The FT-17 Tank
by Peter Kempf and video by Philtydirtyanimal

If it were the French who made the worst tanks of the war, it should also be noted that they also made the very best one, the Renault FT-17, a quite revolutionary vehicle which set the shape and pattern for tanks of the future, even up til today. It came out of a desire to give the standard tanks like the CA 1 a light partner, designed to be more more fitting than the heavies for the exploitation of breakthroughs. It was a joint semi-private project between the maverick father of the french tank weapon, Estienne, and the french firm of Renault. After much bureaucratic delays the first prototypes were tested in early 1917, and proved to be an immediate success. It included a number of very innovative features, including an easily turned turret - moved manually.

The turret made the employment of it's armament much more flexible and effective, and the whole vehicle was considerably more agile and easy to drive than it's heavier partners, yet better protected. Although the short length of the vehicle - rectified somewhat with the addition of the special tail - often made trench-crossing difficult, the track assembly with it's large front wheel gave the tank good ability to climb high obstacles. It also proved easily adapted to form numerous variations (besides the basic variants, equipped with either one MG or one 37mm cannon), including a Signals and Command tank, a 75mm gun tank and a Fascine Carrier.

Both the French and the US used the FT-17 during WW1, and also British and Canadian forces employed some, but then in the capacity of Liason Vehicle: they removed the weaponry and left the hole open, to enable the passenger a good view forward.

This tank was produced long after the war, and was exported to more than ten countries, including Japan, Poland, Canada, Spain and Brazil, clones or copies were made in Italy, USA and the Soviet Union, and it was used in practically all the armed conflicts of the Twenties and Thirties, and it soldiered in WW2, were it was used by the French, the Finns, the Yugoslavs and others. Even the Germans themselves used captured FT-17:s, in security roles - see photos to the left.

The Renault FT-17 - FT being Renaults internal product designation, 17 the year of its construction - was first used in combat on the 31 May 1918, in support of an attack by Marrocan Infantry in the Retz forest, as a part of the attempts to halt the German Spring Offensive. This is an excerpt from a report written by one of the participants, capitaine Aubert, 304th Company:

"The signal was given, 'Advance'. After a few hundred yards suddenly the corn ceased. We were in open, uncultivated ground. As soon as we debouched we were subject to heavy machine-gun fire directed particularly against the slits and port holes. The hammer of the bullets against the armour, accompanied by the splash, showed us the general direction of the fire. In our case it was coming from the left. Many bullets struck the gun shield and made traversing difficult. But we swung the turret and there was the machine gun, not more than 50 yards away. It took five rounds to put it out, and the tracks completed the work. All the tanks were now on the same alingement. They were all in action firing and manoeuvring, which showed us that we were on the enemy's line of resistance."

Below you can see a restored FT-17 (with an impressive, overlong but inauthentic mock cannon) come alive again!

The actual maneuvering of the FT-17 is described thus in Dale E. Wilsons excellent and ground-breaking book on US Armour in WW1, "Treat 'em Rough!":

"Tank commanders were required to transmit commands to their drivers by kicking them. This was the only means of internal communication, as the Renaults lacked a radio intercom system and were too noisy for voice commands to be heard. To get the driver to move forward, the commander kicked him in the back. Similarly, a kick to either shoulder signaled a turn in the direction of the shoulder kicked. The signal to stop was a kick to the driver's head, while repeated kicks to the head meant the driver should back up.
...
     The driver's controls consisted of a clutch pedal on the left of the floor, an accelerator pedal in the center, and a parking brake pedal on the right. The engine was started by means of a hand crank located at the back of the gunner's compartment on the firewall separating the gunner from the engine compartment. The driver could control the vehicle's speed by either depressing the accelerator pedal or using a hand throttle control located on the right side of the driver's compartment. A spark control lever was also provided, allowing the driver to advance or retard the ignition spark, depending on the amount of strain on the engine. Two large steering levers, one on each side of the driver's seat, acted as the service brakes when pulled simultaneously. To steer to the right, the driver merely pulled back on the right lever, braking the track on that side of the tank. The left-side track would continue moving at normal speed, pivoting the vehicle to the right. A similar procedure was used to turn to the left.
     The most difficult task for drivers to master was negotiating short, extremely steep grades. The trick was to learn to slip the clutches in such a way as to allow the vehicle to return to the horizontal gently, without a crashing jolt, as it cleared the top of the obstacle."

More on the actual workings can be learnt from this French site, where the whole manual for the FT-17 is posted!

