Light tank RENAULT FT COBI 2991 - Great War

You know that:

• The first who come up with the idea of building a French tank army was General Jean Baptiste Eugéne Estienne, whom today's French call none other than Pére des Chars (Father of the Tank).
• What the advent of the Citröen Traction meant for the automotive world, which completely changed the world of motoring, the FT-17 tank meant for the military.
• After the clumsy British Mark tanks and the German Sturmpanzerwagen, Renault came up with a design that foreshadowed the shape of tanks to this day.
• The Renault FT was the first tank deployed in combat with a fully rotating turret.
• An observation dome was placed on top of the tank turret.
• The lightweight and short design increased mobility, but the tank could easily tip over when crossing trenches, so a support skid was attached to the rear of the vehicle.
• The support skid could be hinged for when the tank needed to be emergency cranked.
• The stand was uncomfortable for the crew. The driver sat on the floor on a small leather cushion in an unnatural, strenuous position, while the gunner stood hunched in the tank's tight turret. Despite all this, the 1917 tank was a revolution in armoured technology.
• This particular tank is named after the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, nicknamed Le Tigre (the Tiger), who was instrumental in negotiating the peace treaty at the end of World War I.
• The Czechoslovak army was also interested in FT-17 tanks, and after a long dispute bought 6 machines worth 1,230,000 CZK. The first units were not delivered to the armoured units until 1923. Gradually they were replaced by tanks of their own production, LT vz.34, but that is another story.  
• In total, 4,516 units were produced in various versions.

Technical parameters:

• dimensions: length 4.1 m, width 1.74 m, height 2.14 m
• weight 6 700 kg
• armour 6-16 mm, 22 mm turret armour
• power unit 4-cylinder Renault 18 CV petrol engine 4 536 cc, 29 kW
• number of gears 4 forward + 1 reverse
• top speed on the road 7.8 km/h, off-road 2-3 km/h
• driving range 35 km
• trench overrun of up to 1.8 m
• wading capacity 0.7 m
• main armament Puteaux SA 18 cannon 37 mm calibre (237 rounds) and Hotchkiss Mle. 1914 machine gun 8 mm calibre (4 800 rounds)
• crew 2 persons