Those two facts could, you know, be related... "Monsieur le Président, the military museum at Saumur is thinking of adding another vehicle to it's collection." "Ah, a captured German tank?" "Non, Monsieur le Président, a vehicle used by our own forces, a D2, it's..." "Refusé."
Every time the Chieftain tries to fit into one of those rather small vehicles, I imagine him popping out of one of the hatches and yelling "Are you not entertained?". Just like Russell Crowe in that infamous Gladiator scene.
"Testicular fortitude"... loved it! I love the cuteness of this Chenillette. I had a model of on when I was 12, and though I managed to assemble it, I never finished painting it!
If this got hit in combat something had gone horribly wrong in the first place, given its job was to bring up supplies while shrugging off fragments from the usual artillery harassing fire.
@@AsbestosMuffins ...AT rifles, early antitank guns and "satchel charges" were all devised already during the Great War ya know. (Relevant: first tanks.) And this thing was never meant to be more than bullet- and splinter-proof at best.
@@AsbestosMuffins you set the 3 inch shrapnel shell fuze to going off on hit - and you are good to go against anything having around 25-30mm homogeneous armour.
Recently tried to fit a 1/35th torso and head in Tamiya's kit of the thing and it took a lot scalpel work for that one to fit. I'm glad for Chieftain's sake that he is at least more flexible.
@@colbeausabre8842 an armored recon vehicle that can shrug off small arms fire, fire AT missiles and 20mm AP, and and be too small for you to even see isn't exactly worthless.
@@raymartcarreon6069 indeed. Also, tiny by modern armor standards does not mean tiny in total. Given that the Wiesel is a relatively modern vehicle, it's quite ergonomic compared to this thing 😋
In many ways the French Army was more mechanized than the german, this armored and tracked logistics vehicle being a good example. It was intended for general use to bring ammo to the front line
Those chenilletes were also prime movers for 25mm anti tank guns of the infantry and other light artillery. They barely qualify as anything more that light armored tractors, the logistics part was only close to the front, not for long moving campaigns. A part the very few DLMs (mechanized cavalry divs) and the DCRs (Tank divisions with no much infantry or support) there were no totally motorized divisions in the french army. Some divisions were called ''motorized'' but they only had their own group of trucks that could only move a fraction of the division. So it was motorized but by pieces... The only real nearly totally mechanized/motorized army in 1940 was the British Expeditionary Force. The Renault UE is just another product of the 1930s craze for tankettes like the Carden-Lloyd ones...that ended with the last use of the Bren Carriers...
@@grizwoldphantasia5005 I rather enjoy the irony of much early-war German Army horse stock having been _British surplus_ sold off when the latter motorized.
You missed an interesting feature of the UE. Beginning at 2:02 you can see a semicircular toothed wheel on the side of the engine, that my friend is your auxiliary starter in case the electric starter malfunctions. So imagine you're taking fire, your engine has stalled and your electric starter malfunctions, hopefully you have the upper body strength and adrenaline to hand crank a four-cylinder engine
Only commanders repeatedly tried to use _those_ dinky little things as ersatz assault vehicles with often only too predictable results. I don't think anyone made that particular error with this little supply crawler...
...I like how you get into this basically like you would an open-wheel racecar cockpit. well, on the driver's side anyway. On the other side it has one as well but with added danger. Y'know, just in case being crammed into a tight space isn't uncomfortable enough, here's an exhaust and some accessory drives to get your attention.
Operator Lottie?? Does that mean, you're at the Australian armour and artillery museum! I just discovered their TH-cam channel a month or two ago. Had no idea we had even half of those vehicles here in Australia!! It's unreal. Their restoration series' are great too.
Well, this was a "cute" little nightmare machine I had never heard of... What were they thinking leaving the engine like that? A ventilated set of thin sheet metal covers to keep injuries to minimum shouldn't be that hard to install. Be fun to see what he finds next.
@@JGCR59 My point still stands, leaving an engine exposed like that and then expect someone to sit there? Yeah, that gets a big old nope from me. And that is without adding any potential gear like webbing's, ammo-pouches, canteens and so on...
@@kmoecub And that does not change my opinion on a exposed engine, I can forgive say the earliest WW1 tanks but that is about it. It just annoys the heck out of me otherwise.