Technical Data

This is a "walk-around" collection of photos - taken by me - of the FT-17 tank that can be seen in the Musée de la Armée in Paris. It is a well preserved vehicle, although a little bit dusty. (Only the silencer and some small outer details, like the leather straps for the tools, seems to be a late addition.) I believe that the camo scheme is the original one, although probably from WW2. The serial number and playing card marking is obviously of later date. The tracks suggests that this is a vehicle that has seen some considerable service.

FT-17 LINKS
For anyone interested in WW1 French Armour the super French site Blindés Francais is of course a must. They cover both the Cannon variant and the MG variant. You can find detailed photos of two preserved FT-17, to be found in the US of A, on the site of the Washington Armor Club courtesy of Jim Hensley. A whole site dedicated to the FT-17 can be found here. A fine French page with comparisons between different survivors can be accessed by clicking here.

FT-17 MOVIES
If you want to see how the FT-17 looked moving about in real life, click here to download a zip file (quite big, almost 2MB) containing two movies from WW1. (Both are in Windows Media File format, sorry all all you Mac:ers.)

FT-17 RIVETED TURRET
The FT-17 riveted turret below, can be seen in the Bunker Museum in Ouistreham in Normandy. It was originally used in a German fortification in the area, as a part of Hitlers Atlantic Wall:

For a collection of detailed walk-around pictures of a FT-17 with a riveted turret (the one below), click here!

To see photos of another restored FT-17 (actually found by US Forces in Afghanistan) click here!

The 37mm SA18 gun
used in the FT-17

The FT-17 was a simple tank, demanding one-fifth of the cost to produce a bigger tank, like the Schneider or S:t Chamond. This was also one of it's big benefits, making it possible to produce them in big numbers, which then in turn made it possible to use them in what the French called the "bee-swarm" way, which meant simply overwhelming the German defences, specifically the guns used for anti-tank defence.

This simplicity also shows in these interior plans. The interior contained bare essentials only - note for instance that the commander didn't have a seat, but sat on a sort of sling.

And these are my own photos of the interior of the FT-17 in the Brussels Army Museum:

And this photo shows the interior of a FT-17 TSF awaiting restoration in Saumur:

CAMOUFLAGE
The following notes pertain to FT-17:s in French service during WW1 only. When it comes to camouflage, the FT-17 pretty followed the French Army standards. This meant that the following schemes were used (following my home-made classification):

Scheme A: Overall Dark Green
Overall Dark Green were used during the whole war, but it was not a standard scheme, but the normal coating that the AFV:s were given at the factory. Sometimes, when the vehicles were badly needed at the front, there were not time to camouflage them, so they were then used in this Factory Scheme.  

Scheme B1: Disruptive Camouflage of Dark Green, Brown and Black over Sand
This colourful scheme was used mainly during 1917, the patterns being very fanciful with black sometimes used as a demarcation but mainly in streaks or "flames" here and there. The Sand was Light Yellowish Cream in tone.

Scheme B3: Disruptive Camouflage of Dark Green and/or Brown over Sand
In this scheme the Black was dispensed with altogether, and sometimes only one colour were used on top of the standard Sand. This was a more simplified type of camouflage, mainly used during the later stages of the War.

MARKINGS
A. Numbers. According to Steve Zaloga on many FT-17:s one or even two sets of numbers were to be found. On those tanks built by Renault themselves, you could find the special Renault production matricule (six digits with numbers between 66000 to 73000) painted in white on the side of the suspension, and also sometimes on the front of the hull. In addition to this vehicles could also be given a production number, that were painted on the hull sides. As these numbers were applied already in the factory, they were often overpainted when camouflage colours were applied at the units. As this number still was used for book-keeping, it was sometimes painted on the tank again, for example on the turret.
Playing Cards. In 1918 the famous playing card system was introduced. The three batallions that made up the regiments that the FT-17 were organized in (the so called Régiments d'Artillerie Spéciale, RAS) were first allocated their own colours thus: the first batallion Blue, the second Red and the third Yellow. Each company in the batallion then had its special geometrical shape: a 35cm circle for the the 1st Coy, a 30cm square for the 2nd Coy and a 45cm high triangle for the 3rd Coy. Each section within the company then had its special playing card symbol: the 1st section a Spade, the 2nd section a Heart, the 3rd section a Diamond, and the 4th section a Club. This simple but efficient system would stay in use in the French Army for 23 years.
Other markings. Like no other before the Red Army, the French painted nick-names and slogans on their tanks. These markings followed no system, like often was the case in the British or German Army, but were up to the whims of the indivduals. Photos of actual vehicles is the only guide here.