It is impossible to think of 20th century
warfare without it. Tanks made their first appearance in the First
World War and for all of their initial drawbacks, by the war’s end they were acknowledged
to be an important part of the modern battlefield. We’ve talked a bit already about British
and German tank designs, and today I’m going to look at the French. I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War
special episode about French tanks of the First World War. Now, before we start, this episode is sponsored
and was produced in collaboration with Supremacy 1914, a The World War I real-time strategy
browsergame. We used some of parts of the game to illustrate
some tactical concepts later in the episode and there will be a special offer for viewer
of this channel at the end. Anyhow... In December 1915, an artillery Colonel named
Jean Estienne approached French Army Chief of Staff Josef Joffre with an ambitious idea
to break the stalemate of trench warfare. A fleet of armored vehicles that could carry
artillery and machine guns across no man’s land ahead of the infantry, seize new ground,
and serve as mobile artillery batteries. The French High Command was intrigued by this,
as was Eugene Brillié, an engineer at the Schneider-Creusot Works, who was already working
with Holt tractors. He and Estienne aimed to create a vehicle
that could travel at least 7 km/hr and climb slopes of 40 degrees. It would, however, be costly - they estimated
that 100 would cost 6 million francs. This certainly raised eyebrows, and there
was also an issue with resources. Steel plates, for example, had to be imported,
and French industry was already running at full capacity. These untested new machines had moreover to
compete with the motor services and aircraft manufacturers. Still, by the summer of 1916 the first prototypes
of the Schneider tanks were ready, weighing 13.5 tons and propelled by a straight 4 cylinder
60 HP engine. They could in fact reach 7 km/hr, but only
on level ground; cross country the speed was about half that. It had a crew of six - a gunner and a loader
for the 75mm gun at the front, a machine gunner at each side, a mechanic in the back, and
the commander, who also drove. There were no illusions that this thing could
stop a direct artillery hit, but its armor was just thick enough to block machine gun
fire and shrapnel. It had a few liabilities as well; the engine
was underpowered for the tank’s weight, and because of its gravity feed the fuel tank
was at the front, facing the enemy. Ventilation was bad enough in general, but
the crew had to endure the engine’s exhaust. Also, if the hull of the engine was ruptured,
it could spray oil on the crew that was highly combustible. Once aflame, the electric light was cut and
the tank became a death trap, since the small door was very difficult to locate and use
in the dark. So... not perfect, in other words. Now, another artillery officer, Lieutenant-Colonel
Emile Rimailho, who liked Estienne’s idea, approached the St. Chamond factory in spring
1916. The Schneider would be classed as a heavy
tank, but Rimailho’s envisioned an even heavier tank of more than 20 tons - with a
crew of 9, four machine guns, and a 120mm gun or maybe even a flamethrower in front! Well, the weight and the crew were realistic,
but not the big gun or the flamethrower. The design also had some serious flaws. It was over 2 meters longer than the Schneider,
but its tracks weren’t much longer so the ground pressure of its narrow tracks was too
high for its tonnage. The 4 cylinder engine did power electric transmission
motors for each track, which was pretty revolutionary, but also made it more prone to mechanical
failure. I should point out that the French tanks had
a different design philosophy from the British. These weren’t for breakthrough; they carried
more firepower. The 75mm gun, for example, wouldn’t be exceeded
on tanks until the 1940s. Estienne saw them as a shock weapon. They would suddenly appear on a battlefield
on a wide front, quickly cross to the German lines and neutralize the machine guns. Then both infantry and cavalry could advance
through the gap. Tanks should abide by the infantry motto,
“only fire when you can’t march”. Firing on the move was imprecise and the gunners
only had a limited view, but once they drove the enemy from his positions, it would be
fire at will. Their proving ground was the Nivelle Offensive. The British had already premiered their tanks
by this time so the Germans were aware of their existence, but not what the French had
in store. Nivelle promised that this would be the war’s
decisive offensive, so Estienne agreed to an attack with most of the tank force. Nivelle, however, did not trust the tanks
force, and told the infantry the tanks were just there as support and they should neither
wait for them nor be distracted by them. Well, the tank attack - and the whole offensive
- failed, as we saw in the regular episodes. Many tanks had mechanical failures, broke
down in shell holes, were hit by artillery, and so forth, but though the whole thing was
a blow to the image of the tank, it was the evaluation - and the experience - that were
really the birthplace of the French Tank Corps. In individual cases they performed well, when
they had suitable terrain and infantry support, so a new tank directive was issued. The main killer was artillery, so how to eliminate
it? Well, we need to know where it is first, so
we need aerial photography, but local air superiority first to make that possible. We need a high concentration of our own artillery. The tanks need to know their routes over the
best possible ground in advance and smoke shells would help to get them as close as
possible to the enemy before being spotted. We need expanded communication with the infantry
and the rear, so we need more runners, a flag system, and flare guns. And finally, tanks would be used in short
engagements with limited goals. This combined strategy seemed promising, especially
to Philippe Petain, who had replaced Neville as French Chief of Staff. The Battle of la Malmaison was the showcase
for the Petain’s Directive. Recon flights and trench raids, followed by
a heavy artillery barrage allowed the tanks to subsequently enter the field and engage
an already distressed enemy. The Schneiders once in position could destroy
the German machine guns posts, absorbing their fire and keeping attention focused on them
while the French infantry hit the German trenches. Many tanks broke down or were put out of action,
but they gave the French confidence in their value. And Estienne was thinking about a lighter
tank to complement the arsenal and had been meeting with Louis Renault. This would be no more than 4 tons and with
a crew of just two. It would carry just one machine gun and could
move at 12 km/h. These would be easy to produce as well, since
they used a standard car engine. In addition, they had a rotating turret - that
was new - known as the omnibus turret and cast from two riveted steel plates. These Renault FTs would premiere in the field
in 1918, and could easily be transported by rail, so they could quickly be redeployed
and refitted. From June 1918 until the end of the war the
formula didn’t change, it just became more sophisticated. The tanks advanced quickly, drawing enemy
fire while clearing a path through barbed wire. The combined arms doctrine made the tanks
a vital part of the methods of rupture and exploitation. Work groups bridged shell craters and Chars-caissons
brought up gasoline and ammunition. Couriers and cyclists followed the advance
and kept communications open and the French army could cover ground far more quickly than
the enemy. Estienne, who reported directly to Petain
by 1918, wanted to keep the tank force separate like the air force, but postwar they were
incorporated into the infantry. 400 Schneider tanks were delivered in 1917
and early 1918; some 300 St. Chamonds left the factory before September 1918. Both of these were ambitious, but they didn’t
have much real impact overall because of their technical limitations. It was the Renault Light Tank - with over
2,500 delivered by the armistice- that swarmed the battlefields of 1918, and indeed is called
by some the tank that won the war. You can argue about that all you like, but
it is very true that the Renault FT design, seen by many as the first modern tanks design,
influenced future tank designs for decades to come. As I said in the beginning, this episode was
sponsored by Supremacy 1914. If you think you have what it takes to maneuver
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a look is definitely worth it. If you want to learn more about German tank
design, you can click right here for our episode about the A7V that we filmed at the German
Tank Museum. Don’t forget to subscribe, see you next
time.
