in 1915 on the battlefields of the first tanks.First World War, nobody expected, not ready for it, and even more difficult to predict the nature of future battles.
task - a breakthrough defense
In the autumn of 1914 Swinton, British army officer, seconded to France, began to realize that the main problem of advancing infantry to overcome the distance between the front edges of the offensive and defensive forces.Go to the full-length on the enemy, hidden behind parapet of the trench full profile and quick-armed with machine guns, it is difficult, and the end of the path of any unit will remain no more than half of the personnel.Something needed to cover the soldier's body, and to accomplish this task, he proposed a simple solution.We need to take the usual farm machinery, tractors, "Holt", produced in the United States, and to sheathe his armor.Interestingly, these first tanks of World War I forced were reproduced in 1941 in the defense of Odessa, they were called "NO" ("startle").
idea was not very successful, since the requirements for the chassis in the design of agricultural machinery does not conform to the complexity of terrain on which was to move during the offensive.But the task will not lose relevance, just face it had to be different.
first - British
main thing is that the designers have taken into account and Nesfild Mekfi designing a fundamentally new model of military equipment - the ability to overcome the broad moats and trenches.Known for films about the Civil War diamond-shaped silhouette of the armored monsters just became a manifestation of the original engineering thinking British inventors.The first tank of the First World War and were called "Big Willie" and "mark" their hallmark, in addition to the characteristic trapezoidal shape hulls, was the location of the arms at the sides, in special projections.Then there was a name of a new type of armor (eng. "Tank"), means "pot" or the "vat."
France does not give up!
French tanks during World War were designed with a wide variety of technical solutions and fantasy.Initially, they were going to build as the slow-moving mobile artillery mini battery, its silhouette defending infantry, and provide fire support.Soon, however, the designers came to the conclusion that the construction of relatively light vehicles, capable of rapid maneuver."Reno - FT17" to the greatest extent consistent with modern ideas about this class of weapons, if only because it has a rotary artillery tower above the hulls.Similar machines royal Romanian army participated in the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, when two FT-17, preserved since the Civil long ago became exhibits of Soviet museums.
Germans were pressing
As for the fighting qualities possessed by the German tanks of World War I, their distinctive difference was powerful artillery weapons, which later became the hallmark of German armored vehicles.The main sample, A7V, was huge, it should go in the wagon train, through the door.During operation of the engine is constantly monitored two mechanics, except for them inside the case was artillery crew.The commander, machine gunners and driver were with them crowded carriage.The machine was slow and low-speed.
Common defects of different designs
All first tanks of World War I had a serious drawback: they are practically impossible to be a long time because of the strong gas content and high temperature produced by operation of the engine, located in the same space with the crew.Yet it was created powerful engines, and assembly technology did not expect other ways of articulation of parts other than riveting.Reservations withstand hit a bullet, sometimes a light shell, the effect of any Field Artillery fire more than three inches has a devastating effect on equipment and personnel.
The Russian tanks began to build later than in other industrialized countries, but have made in this matter is very serious success.But that's another story ...
