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in 1917, the Renault FT made the glory of French tanks, but by 1939 its short 37 mm gun and 22 mm armour make it outdated.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.
Paris, late 1939: what to decide about the dormant stock of nearly 3,000 Renault FTs deemed obsolete?
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: 8 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 Outdated, they were swept aside during the 1940 campaign.
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