Light Tank Origins
The company selected to develop and produce the first British tank was William Foster & Company, a Lincoln-based manufacturer of agricultural machinery. Their designers chose to create a rhomboid-shaped tank on which the track followed the outline of the superstructure, but a lack of experience caused them to concentrate more on the positioning of the engine and weaponry than fighting efficiency and crew environment.
The vehicle was built in three versions. A ‘Male’ type was armed with two Hotchkiss 6-Pounder Quick Firing (QF) guns, both mounted in a sponson attached to either side of the superstructure, and three 0.303in Lewis machine guns. The ‘Female’ type was designed as a support vehicle and was armed with five 0.303in Lewis machine guns. The third type, the Tank Tender, was produced as an unarmed supplies carrier.
France built two different tank types that utilized a simply modified chassis from a Holt Caterpillar heavy artillery tractor to carry an armoured casematetype superstructure.
The Schneider Char (tank) CA-1 mounted a 75mm Blockhaus Schneider main gun and a ball-mounted 8mm Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun fitted in each side of the body. The much larger St Chamond, meanwhile, was armed with the very effective Canon de 75mm modèle 1897 and two 8mm Hotchkiss machine guns. In service, both were designated Tracteur Blindé de Armé (armoured weapon armed tractor).
Compared with the British tanks, the French types were nowhere near as sophisticated and had poor cross-country performance, particularly when crossing enemy trenches. Both the Schneider CA-1 and St Chamond failed as combat vehicles.
The mass deployment of British- and French-built tanks on the World War I battlefront had not only a physical, but also a psychological, effect on battle-weary German troops that began to be known to those on the front line as Panzerschreck (tank fright).
A British Mark (Mk) I being moved forward as troops prepare for an attack on entrenched German forces. The frame-work structure on top of the tank was positioned to prevent hand grenades thrown by German infantry from damaging the thin roof plates. (NARA)
But as the war continued, these troops noted that the tanks had many mechanical and mobility shortcomings and quickly learned how to deal with the danger. Nevertheless, the deployment of these new fighting machines had to be considered a success: the tank had arrived on the battlefield and did what it was designed to do – break through enemy barbed wire defences and destroy infantry positioned in the myriad deep trenches.
Initially, military planners in the Deutsche Reich (German Empire) had an almost pathological aversion to modern technology. However, the reality of the battlefield quickly made it clear that they would have to overcome this and catch up – a seemingly impossible task.
The Deutsche Reich was taken by surprise by British and French developments and was late to begin construction of a tracked armoured vehicle. The Allgemeines-Kriegsdepartement-Abteilung (A – general war department-section) 7, Verkehrswesen (V – transportation), used a tracked chassis taken from a Holt heavy tractor that was on loan from the Austro-Hungarian army. It was fitted with an armoured casemate-type superstructure, mounted 5.7cm Maxim-Nordenfelt cannon and six 7.92mm Maschinengewehr (MG – machine gun) 08. However, as with the French types, the combination of an oversized body mounted on a short and narrow chassis seriously affected crosscountry performance.
The first German attempt to build a tank resulted in the A7V Sturmpanzerwagen (assault tank). The vehicle, assembled by Daimler-Motoren- Gesellschaft, had a huge casemate-type superstructure and was manned by a commander, a driver, a mechanic, a mechanic/signaller, six MG gunners and six MG loaders, as well as a main gunner and a loader. The driver and commander were seated above the two centrally mounted 101hp Daimler four-cylinder water-cooled engines linked to the transmission on the chassis of a Holt Caterpillar heavy tractor. German engineers had improved the suspension (and fitted protection from shell fire) by using better springing, making the A7V highly mobile on hard-surfaced roads but a complete failure when traversing a heavily cratered battlefield.
The ‘Male’ version of the Mk I was armed with two Hotchkiss 6-Pounder QF guns mounted in a sponson on each side of the superstructure. Note the extensions fitted to the tracks to improve crosscountry mobility. (NARA)
The A7V was doomed from the beginning. Since no realistic specifications were discussed or issued, the manufacturer had to independently make crucial decisions despite lacking the required technical knowledge. Furthermore, the problem was exacerbated by the British naval blockade, which had severely restricted the supply of essential raw materials to German industry. On 31 May 1918, a new type of tank entered the World War I battlefield when the French army deployed 30 Renault FT to the Battle of the Aisne. The action was a success despite a lack of heavy tank support.
