Meanwhile, Colonel Estienne returned to his command, the 3rd Corps Artillery, before Verdun, but still kept in unofficial touch with the manufacturers. Two months later he learned that a similar number of cars, but of a different pattern, were to be made by the St. Chamond works. These machines were of a heavier type with a petrol-electric drive.
In June 1916 the French Ministry of Munitions, which had meanwhile been created, decided on an experimental and instructional area at Marly-le-Roi. Later on, a depot for the reception of stores was established at Cercottes. On September 30, Colonel Estienne was promoted to the rank of General and gazetted “Commandant de l’Artillerie d’Assaut aux Armées” and was appointed the Commander-in-Chief’s delegate to the Ministry of Munitions in matters connected with tanks; he thus became the official connecting link between the armies in the field and the constructional organisation of the Ministry.
In October a training centre was established at Champlieu on the southern edge of the forest of Compiègne, and it was here that the first tank units were assembled on December 1, 1916. During the succeeding months, Schneider (see [Plate IV]) and St. Chamond (see Plate IV) machines continued to arrive, and training was carried out at this camp until the German offensive of 1918.
On June 20 a tank establishment was sent to the Ministry of Munitions and was approved of a month later. This establishment comprised four Schneider battalions and four St. Chamond battalions, and the creation of two tank training centres besides Champlieu, namely, Martigny and Mailly Poivres.
Meanwhile, General Estienne in June visited England, and having seen the British Mark I machine was convinced of the necessity of a lighter tank. This tank was the result of an idea he had in mind, namely, of producing on the battlefield waves of skirmishers in open order; each skirmisher to be clad in armour, and to be armed with a machine gun which could be used with uninterrupted vision in all directions. The weight of armour necessitated an auxiliary means of motion; this, in its turn, gave rise to the necessity for another man to drive the machine. These views General Estienne laid before the Renault firm in July 1916, and at the same time he urged the Ministry to accept his proposed light tank, but without success. Complete designs were, however, prepared and on November 27 General Estienne was able to propose to Marshal Joffre the construction of a large number of light tanks for future operations and to inform him of the existence of the design of such a machine; in fact, 150 had already been ordered as “Command” tanks for the heavy battalions (see [Plate VI]). Still the Ministry was not convinced, and it was not until further trials had taken place that, in May 1917, an order for 1,150 was authorised. This number was increased in June to 3,500, when a new sub-department of the Ministry of Munitions known as “Le Sous-Direction d’Artillerie” was formed to deal with the production and design of tanks.
In spite of all General Estienne’s endeavours, he was still experiencing from certain adherents of the old school, the thinkers in “bayonets and sabres,” that unbending opposition which had proved so formidable an antagonist to the progress and expansion of the British Tank Corps, and it was not until the battle of Cambrai had been fought, in November 1917, that the French Ministry of Munitions was finally convinced of the value of the tank. Opposition now ceased, and in order to accelerate the output, the firms of Renault, Schneider, and Berliet were all engaged in the manufacture of light chars d’assauts.
In December 1917 it was decided to form 30 light tank battalions of 72 fighting and 3 wireless signal machines each. Of these 30 battalions 27 were in the field and the remaining 3 undergoing their preliminary training at Cercottes on the date of the signing of the armistice.
The operations of the French Tank Corps may be divided into three well-defined periods:
(i) First period, 1917, birth and infancy of the Schneider and St. Chamond types.
(ii) Second period, first half of 1918, adolescence and maturity of the Schneider and St. Chamond, and the infancy of the Renault type.