@@killdizzle Yeah I know, still it is just one of those things that annoy me, no idea WHY, it just does... I have to many things like and most of them are mighty hypocritical of me.
Yes, finally, I see the Chieftain and the Chenilette Renault UE, something I've been asking to see for ages. And I love the fact he had exactly the same experience and worries I had when sitting in one, including the exposed belt and exhaust. And let me tell you if you do decide to drop the cupola all the way, it's very difficult to raise it back up again, because it's fairly heavy, awkward and you can't fit both hands in front of your face to push it, as your elbows will strike the front armor plate... I would absolutely not want to be in one anywhere near a front line.
Watching the Chieftain climb into the Renault made me appreciate for the first time the obvious flaw of any type of future exo-suit armor. Your body is contained in seperate parts of a machine, that's got to feel like being trapped in a metal coffin. Makes me appreciate the more open cockpits of the Battletech mechs.
Another classic case of the person that designed something probably never having used it. If the engineer in charge had been told once built "now drive it from Paris to Leon" would have I think made some changes on arrival.
Well its intended use was "drive from supply point to frontline and back". Short-haul transport so long-term drivability wasn't really a concern. Period tracked vehicles _seriously_ lacked the mechanical endurance to move long distances under their own power without breakdowns anyway, that only started becoming a thing in the late Thirties.
@@luisnunes3863 Okay, there are reasonable excuses for this though. Ease of manufacture, the alternative being no head protection whatsoever, being able to easily switch it on and off by flipping the dome back.
0:08 Hi, Frenchman here ! Quick tip on the pronunciation of "chenillette" : Chieftain actually pronounced it almost perfectly, with the exception of the "ill" part. In French, "ill" is *usually* pronounced like a "y" would be in a word in English (don't ask me why). I say usually because there is notable exception like "ville" (city/town) which is basically pronounced like a the English word "ill" with a "V" in front of it.
@@TheChieftainsHatch in "une chenille" or "les chenilles" the "ill" is also pronounced like a "y" (like the one from "Yankee" in the NATO phonetic alphabet). In addition, if not pronounced that way it would sound identical to the word "chenil", which means "dog shelter" (granted, this may sounds kind of ironic to bring up giving that in the first place "chenille" meant and still mean "caterpillar", but still). To be fair and to prevent too much unnecessary confusion to anyone, in the vast majority of the time the "ill" is pronounced like the "y" from "Yankee", I'm sure there is other ones but the only example of the contrary that I could think of from the top of my head is "ville", so it's pretty rare even though this word is extremely common.
@@TheChieftainsHatch And thus we find the difference between the French and the Belgians. Four twenties and twelve indeed. The Belgians speak French far more logically. Probably for fear of having to otherwise speak in Flemish.
UE might be too small which was its downfall, but I always liked its trailers. That's basically half the advice I'd give to any country that bought Carden Loyd tankette - design a series of good cargo trailers for it. Second half of advice would be to upsize it as much as you can(especially in terms of width) before starting license/copy production proper and make it have open cargo space in the back. Yes, second part is basically "copy Universal Carrier". For many countries and instances that would be ideal AFV for WWII era and onwards;) Heck, even nowadays you can't go wrong with having capacity to produce those yourself. Unless you can produce Hilux instead... Edit: for some reason YT has this weird bracket around the comment and keyboard and makes it nigh impossible to edit. Also double post that Idk if it's on my side or it just posted twice. First time seeing these bugs.
Aye, a sort of modern version (with actual safety and elbow room) would be interesting. And frankly more useful for more countries militaries than tanks, given what we’re being reminded about how tanks _must_ be properly supported.
imo, just make it long enough so you can stuff the engine behind the crew, like on the Lorraine tank supply tractor which was developed in an infantry version (short trackbase and tipping bin) in a bid to replace the UE but the army decided against smh in it's standard version it still had a towing hitch that could be uncoupled from the safety of the armoured cabin, towing a trailer similar to that used with the UE, the rear compartment could comfortably seat 4 men or receive up to 800kg of stores alternatively by pushing the dimensions a bit you could easily convert it in a APC, capable of transporting 10 men (2 in the front cabin + 8 in the troop compartment) or you can decide to convert it in the role of SP anti tank by bolting a gun forward of the cargo compartment and erecting an armoured box over it
The Renault Chenillette (pronounce cheni-yet, traduction little or baby caterpillar) was a 2 persons light armoured recco vehicle usually equipped with a FM Châtellerault 24/29, machine gun model 1924 modified 1929 by Châtellerault Weapons Manufacture aka MAC, 7,5mm, 30 rounds magazines.
