Landships II

It seems that we have fallen into the habit of referring to the Renault as the FT17. As Francois pointed out recently, it was actually the FT, modele 1917. I've just had a look through Steve Zaloga's book, and he refers to it as the FT throughout. He makes no mention of an FT18, and neither does Jeudy.

A German website claims that the FT18 was an inter-war development of the M1917, but I'm not convinced. The pic looks like just another M1917.

The curator at the Patton Museum offers this: Even the French acknowledge that the FT18 designation is unofficial, but it was used.  The FT18 was also commonly known as the FT17 (Berliet) after the company that cast the turrets, but FT18 is easier to write for our purposes.

But Zaloga says that the improved, "omnibus" round turret that became available in 1918 was produced by Girod and that both that and the polygonal turret were fitted to Fts by Renault and other manufacturers.

So I am now confused as to what exactly the Berliet turret was.

What is certain is that the FT18 was not a separate design, but appears to have simply been an unofficial term for some FTs that happened to be produced during 1918.

Does this make sense?

I think this 'problem' is very similar to the Volkswagen Beetle. Everyone knows what you are talking about, and everyone calls it by that name. But that's not its name. It was just named Volkswagen.

The technical details of the vehicle are unchanged by whatever you want to call it.

It is, in my opinion, important (and enjoyable) to make the effort to try to get the facts straight. But that's just one little opinion.

It could be argued that the essence of communication is to try to reduce the amount you are misunderstood. So, if (almost) everybody wants to call it FT17, and you call it char de artillerie especial, or whatever, then you may not be communicating as effectively as you could be.