• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

FCM 1A / FCM 1C Heavy Tank

The French tank building program started earlier than the English one, and if it were not for the developers' unfortunate mistakes, France’s armored vehicles could have entered the battlefields as early as 1915. As already mentioned many times. French designers decided to follow the path of least resistance, which led to the creation of Saint-Chamond and CA-1 Schneider tanks, made on the basis of the tractor chassis with the placement of the gun in the front plate. With a slightly better booking and protection of the undercarriage, these tanks, in terms of combat effectiveness, could not be compared with the British machines of a similar class, which predetermined their further fate. During 1918-1919. they were completely replaced by light tanks Renault FT-17 and heavy Mk.V *.

The task for the development of a heavy tank came from the head of the DSA (Directeur des Service Automobiles - Office of the Automotive Service) MM Savity in July 1916. Immediately after receiving data on the combat use of the Mk.I tanks, FCM specialists developed a draft of a 38-ton tank armed with a 105-mm cannon and equipped with 30-mm armor. 200 hp engine was to provide the company Renault. Very soon, on December 30, 1916, a project called Char Lourd A was submitted to the Advisory Committee of Assault Artillery for consideration. In general, the efforts of the engineers from FCM were rated positively, but at the next meeting, held on January 17, 1917, the conclusions were not so optimistic. A preliminary assessment of the project showed that with a 30-mm reservation and a full set of weapons with ammunition and fuel, tank mass will be about 40 tons. With the then existing technologies, it was not possible to create a reliable and easy-to-use transmission of the mechanical type, therefore it was recommended to develop an electric-type transmission like on the Saint-Chamond M16 tank. This process was developed by General Etienne, who immediately proposed two alternative versions of a tank with a 75-mm cannon and different types of transmissions - mechanical and electrical.

By this time, the committee finally decided on the requirements for booking - the tank’s defense had to withstand the hitting of 77-mm German field guns, thus bringing it back to the initial mark of 30 mm. The experience of using French tanks in combat showed that it was impossible to do without placing the main armament in a rotating turret, since the same Saint-Chamond could direct its gun in very limited sectors and was later used as an ACS. From this position, the FCM project looked quite promising, especially since in the summer of 1917 the new tank Char Lourd 1? was designed.

The undercarriage of the heavy tank was not particularly original. According to the requirements of the assault tank, it had to be made quite tall, almost human-like. The suspension of small-diameter support rollers was blocked, but the rigidity of the course was partly offset by their number. The drive wheels were located in front, ridge engagement guides - behind. All open elements of the chassis were closed with an armored seat.

The layout of the tank 1A was classic. In front of the hull housed the office of management, where there were places of the driver and his assistant. Next, there was a combat compartment, on the sides of which two embrasures were made for firing machine guns and one viewing device each. Five tankers were stationed at once: commander, gunner, loader, machine-gunner and mechanic. The engine and transmission compartment were located in the rear part of the hull, occupying more than 50% of its length.

Reservations have been made differentiated. The frontal part of the hull and the turret were made of 35-mm armor, the hull and stern of the hull were made of 20-mm armor, the roof and the bottom were made of 15 mm.

There were few observation devices. In the case was made four viewing slots protected by bulletproof glass (two in front and two on the sides). The commander could observe the terrain with the help of the commander's turret (mounted on the roof of the main turret) or a telescopic gun sight.

The composition of weapons was very strong. A 105-mm cannon and an 8-mm Hotchkiss machine gun were placed in the turret of a conical shape tank mounted on the roof of the fighting compartment. According to the project and on the layout, one more machine gun was in a ball mount in the frontal part of the hull with a slight shift to the port side, but it did not appear on the prototype. In laying four more 8-mm machine guns were transported.

Before starting the manufacture of the prototype, a full-size wooden model was built. The mockup commission was satisfied - the appearance of the tank 1A was very impressive and at the same time it had a turret with a circular rotation and stronger armor than any of the British “rhombuses”.

