Char Schneider CA1

Tailor CA1
Schneider CA1 in the field
General properties
crew	6th
length	6.32 m
width	2.05 m
height	2.30 m
Dimensions	14.6 t
Armor and armament
Armor	11.5 mm
Main armament	75 mm Blockhaus Schneider cannon with 90 rounds
Secondary armament	two 8 mm Hotchkiss MGs Mle 1914 with 3840 rounds
agility
drive	4-cylinder petrol engine 41 kW (55 PS)
Top speed	7.5 km / h
Power / weight	2.8 kW / t (3.8 HP / t)
Range	48 km

The Char d'assaut Schneider CA was the first French armored fighting vehicle and was manufactured by the armaments company of the same name, Schneider et Cie . It was based on the American Holt tug . The vehicle, developed by engineer Eugène Brillié as an "armed tank tug " (tracteur blindé et armé) from January 1915, was available as a battle tank from December 1916 and was first used during the Nivelle offensive in April 1917. In 1915, Colonel Estienne still thought that such a vehicle could pull armored troop sleds over German trenches on the Western Front , but this idea was quickly rejected.

The last tailor CA in the Musée des Blindés in Saumur

Schneider CA. destroyed by German troops

The Schneider CA had no turret: the short 75 mm Blockhaus Schneider cannon was built into the fuselage. Its gasoline tanks were easily vulnerable and burned quickly due to their high position in the event of enemy fire, especially due to the armor-piercing ammunition newly developed by the Germans - a circumstance that quickly earned this tank the nickname "Rolling Crematorium " . Mainly used for infantry support, it was very limited in its cross-country mobility due to the short contact surface of the tracks , especially when crossing obstacles and trenches.

Production ceased in August 1918 after exactly four hundred copies had been built. Material fatigue and poor reliability resulted in fewer than 100 vehicles in use at the end of the war. They were converted into a storage truck: the Char de Ravitaillement . Six of them were bought by Spain in 1921 and used both in Morocco ( Rif War ) and in the Spanish Civil War (until 1937).

The heavy Saint-Chamond was developed from the prototype of the tailor . There were also various projects to develop an improved tank: the CA2 , CA3 and CA4 . It didn't go into production, but the original CA is probably called CA1 for this reason. Whether "CA" means Char d'Assaut is uncertain.

See also

• Tanks (1914-1933)

Web links

Commons : Schneider CA1  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Spencer C. Tucker : Tanks. An Illustrated History of their Impact. ABC-CLIO, 2004, ISBN 1-57607-996-1 , p. 30 ( full text in the Google book search).