Miscellaneous Military Vehicle Photographs
I have seen pictures of these tanks in various references, but I have no
idea what they are. These photos were among my Grandfather's
possessions. As I understand it, my Great-Grandfather was a doughboy
in WWI so I suspect these belonged to him (the photos - not the tanks
 ).
Regarding the first photo above, I received an e-mail from Jacques:
"Photo 1 is a Renault R 35 also
made by Berliet. I know three remaining samples:
- One in The Tegal
Barracks in Berlin
- One outside the Renault factory in
Paris
- One in the Berliet Foundation
collection
That one is probably in working
order. http://www.fondationberliet.org/
Regards. Jacques "
In a subsequent e-mail, Jacques indicates photos 2 through 4 (above) to
be British MK. 1 tanks:
"The other three pictures show the
English Mk. 1 tank. Made in England during WW 1 and first used in the
Somme battle. As they were secret weapons, they were shipped to France
in crates and the word TANK was written on the crates, in fact they did look
like tanks. The name remained in English and sometimes in French
although the proper word is "char". You can enquire about these tanks
at the Imperial War Museum
in England. Try their web site.
Regards, Jacques."
I received this e-mail in June 2006 from H.P. Mas of France:
"Hello Paul Just
wanted to tell you that the tank pictured in the first picture on the
"Miscellaneous Military Vehicle Photographs" page is a WW1 Renault FT 17 (also
built by Berliet), not a R 35. The R 35 appeared in 1935, it was in fact the
successor of the lighter FT 17."
H.P. also provided this link for more information about French armor:
http://www.chars-francais.net/
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