On the trials, which were conducted near the city of Seyne (Seyne), prototype 1A was released December 10, 1917. The official test cycle began on December 21-22 with a run between the cities of Seyne and Sablettes, after which the tank headed for the sandy beach. Thanks to the high running gear 1A, it easily overcame all major obstacles, such as: a trench 2 meters wide, a vertical wall 0.9 meters high, a hole 3.5 meters in diameter, wire barriers, escarpment, small craters from projectiles and slides located at a distance of 3, 5 meters from each other. At full speed, a tank could knock down a tree with a diameter of 35 cm. The only weakness with regard to mobility 1A was the difficulty of its control when cornering. In other words, the tank moved well only in a straight line.

Fire tests were also quite successful. Shooting from 105-mm guns confirmed its high efficiency, but they decided to install a 75-mm cannon on production tanks. The choice in favor of a less powerful gun was due to several factors at once: less recoil when fired, smaller dimensions and more ammunition. If for a 105-mm gun it was planned 120 shells, then for 75-mm it was possible to load them already 200 pieces. For each of the five machine guns relied 2500-3000 rounds.

Despite the positive results, work on project 1A was discontinued in favor of the more promising Char Lourd 1B, which is heavier and better armed. But the total cost of the design and manufacture of the prototype 1A amounted to 600,000 francs, which was quite a sum for a war-ravaged France. The prototype of tank 1B was never built, since the war ended on November 11, 1918. At the same time, the version with the electric transmission Char Lourd 1C, introduced in 1917 by the company Establishment Experementale Francais, received support. This project looked more monstrous - about 10 m long, crew of 10 people, booking 45 mm. Since the combat weight of the tank exceeded 50 tons, it was planned to use two 250-horsepower engines as a power plant.

But here, too, the committee was not particularly in a hurry with the decision to start building at least one prototype. The thing is that in 1917 the British offered 77 of their Mk.IV tanks in exchange for the French FT-17, which made it possible to temporarily cover the lack of heavy tanks for direct support of infantry. A little later, in December of the same year, the government gave permission for the construction of the Mk.VIII tanks, the Anglo-American development of which the prototype was not even built. All these factors, plus doubts about the choice of weapons and the thickness of the armor could lead to the disruption of their own program of building breakthrough tanks.

And yet, Etienne managed to convince the committee of the correctness of his opinion. On February 9, 1917, delivering a special report, he convincingly proved that it was the heavy vehicles with powerful weapons and armor (that is, what the British tanks could not boast) should lead the attack of the infantry. The argument turned out to be weighty and on February 21 tanks were included in the production program. The official decision on the construction of French heavy tanks was made on June 13.

Numerous delays led to the fact that the construction of the first prototype 1C tank was completed only in the summer of 1918, when the relevance of the presence of a heavy assault vehicle dropped dramatically. The German army began a full-scale retreat, and soon Germany itself fell into the maelstrom of the revolutionary events that led to its surrender. However, for several months, intensive 1C tests were carried out. By and large, this tank was a weighted version of the Model 1A, in which the armor of the front part of the hull and turret (slightly modified) was strengthened up to 45 mm, and the 75-mm gun became standard. The composition and location of light rifle weapons was preserved, but even then the question was raised about its more rational distribution, because the stern of the tank remained unprotected from infantry attacks. So, it was decided that a small turret with one 8-mm machine gun must be installed in the stern of the tank.

On a single prototype 1C, this idea was not implemented, since it would lead to a significant change in the design of the hull. By the way, on the prototype used captured German engines Mercedes, previously used on airships, and their number increased by one unit. In total, electric transmission and power plant with a total power of 500 hp should have improved the ride quality of the tank, but in fact this did not happen. In terms of tactical and technical parameters, models 1A and 1C were almost equivalent, if we disregard the maximum speed of the late version of the tank increased to 8–10 km / h. since this would lead to a significant change in the design of the hull. By the way, on the prototype used captured German engines Mercedes, previously used on airships, and their number increased by one unit. In total, electric transmission and power plant with a total power of 500 hp should have improved the ride quality of the tank, but in fact this did not happen. In terms of tactical and technical parameters, models 1A and 1C were almost equivalent, if we disregard the maximum speed of the late version of the tank increased to 8–10 km / h. since this would lead to a significant change in the design of the hull.

Tanks 1A and 1C did not become serial, but experience in their design and construction were not in vain. In early 1918, a new version of the breakthrough tank, called Char Lourd 2C, was developed.