One of the local garages in Starbuck, Manitoba had a tow truck that was a CMP truck. As far as I know, the owners didn't use it much. And now I think I know why. Their tow truck is now at the Manitoba Threshermen's' Museum in Austin, just over an hour west of Winnipeg.
A new species . . . first came the turret monster . . . French Island Dwarfism has produced the Chenillette monster! Charles Darwin wants to know your location.
The franch at the time where smaller and tankers were choosen on the small ones. Also they have a helmet and a leather jacket. So no risk of burn. The chenillette is only a truck like tank, not made to fight, made to bring supplies to the first line.
Well.... It is not an fighting vehicle, it´s purpose was to bring fresh ammo to the front, nothing more nothing less. The driver didn´t had to leave his `armoured` protection to unload. Just pull the lever and the ammo was dump out of the back. It doesn´t even has an pistol port so no 1st LT would get the idea to use this vehicle to support some grand idea for glory and fame...😅
TBF I understand during the war it wasn't unusual for them to jury-rig an MG pintle mount for the passenger, just in case you ran into some enemy infantry that'd wandered past the front lines. But that's the same as such self-defence armaments on supply trucks etc. so yeah.
@@broadbandislife especially the American platforms tended to end up, "Well we've got this MG spare, We know we've already mounted 3, but we can use a 4th!"
@@Voron_Aggrav I mean the US military had those days what historians have with straight face termed "a cult of the Machine Gun" - extreme example being the M2 Light which crammed no less than _five_ MGs plus their ammo into the modest-sized chassis. On top of the 37 mm main gun and a four-man crew. Suffice to say elbow room was at something of a premium. Even postwar the Yanks were the only ones to stick with the classic bow MG mounting, which everyone else had already dropped as worse than useless, until the introduction of the M48 Patton in '52. And still for quite a while thereafter insisted on turning the commander's cupola into a mini MG turret (perhaps telling that eg. the Israelis quickly replaced those with smaller traditional cupolas)... Institutional fixations are funny.
I would say the Chieftain KINDA FITS. As far as I'm concerned, he would have to fit in either side to count as 'fits' in. That said I agree with, declining for safety reasons, his decision to not ride in the passenger side.
I see the guy behind French iron sights was involved in making the viewing slit in the lid. I wonder how many folds of that bit of paper before it is too thick to fit through?
Keep in mind that this was a supply hauler, basically intended to drag a couple trailers forward to the trenches through the harassing artillery fire. It's armored enough to bounce small arms and 75mm shell splinters.
I have very distant blurry video of you attempting to get into this vehicle on the track at Ausarmourfest. Sorry to hear you burnt your leg going in that sounds painful! Was waiting for a video like this to crop up aha
Even at a much more "compact" 180cm/5'11'', the idea of climbing into this thing is still nearly as scary as the idea of going into actual combat in it.
At 6' 5" myself I am always amazed at how the Chieftain fits into anything. He's an inch or two taller than me and I don't seem to fit into many things. I guess for me I want to be at least somewhat comfortable and be able to function properly. LOL Can't wait to see what he classifies as "doesn't fit".
Seems like on these small interwar tankettes & things they put more effort in to figuring out how to squeeze a guy properly in to them than on some of the wartime full sized tanks. Aside from that passenger compartment being a little dangerous the average sized person of the time shouldn't have had too much trouble.
the Chenillette wasn't a fighting vehicule, it wasn't armed. It purpose was to tow supplies to the front line with barely enough protection for the crew to survive shrapnels from nearby artillery shells.
I cannot explain adequately how much I love the fact that mr. Moran has decided to lean into this meme hard instead of trying to ignore it. Brings a smile to my face to know that a tall, sarcastic Irishman is out there roaming the earth on a quest to fold himself into ever smaller armoured vehicles for science, and our enjoyment.
No 'Oh bugger, the chenilette is on fire'? Probably for the best, although I think that looks a little easier to escape in a hurry than some of the other vehicles Chieftain has done - Comet anyone?
Guaranteed the crew never closed all that armour in use. Most tanks that saw action rolled around with every possible hatch open to prevent overheating.
