmor quickly developed within the minds of engineers of both France and Britain as a way to overcome the power of machine guns, repeating rifles, and artillery, which bogged down infantry offensives. The French Army was bled white in numerous offensives launched on the Germans, or defending against German offensives. From this point onward, despite numerous attempts by both sides, large breakthroughs proved impossible to achieve. Initially outclassed by a German Army that made more use of machine guns and heavy artillery, France saw Germany’s armies make quick progress through its lands in 1914, seizing some considerable industrial centers and only being stopped and slightly driven back a few dozen kilometers away from Paris at the Battle of the Marne, in September of 1914. The roots of what would become the B1 go all the way back to the First World War, and how it played out for France. The Char de Bataille concept: an armored crystallization of France’s WW1 traumatisms
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