Schneider CA1

Infobox Weapon|is_vehicle=yes
name= Schneider CA


caption=
origin=flagcountry|France
length=6.32 m
width=2.05 m
height=2.30 m
weight=13.6 tonnes
suspension=Coil spring
speed=8.1 km/h
vehicle_range=30/80 km
primary_armament=75mm Blockhaus Schneider
secondary_armament=2×8mm Hotchkiss M1914 machine guns
armour=11+5.5 mm spaced
engine=Schneider 4-cyl.
engine_power=60 hp (45 kW)
pw_ratio=4 hp/tonne
crew=6

The Schneider CA1 (originally named the Schneider CA) was the first French tank. It was inspired by the need to overcome the horrors of the trench warfare of the "Great War".

Development

Schneider & Co. was a large arms manufacturer in France. Having been given the order to develop heavy artillery tractors, in January 1915 the company sent out its chief designer, Eugène Brillié, to investigate tracked tractors from the American Holt Company, at that time participating in a test programme in England. On his return Brillié, who had earlier been involved in designing armoured cars for Spain, convinced the company management to initiate studies on the development of a "Tracteur blindé et armé" (armoured and armed tractor), based on the "Baby Holt" chassis, two of which were ordered. In July 1915 this private programme was combined with an official one for the development of a barbed wire cutter by engineer and Member of Parliament Jules-Louis Bréton. Ten of the fifteen available "Baby Holt" vehicles were to be armoured and fitted with the wire cutter.

Production decision

On 9 December 1915, the first chassis was demonstrated to the French Army. One of the onlookers was colonel Jean-Baptiste Eugène Estienne (1860-1936), an artillery man and engineer held in very high regard throughout the army for his unmatched technological and tactical expertise. For Estienne the vehicle shown embodied vague concepts about AFVs already growing in his mind. On 12 December he presented to the High Command a plan to form an armoured force, equipped with tracked vehicles. This plan met with approbation and a production order of 400 at a price of 56,000 French francs per vehicle was made on 25 February 1916. In January it had been decided not to use the "Baby Holt" chassis, but the longer 75 hp Holt tractor; for this the armoured superstructure had to be completely changed, which was done in an army workshop in February. The first vehicle of the production series was delivered on 5 September. Meanwhile, production had shifted to the SOMUA company, a dependency of Schneider.

Designation

The name of the tank was "Schneider CA". The meaning of "CA" is uncertain. Later it was usually understood to mean "Char d'Assaut" (literally "chariot" and today the full word for "tank"). For several reasons this interpretation is dubious. Firstly, the designation predates by some months the first known usage of "char" as "tank". Secondly, word order would be unusual: in French the normal order is "Char d'Assaut Schneider". Thirdly, at the time the letter codes at the end were normally used to indicate consequent prototypes. We know the first army prototype based on a lengthened 75 hp Holt was called the "Tracteur A", a second shortened Schneider prototype with tail the "Tracteur B" and that the type as produced was again different from that second prototype. It is plausible that the code means "third type" (C) in its first (A) production version; a further indication for this lies in the fact that it was not uncommon to use a reversed order: AC.

Description of tank

To the modern eye, the tank is hardly recognizable as such. It has no turret, and its not very prominent main armament, a fortification petard mortar, the 75 mm "Blockhaus Schneider", was placed in a sponson in the right front corner. Two 8 mm Hotchkiss machine guns, projecting from the flanks in ballmounts, complement the small gun. Another awkward feature is the overhang of the frontal part of the chassis which had been designed to crush down barbed wire. However this feature caused the tank to ditch itself readily. The fighting compartment is extremely cramped: the crew of six was mostly flat on their bellies in a 90 cm space between the roof and the 60 hp (45 kW) engine. Luckily, top speed was only 8 km/h. All this was protected by 11 mm steel plate, later improved by a spaced armour of 5.5 mm, raising the weight to 13.5 tons.

Operational History

As their production numbers were more ambitious the French lagged behind the British somewhat — it took them more time to build larger factories — deploying their tanks for the first time on 16 April 1917 at Berry-au-Bac during the infamous Nivelle Offensive. Their first use was a complete disaster as many of the roughly 130 tanks were cut to pieces by German artillery. Twenty units with Schneider tanks were formed, named "Artillerie Spéciale" 1-20, under the overall command of the now brigadier Estienne. In 1918 these "old" tanks were gradually phased out in favour of the new Renault FT-17, but production only ended in August 1918, when exactly 400 had been built including the prototype. At least one Schneider was delivered to Italy, which after testing abandoned the plan to build 1500 of them.

Post WW1

After the war, the tanks were rebuilt as recovery vehicles and tank transporters. Six were sold to Spain in 1922, from 1923 to 1926 fighting in Morocco, the surviving four vehicles later taking part in the Spanish Civil War near Toledo on the side of the Republicans. The only surviving vehicle, at the Musée des Blindés in Saumur, is also the world's oldest tank in running condition. It was preserved in the Aberdeen Proving Ground Ordnance Museum in Maryland, USA and later donated to France for restoration.

Later WW1 plans

There were several projects for the production of more Schneiders with turrets and/or better guns: the CA2, 3 and 4. Only prototypes were made of the CA2 and CA3. The CA4 remained largely a paper project. Because of the project designations, later books would name the original tank CA1. The heavy St. Chamond tank was developed from the "Tracteur A" prototype of the Schneider, leading to much confusion among later historians.

References

*Pierre Touzin, "Les véhicules blindés français, 1900-1944". EPA, 1979.
*Jean-Gabriel Jeudy, "Chars de France", E.T.A.I., 1997.

ee also