Tim Gosling profiles the US-built version of the French Renault FT tank, a machine given the rather cumbersome name Six-ton Special Tractor Model 1917
‘The British tanks in service at the time were considered too unreliable by the Americans, but the French FT was found to be ideal’
When the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, the fighting on the Western Front was virtually at a stalemate. This deadlock would be temporarily broken by the introduction of tank warfare. The first British tanks (Mk1s) were used in combat at Flers-Courcelette in September 1916, while for the French it was in April 1917 at Berry-au-Bac, where they sent 121 Schneiders into combat. The British were criticised by the French for using too few tanks to be decisive, while the French types were found to be of poor design and had minimal capability for crossing trenches.
Although these tanks met with some initial success, mostly due to the element of surprise, they were unreliable and improved designs were already being considered. While the British concentrated on an updated version of the 28-tonne rhomboid Mk 1, the French engineer Louis Renault adopted a different approach. It had been French doctrine t…
