Schneider CA - the first French tank

Soon after the Tank Mark I debuted, the French began deploying their first tank, the Char d'Assault Schneider, also known as the Schneider CA or Schneider CA 1 (although the CA 2, CA 3, and CA 4 were never built). A box on treads, it was far more common for the Schneider to bog down than it was for the Mark I. The overhanging nose had been intended to crush barbed wire, but it ended up being an almost crippling design flaw. Approximately 400 were built, and they served into the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, by which time they were totally outclassed by more modern vehicles. One significant flaw with the early Schneiders was that their fuel tank was at the top front of the vehicle (to allow for gravity feed to the engine), meaning many penetrating shots would dump fuel into the driver's area.


The Schneider's main armament was a very short 75mm gun, only 9.5 calibers in length, developed from a trench mortar and mounted in a barbette on the right side of the nose of the vehicle. A pair of Hotchkiss machineguns were located in ball mounts, one on each side of the rectangular hull. The Schneider does have a couple interesting features. First, it's designed to carry three riflemen as part of the crew, able to deploy through double doors at the rear of the vehicle. Second, the nose had very sharp angling, roughly 60 degrees, doubling the line-of-sight thickness of its armor. Finally, when that armor proved insufficient against some weapons, the Schneider surblinde was developed, with another 8mm of spaced armor on the nose. Schneiders were deployed in groups of four batteries, with each battery consisting of four tanks.

The crew consists of the driver/commander, gunner, loader, two machinegunners, and mechanic.

Surviving examples: The only remaining Schneider is in the Musée des Blindés in France.

Char d'Assault Schneider
Fire Control: 0
Armament: 75mm L/9.5 Blockhaus Schneider front right, Hotchkiss M-1914 left hull, Hotchkiss M1914 right hull
Ammo: 96x75mm, 4800x8mm
Fuel Type: G, A
Veh Wt: 13.6 tonnes
Crew: 6+3
Mnt: 7
Night Vision: None
Tr Mov: 8/4
Com Mv: 4/1
Fuel Cap: 150
Fuel Cons: 30
Config: Veh
Susp: T:4
HF 4 (7-Sp for surblinde)
HS 2
HR 2

Note: The Fuel Cap and Fuel Cons both seem low to me. Fuel Cons was calculated based on the information I could find about the size of the fuel tanks and the Schneider's range, so if anyone has good sources on the size of the Schneider's fuel tanks, I would (as always) appreciate any tips.