Came across a magazine article describing FTs used by Germany for anti-partisan duties in Yugoslavia in WWII.
Ack to Jones, Rarey, and Icks, Yugoslavia bought 50 FTs from France. When Germany occupied in 1941 she seized 78 tanks, a mix of FTs, R35s, and H39s. The FTs were reported in August to be "unusable or in need of repair", leaving 62 of all types available, of which only 22 were fully operational. The partisans were causing so many problems that reinforcements were called for, and a further 45 FTs were sent from Paris. So my theory that the Germans wouldn't have bothered to send FTs such a long way is clearly wrong.
By the end of 1942 the FTs were abandoned for combat use and many relegated to service as "blockhouses" on armoured trains.
Maybe this has something to do with the one that turned up in Vienna in 1945.
An inconvenient fact is that the Germans seem to have referred to them as "FT-18", which does not help when trying to explain that there were no such vehicles as FT17 or FT18s.
Any comments welcome.
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"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
... An inconvenient fact is that the Germans seem to have referred to them as "FT-18", which does not help when trying to explain that there were no such vehicles as FT17 or FT18s.
Incidental but I wonder if that mis-naming will ever change? Bit like the "Me 109" fighter in the next war - an erroneous designation which persisted despite the populace being, as one Englishman observed, "up to our arses" in manufacturer's plates which plainly said "[Muster] BF109...".
