Lieutenant Colonel George Patton de la 1ère Brigade de chars devant un char Renault FT – Eté 1918

[Nov 11 1918] When Tanks are needed in a great hurry at the fron, they are often transported by the trucks which are speedier. When a tank is damaged it is brought back to the repair shop on a truck.

National Archives Identifier:55229716  Local Identifier:111-sc-35246

Pensacola Journal OTD Nov 29 1918 photo with caption:

Special trucks for the quick transportation of the invaluable, whippet tanks from front to front were a development of the latter days of the war. They'll be valuable now to take the trucks back for convertion [sic] to purposes of peace.

The paper mislabeled the Renault FT Tank as a Medium Mark A Whippet

Renault FT Tank - IWM 508-81

The Five of Hearts 

The Five of Hearts was one of 144 Renault FT light tanks operated by the US Tank Corps on the Western Front during World War One. During the Meuse-Argonne offensive in 1918, the Five of Hearts, the battalions of the Corps named their tanks after card suits, was supporting US infantry pinned down by German machine gun positions. The tank was armed with a 37mm gun and managed to destroy one set of German positions before the driver was wounded in the throat and the tank was immobilised and its gun mantlet and turret jammed by German small arms fire. 

The Five of Hearts’ commander, Sergeant Arthur Snyder, later recalled defending the tank with his sidearm: 

“My wounded driver kept filling pistol clips and I produced as much fire as possible with our pistols and the crippled 37mm. I paid more attention to the volume of fire than its accuracy for I fear the enemy would close in if the volume diminished. Three machine guns were set up at very close range, but just out of range of our piece with its limited elevation. 

The fragmentation of our shells did afford some protection but I could not train this fire on the German field piece. The constant hammering of these machine guns at close range was terrific. The hinges on the doors could not stand up under it for long, but it was the mushroom ventilator on top of the turret that gave way. I was hit in the back of my head with fragments of it and bullet splinters.”

Luckily for Snyder the German infantry made no attempt to rush the tank, content instead to pepper it from a distance, and they quickly retreated when men of the 16th Infantry arrived.

In terms of protection Snyder felt that “the armor plate on those old French Renaults was good, but when you came to close quarters the splinters from bullets hitting around the vision slits did considerable damage.” Two of Snyder’s drivers were badly wounded; one by bullet splash splinters and the other in the throat.

Check out my video on the FT and the US M1917 Light Tank which includes more on the story of the Five of Hearts 

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