It appears that Chieftain's knees are at approximately a 90deg angle, so the drivers of the chenillette were probably selected for the physical attribute of "Chieftain's inseam" * .707 (as a 1st approximation.)
Those "head bubbles" remind me about that one episode in Top Gear, where Clarkson attempted to design a compact car, and ended up basically with a wheelchair combined with a suit of armour. Every time he hit a pothole on the road, he smacked his head against the helmet. Correct me if I am wrong, but I could see how riding this through the terrain could end up in a serious concussion
The ergonomic disaster in these vehicles never ceases to amaze me. Make the thing 6” longer and it’ll make no difference to the performance of the vehicle, but the driver will actually be able to use it effectively
Ian, Over at forgotten weapons will be pleased.😃 Oh and customs have been warned about a very tall gentle man trying to smuggle it out "It's for a friend who likes many things french".😂😂
I remember a school trip to Bodø military airport as a kid, the highlight was sitting in the cockpit of a f-16. But after having a guided tour inside the hangar the guide said:"So this is the part we give you kids a chance to sit inside the cockpit, but unfortunately on the last visit. A kid got his foot stuck under the pedal of the aircraft and we had to dismantle the entire cockpit to get the kid out. So you can walk to the top of the ladder but you can't sit inside it" I wanted to jump inside it, but I was allready on kind of a bad report with the teacher. And I'll probably ruin things for the next guy so I decided against it. Man what a bummer.
I find it funny that they wrapped the exhaust on the outside of the hull for some reason, but inside - nah, it is just a meat bag sitting there, plus - it is warmer that way during the cold seasons!
Other people pointed out that there probably WAS originally a wall or asbestos curtain on the inside, but the museum took it off at some point to make maintenance easier.
Or the variant the Germans made mounting four Wurfrahmen 40 launchers, either in a row behind the crew or hanging from a frame that slung them outboard of the tracks like the SdKfz 251 'Stuka zu Fuss'.
P sure that was a somewhat desperate Free French project from before the Brits could start sparing them proper kit, after which it was simply dropped. Not like they could source spare parts for the chenillettes they'd managed to bring along anyway.
At the time crews also were issued leather jackets If I remember correctly. Must've been a dilemma in summer, roast or suffer the burns and arm-eating belts of the interior.
Finally! The mystery of the universe has been solved. No "OH bugger, the tanks on fire!" The Chief would need a can opener for that. If you ain't Cav......
UE might be too small which was its downfall, but I always liked its trailers. That's basically half the advice I'd give to any country that bought Carden Loyd tankette - design a series of good cargo trailers for it. Second half of advice would be to upsize it as much as you can(especially in terms of width) before starting license/copy production proper and make it have open cargo space in the back. Yes, second part is basically "copy Universal Carrier". For many countries and instances that would be ideal AFV for WWII era and onwards;) Heck, even nowadays you can't go wrong with having capacity to produce those yourself. Unless you can produce Hilux instead...
@@broadbandislife that's the point of my comment though, lol. How effective were L3 and other Loyd clones in combat? And yet they were mass produced as exactly that, AFVs. Oh, and anything that has armor and a gun is AFV by definition. Sometimes having just one of the two already qualifies;)
@@TheArklyte I mean. This didn't have a gun of any sort either, unless you count the field-expedient jury-rigged MG pintle mounts for emergency self-defence (y'know same reason why military trucks have those).
@@broadbandislife there were also experiments with AT guns strapped on top of it, with making it an SPG, germans also just strapped rockets to it. The point is that when you create such a light vehicle in terms of both weight and offensive/defensive capabilities, you're already making it a compromise for cost, you know that you're producing cheap vehicle. So you're better off making it good at least at something ie being multipurpose transport... that you will later on strap guns or rockets to anyway if you'd have no other choice, but to use it in combat. Not sure if I'm succeeding in putting my words "on paper" and sending them across in comprehensive manner, but that's the PoV I'm trying to express.
@@TheArklyte The Free French looked into using it as a _Waffentrager_ style gun carrier but near as I know that never went past some experiments, already because they hadn't been able to bring many along in the first place less still spare parts to maintain them an' shiet. Plus the Brits were able to spare them enough stuff to get started on anyway. And the imaginative German conversions of any number of obsolete trophy stuff for diverse purposes are downright memetic. Neither has anything to do with what it was _designed as and for._ (The French actually had an APC derivative of it for the heavy DCR breakthrough formations but near as I know those were by themselves unarmed, too.)
