9/23/2023 0 Comments Maus war thunder![]() On 12 October, knowing that the Renault company had some months earlier made several proposals to build a heavy tracked mortar which had been rejected, he begged Louis Renault to assist FCM in the development of a suitable heavy vehicle this request Renault obliged. On 30 September, he personally took control of the project. This sudden attention greatly alarmed Mourret, who promptly investigated the progress that had been made at FCM and was shocked to find there was none. ![]() French politicians, not having been greatly involved in them and leaving the matter to the military, were no less inquisitive. The French people now became curious about the state of their own national tank projects. When the public mood in Britain had been growing ever darker as the truth of the failure of the Somme Offensive could no longer be suppressed, tanks offered a new hope of final victory. On 15 September 1916, the British introduced the Mark I tank in the Battle of the Somme, and a veritable tank euphoria followed. At that time, all tank projects were highly secret, and thereby shielded from public scrutiny. FCM then largely neglected the project, apart from reaping the financial benefits. Įxact specifications, if they ever existed, have been lost. The reason he later gave was that the British tanks then in development by a naval committee seemed to be better devised as regarded lay-out, ventilation and fire protection, so a shipyard might improve on existing French designs. Hence, the decision seemed to have been taken solely on his personal authority. The French Army had no stated requirement for a heavy tank, and there was no official policy to procure one. At the time, French industry was very active in lobbying for defence orders, using their connections with high-placed officials and officers to obtain commissions development contracts could be very profitable even when not resulting in actual production, as they were fully paid for by the state. In the summer of 1916, likely in July, General Léon Augustin Jean Marie Mourret, the Subsecretary of Artillery, verbally granted Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), a shipyard in the south of France near Toulon, the contract for the development of a heavy tank, a char d'assaut de grand modèle. The origins of the Char 2C have always been shrouded in a certain mystery. Development The Char d'assaut de grand modèle It was, in total volume or physical dimensions, the largest operational tank ever made. It was developed during World War I but not deployed until after the war. The Char 2C, also known as the FCM 2C, was a French post WWI heavy tank landship, later considered a super-heavy tank. ![]()
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