I was just perusing my mysterious little Russian book, and I noticed some stuff I hadn't caught before. The book is about early armor, up to about 1918.
Now, these are probably very unimportant, but I thought I would post them anyways - simply because I don't have the foggiest idea what they are.
Neat Single-Band Tracked Vehicle with lots of additional wheels, presumably for steering:
At first I thought this was the FCM-1A. Then I thought it was a modified FT-17. Then my mind went blank, and now Im posting it here:
The infamous SNAIL TANK. The snails of Russia became super intelligent and tried to conqour the world in these advanced fighting machines:
Im sure these are nothing, but you never know with WWI research! They might just be important in some way, so I thought i'd scan the pics and post them.
At first I thought this was the FCM-1A. Then I thought it was a modified FT-17. Then my mind went blank, and now Im posting it here:
Looks like an FT-17 on steroids! The caption suggests it's French and made by Delauny-Belleville, who did build FT-17s. Couldn't find anything like it on Chars Francais though.
Its shown in Tanks of the World 1915 -1945 by Chamberlain & Ellis Pub 1972 it was based on the FT 17 but with an extra crew man, a much more powerful engine and a seperate hydraulic transmission for each track linked to the turret so that the tank could be steered by pointing the gun. Topspeed 12 mph
Your right! I was just flipping through my Tanks of the World 1915-1945 book, and I had never really noticed it before, but the Delauney-Belleville Medium Tank is in there.
"This tank was an outgrowth of the Renault FT built in prototype form by the Delaunay-Belleville company in 1918-20. It embodiedsome very advanced design features such as two William-Janney hydraulic transmissions (one for either track) which were interconnected to a gun-laying device located in the turret, so the tank could be steered by laying the gun on its target. 13 tons; crew 3; 1 37mm gun in turret and 2 8mm MG in hull front;armour 16mm; engine (1 Renault, gasoline) 100hp, liquid cooled; 12 mph; 16.48ft x 6.95ft x 8.33 ft."
That's pretty cool. Pretty fast too! Was this design started before the armistice (a true WWI tank)? Or was it started after? Same with the Leger Peugeot Light Tank. It was it was built in 1918-19.
To be a true WWI tank, the vehicle would have to have been built, or designed, before armistice I think.
The first caption reads early holt tracktor second one french medium tank it grew out of ft-17 project called Delone Belvile last one the snail tank 1917 only project of that engineer
I can read russian so any questions just email me or post away