On April 24, 1918, the great German offensive in the West was in full swing.
In the area of the village of Viller-Bretonne, a unit of British heavy MkV tanks (two machine-gun and one cannon-armed) attempted to launch a counterattack on German positions. However, when the vehicles, supported by infantry, approached the village, three enemy tanks came out to meet them. They looked even more massive and clumsy than the British ones.
The commander of the unit realized that this time he would have to fight an "armored" enemy. At the beginning of the battle, the British were unlucky: their shells missed the target. Meanwhile, the German vehicles targeted the machine-gun tanks, which proved completely defenseless. The cannon tank came to their aid. To increase firing accuracy, its commander took the risk of firing from a stationary position. The risk paid off: three shots — and the German tank was destroyed. The other two disappeared in the meantime. However, the British tank was also damaged...
After this skirmish, most of the tanks in the British army were rearmed. The machine-gun sponson was replaced with a cannon one.
Thus, combat vehicles also appeared in the German army. However, France preceded Germany. The father of the French “land battleships” is considered to be Colonel J. Etienne. In the autumn of 1915, he proposed the design of a tank and gained the support of the French Army’s Commander-in-Chief, General J. Joffre. Having learned that the Schneider company was not a newcomer in this field, Etienne ensured that in January 1916 it received an order to produce 400 vehicles. The company’s chief engineer, E. Briault, had already carried out successful armor tests on an American Holt tractor in December 1915.
After receiving the order to develop a serial model, he abandoned the use of the tractor chassis but retained many technical solutions from the Americans in his tank — in particular, the design of the running gear and suspension, and the rear placement of the drive wheel.
The head of the military motor service (offended that Colonel Etienne had “bypassed” him and gone directly to the Commander-in-Chief) ordered another company — Saint-Chamond — to build its own tank. Coincidentally or not, the order also included 400 vehicles. The specialists of that company also based their design on the same Holt tractor.
The first Schneider tank, named SA — “sturmwagen” (assault vehicle), was completed in September 1916. Saint-Chamond was delayed by several months. Externally, the French “battleships” barely resembled the British ones. The tracks did not wrap around the hull but were placed either at the sides or underneath. The running gear was spring-suspended, which provided significant comfort and made the crew’s work easier. However, due to the strongly protruding front of the hull, the ground clearance was very low. They could not overcome even small vertical obstacles. Saint-Chamond tanks suffered particularly from this, as their track surface was almost doubled compared to the American tractor to cross wider trenches. They were slow and had a short operational range.
Saint-Chamond tanks were equipped with an electric transmission: current from a generator powered two electric motors — one for each track. This increased the overall weight. Poor weapon placement limited firing angles: the Schneider gun, mounted in the right front (the engine was on the left), could only aim horizontally within 20°; the machine guns were installed not in sponsons like the British ones but in ball mounts on the sides, preventing forward firing. The “Saint-Chamond” had two more machine guns, hence the larger crew.
The front part of the Schneider tank’s hull resembled the bow of a ship; a wire-cutting device was mounted there. This also helped to cross trenches.
And despite all their shortcomings, Schneider and Saint-Chamond vehicles fought in battle. The first engagement of the French “battleships” on April 16, 1917, was not very successful: of the 132 tanks of both models, 76 were destroyed by enemy fire, and 45 broke down. However, they contributed to the success of the French offensive on July 18, 1918, between the Oise and Marne rivers. In these battles, “Schneiders” and “Saint-Chamonds” mainly acted as self-propelled artillery. When infantry captured the first line of German trenches, the approaching tanks opened fire on the second and third lines, often beyond the range of the French field artillery.
And what about the German tracked fighting vehicles that appeared on the battlefields at the end of World War I? In October 1916, after the Battle of the Somme, the German War Ministry ordered the “Bremervagen” company to develop a tank. By the summer of 1917, the first 10 A7V tanks were ready (a total of 20 were built). They had thicker armor and slightly higher speed than the British ones, and a spring-suspended chassis. However, their ground clearance was no better than the French models. To provide full firing coverage, the German machines were armed with six machine guns, resulting in a record-large crew — 18 men!
The A7Vs fought their first battle on March 21, 1918, near the town of Saint-Quentin in Picardy. And despite their small numbers, they achieved complete success. The surprised British soldiers surrendered even before the German tanks opened fire. The creators of “land battleships” had fallen into their own trap — they had not prepared their soldiers for encounters with similar enemy vehicles. Perhaps the Allied command had not even considered the possibility that the Germans could produce such machines?
In 1915, Russia also developed a design for a combat vehicle based on a tractor. It is sometimes called the Rybinsk Plant Tank. Its overall layout resembled the French models. However, the project presented to the Main Military Technical Directorate in August 1916 did not receive support.
Fig. 6. French medium tank “Schneider” SA1. Combat weight — 13.3 tons. Crew — 6–7 men. Armament — one 75 mm cannon, 2 machine guns. Armor thickness — 12–24 mm (front of hull), 12–17 mm (sides). Engine — “Schneider” 60 hp. Road speed — 4–6 km/h. Range on road — 75 km.
Fig. 7. French medium tank “Saint-Chamond” M-16. Combat weight — 23 tons. Crew — 8–9 men. Armament — one 75 mm cannon, 4 machine guns. Armor thickness — 11 mm (front of hull), 15–17 mm (sides). Engine — “Panhard” 90 hp. Road speed — 8.5 km/h. Range on road — 60 km.
Fig. 8. German heavy tank A7V. Combat weight — 32 tons. Crew — 18 men. Armament — one 57 mm cannon, 6 machine guns. Armor thickness — 30 mm (front of hull), 15 mm (sides). Two “Daimler” engines of 100 hp each. Road speed — 12 km/h. Range on road — 35 km.
In the illustration: Rybinsk Plant tank. Combat weight — 20 tons. Armament — 107 mm cannon, 1 machine gun. Armor thickness — 10–12 mm. Engine power — 200 hp. Road speed — 7 km/h.