The French St. Chamond tank was essentially a predecessor to the modern-day self-propelled gun. Designed as a tank, it proved a heavy, plodding war instrument never truly capable of traversing even the most modest terrain. The vehicle, however, was equipped with a very useful, powerful, and reliable 75mm howitzer and carried 106 rounds. It was also equipped with four 77mm Hotchkiss machine guns.
The St. Chamond, as a tank, failed and was replaced by the two-man FT-17 Renault tank. Where it did shine, though, was when it could be brought to bear at distant targets as a mobile artillery piece. In between the World Wars it inspired the planners of mobile warfare.
There is one thing to praise about the St. Chamond (excuse the gushing)—it had a simply fabulous camouflage job, as shown in the specimen above (said to be the last surviving) at The Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset, UK. My guess is that because it is photogenic, the St. Chamond–out of all the Allied tank models of WWI–was chosen to make a guest appearance in the 2022 version of All Quiet on the Western Front, although they dampened out the paint job on the tanks for the film.
Source: The Land Factory, Art.com, and Online Tank Museum
No comments:
Post a Comment