Chieftain fits, thus he sits
Chief confirmed a cat
@@broadbandislife an Irish cat at that
@@admiraltiberius1989 That's definitely _fine too..._ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
_chat longue_
Careful, saying that could result in an embarrassing mispronunciation! 😆
Cute little tankette.
That's how to fit the Chieftain: Make a head shaped bubble on top of the vehicle.
Well, that's what they did with the Ford GT40. They built a small bubble section into the roof, so Dan Gurney, who was 6'4" could drive it.
Looking like Dark Helmet's wheelchair over hear.
Same as my Jetsons car.
@@ExUSSailor he GT40 was so named because it was 40 inches tall from road to roof
@@colbeausabre8842 Yes, and the bubble version was the GT42
The French probably had a rule that de Gaulle had to fit in all their tanks (he was 6'5").
He apparently crewed D2s in his service. Sadly no D2s remain today.
Good thing this isn't a tank.
Those two facts could, you know, be related...
"Monsieur le Président, the military museum at Saumur is thinking of adding another vehicle to it's collection."
"Ah, a captured German tank?"
"Non, Monsieur le Président, a vehicle used by our own forces, a D2, it's..."
"Refusé."
just for photos, because he cant move the levers :D as we saw
"Seat cushion optional"
These 40k models are getting more and more realistic every year.
the problem is ... where do you get gaming tables in this sice ... aahhh damnnn we have to invade others for a good game now
If you think that's bad, wait til you see Forge World's MSRP for this Epic Rules scale Capitol Imperialis
Minus shipping and duty, of course.
What drugs are you on?
Yeah, loving the new titan baneblade
Bit hard to bring to games, though
@@Demun1649 dont ask you dont whant to know its worst than meth....
Every time the Chieftain tries to fit into one of those rather small vehicles, I imagine him popping out of one of the hatches and yelling "Are you not entertained?". Just like Russell Crowe in that infamous Gladiator scene.
Takes note....
@@TheChieftainsHatch Dude, you gotta do this now. Full acting committal mode! 🤣
I prefer his "Oh bugger, the tank's on fire". Then he tries to exit a Panzer 1 drivers seat quickly.
Ist a Vehicle or is it armour?
Or bazinga.
Exposed exhaust manifold = "Oh bugger! The Chieftain is on fire!"
Thought "well that's not so bad" then had a real good chuckle at the steering levers ramming into your legs. Thank you for sharing
What of a unique combination of a tank, a medieval armor and a torture chamber!
"Testicular fortitude"... loved it!
I love the cuteness of this Chenillette. I had a model of on when I was 12, and though I managed to assemble it, I never finished painting it!
was it the same size?
A heated commanders compartment for the winter - such a nice touch 🤣🤣
If this got hit in combat I don't think the crew will be 'around' to worry about getting out.
If this got hit in combat something had gone horribly wrong in the first place, given its job was to bring up supplies while shrugging off fragments from the usual artillery harassing fire.
depends, if its 1920 nobody has anything to take it out, if its 1940 everybody has petrol bottles with your name on it
@@AsbestosMuffins ...AT rifles, early antitank guns and "satchel charges" were all devised already during the Great War ya know. (Relevant: first tanks.) And this thing was never meant to be more than bullet- and splinter-proof at best.
If this got hit the crew would around alright. Here, there and every where
@@AsbestosMuffins you set the 3 inch shrapnel shell fuze to going off on hit - and you are good to go against anything having around 25-30mm homogeneous armour.
It looks like it would be fun to drive... for a person of 5'8", or, under.
And given the visibility, legally blind!
Preferably under, with skinny legs.
Reminds me of the East German kiddie tank corps with their toy T 34s.
Not sure how tall Lotti is, but she's shorter than Nick.
So a French soldier from the late 1940s. Got it 😂👌
Recently tried to fit a 1/35th torso and head in Tamiya's kit of the thing and it took a lot scalpel work for that one to fit. I'm glad for Chieftain's sake that he is at least more flexible.
For a future episode of this, you could try the German Wiesel AWC. Its tiny, its fast and it is very cute.
And just this side of worthless
@@colbeausabre8842 an armored recon vehicle that can shrug off small arms fire, fire AT missiles and 20mm AP, and and be too small for you to even see isn't exactly worthless.