This new type differed drastically from any previous armoured fighting vehicle: it was relatively small and light and its simple design made it straightforward to assemble, which meant that it was quick and economical to manufacture in large numbers. The vehicle had many features more akin to those of a modern tank: for example, the engine and transmission were fitted in an enclosed compartment in the rear of the hull. This was not only to save space, but also to reduce the impact of engine noise and fumes upon the two-man crew. The type carried either a 37mm Puteaux SA 1918 gun or an
8mm Hotchkiss machine gun, both operated by the commander and mounted in a turret that could be rotated manually through 360 degrees. When compared with the types built up until 1918, the Renault FT represented a new class – the light tank – that was fabricated from armour plates impervious to armour-piercing infantry ammunition and which mounted armament that, although light, was feared by trench-bound enemy troops. The design, mechanical layout and rotatable turret on the FT was to prove groundbreaking and many nations went on to adopt this layout for their tank designs.
The British military continue develop the Mk I design as the war progressed. The Mk IX was designed as a troop carrier or infantry supply vehicle, but arrived too late to be used on the battlefront.
Heavier types, such as the British-built Mk I–Mk V tanks, were to be designated medium tanks, while design and development work progressed on even larger, and better armed and armoured, vehicles that would eventually be classified as ‘heavy’ tanks.
In World War II, although the medium tank became the most important armoured vehicle on the battlefront, the light tank played a vital role in reconnaissance units and for infantry support.
Due to a lack of documents from World War I, it is only possible to speculate as to how German military planners assessed the performance of the A7V after its first missions. Despite this, Hauptmann Joseph Vollmer, chief designer in the Kraftfahrzeug-Bereich (motor vehicle section) at the Kriegsministerium (war ministry), had commenced work on a completely different successor: the A7V-U. The track now followed the rhomboid-shaped armoured superstructure, strongly resembling British practice – obviously, Vollmer must have been given the opportunity to examine, in detail, some of the many British tanks captured by German forces. However, in due course, a sole prototype was built and revealed a number of problems that were actually expected by the designer, resulting in all work being immediately cancelled.
At around the same time as the A7V-U was planned to enter service,Vollmer began work on a tank under the designation leichter Kampfwagen (LK – light tank) I. The most important requirement was to keep the mechanical design simple, since a tank in this weight class would be easier and more economical to produce, permitting larger numbers to be manufactured.
Vollmer found an ingeniously simple approach. He had discovered that approximately 1,000 passenger cars, with engines from 18hp to 60hp, were being stored in the depots of the Kraftwagen-Abteilungen (motor vehicle departments). The reason for this storage is ultimately unknown, but these vehicles were notorious among the troops, who called them ‘Benzin-und Pneu- Fresser’ (petrol and tyre guzzlers). Vollmer planned to strip them and use the chassis for his new design. He utilized the frames with two additional frames added to each side, on which the suspension, comprising six bogies (the rear five were sprung), would be fitted. He also utilized the rear axle and its mountings to carry the rear drive sprockets.
The superstructure, fabricated from 14mm armour plate, protected the front-mounted 60hp Daimler four-cylinder engine, the transmission and fuel tank. The underside of the vehicle was fabricated from 8mm plate to protect mechanical parts and the crew of three: a commander, a driver and a gunner. The LK I was armed with a 7.92mm MG 08 – some sources state two guns, but all available photographic evidence indicates otherwise – mounted in a manually operated rotatable turret on the rear section of the vehicle.
A variant mounting a 3.7cm gun was proposed with the weapon behind a fixed open-top armoured shield, known as a Brustwehr (parapet), that would have severely restricted side traverse.
The vehicle was fitted with an additional low-ratio gearbox to improve climbing performance and increase towing capacity. Maximum speed on paved roads was 14kph, and with the reduction gearbox engaged, it could ascend an incline of up to 41 degrees in first gear or traverse a trench up to 2m wide. However, the LK I could not operate over deeply cratered terrain churned up by heavy artillery fire.
The limited engine power of the cannibalized cars forced Vollmer to keep within certain weight limits and also led him to solve the problems of overheating engines and poor air supply.
Two prototypes had been built by mid-1918, but after extensive testing the decision was taken to cancel any planned production. In reality, the LK I was more like a tracked armoured car than a tank.
Extract from Light Panzers by Thomas Anderson.
