Designed in 1917, the Renault FT made the glory of French tanks, but by 1939 its short 37 mm gun and 22 mm armour make it outdated. The R35, meant to replace it since 1936, has not been delivered in sufficient numbers: several battalions must keep the old tank.
Thousands of FTs nonetheless remain idle in depots and colonial garrisons. At the Puteaux workshop as at the Infantry Directorate, the question is what to do with this considerable fleet at a time when Germany is fielding modern armour.
The choice commits scarce resources — steel, workshops, crews — at a moment when every month counts.
In late 1939, the French army still holds nearly 3,000 Renault FT tanks from 1917, deemed obsolete. What should be decided about this dormant stockpile?
The modernization project never got past the drawing board. The Puteaux workshop did study, in December 1939, fitting a 47 mm SA 39 anti-tank gun in place of the turret, but the tank destroyer on the FT chassis was never built. For lack of industrial capacity and time, the army kept the FTs as they were: eight battalions still used them in May 1940, others served for training and in the colonial garrisons (Morocco, Algeria, the Levant, Indochina). Outdated, they were swept aside during the 1940 campaign.
Learn more about this event
Related polls
10
The tank of the future or the tanks of today?
Dunkirk: a British gunner facing his own guns
The Panzers' logistical gamble
Buy Each for Themselves or with a Single Voice
Baumgartner and the gold of the Banque de France
Convoy HX 21 — Wake-Walker at Halifax
Goering — the economic mobilization plan
The Cherbourg arsenal in the face of Rommel
The Heavy Water of Vemork — a Race Against Germany
The Warsaw Student and the Black Market
The tank of the future or the tanks of today?
Dunkirk: a British gunner facing his own guns
The Panzers' logistical gamble
Buy Each for Themselves or with a Single Voice
Baumgartner and the gold of the Banque de France
Convoy HX 21 — Wake-Walker at Halifax
Goering — the economic mobilization plan
The Cherbourg arsenal in the face of Rommel
The Heavy Water of Vemork — a Race Against Germany