@@basketcase1235 wasn't the main reasons it's small is so it's air droppable?
@@raymartcarreon6069 indeed.
Also, tiny by modern armor standards does not mean tiny in total. Given that the Wiesel is a relatively modern vehicle, it's quite ergonomic compared to this thing 😋
@@colbeausabre8842
And just like this, it shows you have little to no understanding of its role. Thumbs up
Remember the time the Chieftan got stuck in the tank :-) Great video
In many ways the French Army was more mechanized than the german, this armored and tracked logistics vehicle being a good example. It was intended for general use to bring ammo to the front line
In any way you measure, the french army was more mechanized than the german army.
@@lavrentivs9891 TBH the bar wasn't very high there.
Those chenilletes were also prime movers for 25mm anti tank guns of the infantry and other light artillery. They barely qualify as anything more that light armored tractors, the logistics part was only close to the front, not for long moving campaigns. A part the very few DLMs (mechanized cavalry divs) and the DCRs (Tank divisions with no much infantry or support) there were no totally motorized divisions in the french army. Some divisions were called ''motorized'' but they only had their own group of trucks that could only move a fraction of the division. So it was motorized but by pieces...
The only real nearly totally mechanized/motorized army in 1940 was the British Expeditionary Force. The Renault UE is just another product of the 1930s craze for tankettes like the Carden-Lloyd ones...that ended with the last use of the Bren Carriers...
Just about everybody was more mechanized than the Germans.
@@grizwoldphantasia5005 I rather enjoy the irony of much early-war German Army horse stock having been _British surplus_ sold off when the latter motorized.
It's honestly a cute machine
That is exactly the Level of in depth armour Research I am here for ! 🙂
An _immersive_ experience, wouldn't you say?
**ba-dum tish**
...I'll get my coat.
You missed an interesting feature of the UE. Beginning at 2:02 you can see a semicircular toothed wheel on the side of the engine, that my friend is your auxiliary starter in case the electric starter malfunctions. So imagine you're taking fire, your engine has stalled and your electric starter malfunctions, hopefully you have the upper body strength and adrenaline to hand crank a four-cylinder engine
And now the Universal Carrier doesn't look so bad.
Only commanders repeatedly tried to use _those_ dinky little things as ersatz assault vehicles with often only too predictable results. I don't think anyone made that particular error with this little supply crawler...
@@daviddou1408 Well yes that's kind of what they were meant to _do._
Not the usage I was referring to however.
Compared to this, UC is a luxurious limousine.
...I like how you get into this basically like you would an open-wheel racecar cockpit. well, on the driver's side anyway. On the other side it has one as well but with added danger. Y'know, just in case being crammed into a tight space isn't uncomfortable enough, here's an exhaust and some accessory drives to get your attention.
That lid reminds me of Rick Moranis in spaceballs.
*Gasp* "I can't breathe in this thing!"
I've been waiting for this for 10 years! The exhaust probably had some asbestos wrapping originally, making it "safer"
Hey, less likely to burn your legs IS safer... Any later health problems are just unforeseen consequences of not catching fire!
Operator Lottie?? Does that mean, you're at the Australian armour and artillery museum!
I just discovered their TH-cam channel a month or two ago. Had no idea we had even half of those vehicles here in Australia!! It's unreal.
Their restoration series' are great too.
Well, this was a "cute" little nightmare machine I had never heard of...
What were they thinking leaving the engine like that? A ventilated set of thin sheet metal covers to keep injuries to minimum shouldn't be that hard to install.
Be fun to see what he finds next.
It was a supply vehicle, so the main worries were shrapnel or splinters and the occasional potshot.
@@JGCR59 My point still stands, leaving an engine exposed like that and then expect someone to sit there? Yeah, that gets a big old nope from me. And that is without adding any potential gear like webbing's, ammo-pouches, canteens and so on...
@@widgren87 At that time the common soldier was seen as a "wear item." Cheap and easily replaced.
@@kmoecub And that does not change my opinion on a exposed engine, I can forgive say the earliest WW1 tanks but that is about it. It just annoys the heck out of me otherwise.
@@killdizzle Yeah I know, still it is just one of those things that annoy me, no idea WHY, it just does... I have to many things like and most of them are mighty hypocritical of me.
I recommend the Chieftain also discuss tankers' helmets from World War II to the present. Looking forward to that video.
Yes, finally, I see the Chieftain and the Chenilette Renault UE, something I've been asking to see for ages.
And I love the fact he had exactly the same experience and worries I had when sitting in one, including the exposed belt and exhaust.
And let me tell you if you do decide to drop the cupola all the way, it's very difficult to raise it back up again, because it's fairly heavy, awkward and you can't fit both hands in front of your face to push it, as your elbows will strike the front armor plate... I would absolutely not want to be in one anywhere near a front line.
I would guess that there were asbestos curtains covering most of the more dangerous parts but long removed before the museum got it.
Clever man!
Makes my knees cramp by proxy.
Nick is awesome.
Watching the Chieftain climb into the Renault made me appreciate for the first time the obvious flaw of any type of future exo-suit armor. Your body is contained in seperate parts of a machine, that's got to feel like being trapped in a metal coffin. Makes me appreciate the more open cockpits of the Battletech mechs.
Another classic case of the person that designed something probably never having used it. If the engineer in charge had been told once built "now drive it from Paris to Leon" would have I think made some changes on arrival.
Well its intended use was "drive from supply point to frontline and back". Short-haul transport so long-term drivability wasn't really a concern. Period tracked vehicles _seriously_ lacked the mechanical endurance to move long distances under their own power without breakdowns anyway, that only started becoming a thing in the late Thirties.
Right after he took it out of parking, if he wasn't an idiot. Given the poor excuses for vision slits, I have to suspect idiot.
@@luisnunes3863 Okay, there are reasonable excuses for this though. Ease of manufacture, the alternative being no head protection whatsoever, being able to easily switch it on and off by flipping the dome back.
@@farmerboy916 not to mention a lack of a firewall between the crew and engine/transmission.
I love your stuff but i cant tell you how long ive waited to see this lol
0:08 Hi, Frenchman here !
Quick tip on the pronunciation of "chenillette" :
Chieftain actually pronounced it almost perfectly, with the exception of the "ill" part.
In French, "ill" is *usually* pronounced like a "y" would be in a word in English (don't ask me why).
I say usually because there is notable exception like "ville" (city/town) which is basically pronounced like a the English word "ill" with a "V" in front of it.
Would not “une chenille”, “les chenilles” also pronounce the double l? If so, it seems like “chenilette” is one of those irregular nouns….
@@TheChieftainsHatch in "une chenille" or "les chenilles" the "ill" is also pronounced like a "y" (like the one from "Yankee" in the NATO phonetic alphabet).
In addition, if not pronounced that way it would sound identical to the word "chenil", which means "dog shelter" (granted, this may sounds kind of ironic to bring up giving that in the first place "chenille" meant and still mean "caterpillar", but still).
To be fair and to prevent too much unnecessary confusion to anyone, in the vast majority of the time the "ill" is pronounced like the "y" from "Yankee", I'm sure there is other ones but the only example of the contrary that I could think of from the top of my head is "ville", so it's pretty rare even though this word is extremely common.
@@TheChieftainsHatch And thus we find the difference between the French and the Belgians. Four twenties and twelve indeed. The Belgians speak French far more logically. Probably for fear of having to otherwise speak in Flemish.
whew watching you cram into these tiny tanks is one of the few times i start feeling claustrophobic.
Head on over to the Battleship _New Jersey_ Museum's channel and find the video in which their curator crawls through a 16" gun barrel. Boy howdy.
I saw one of these in the paris war museum, and I had a moment where I thought it was a small scale replica before I read the placard
UE might be too small which was its downfall, but I always liked its trailers.
That's basically half the advice I'd give to any country that bought Carden Loyd tankette - design a series of good cargo trailers for it.
Second half of advice would be to upsize it as much as you can(especially in terms of width) before starting license/copy production proper and make it have open cargo space in the back. Yes, second part is basically "copy Universal Carrier".
For many countries and instances that would be ideal AFV for WWII era and onwards;) Heck, even nowadays you can't go wrong with having capacity to produce those yourself. Unless you can produce Hilux instead...
Edit: for some reason YT has this weird bracket around the comment and keyboard and makes it nigh impossible to edit. Also double post that Idk if it's on my side or it just posted twice. First time seeing these bugs.
Aye, a sort of modern version (with actual safety and elbow room) would be interesting. And frankly more useful for more countries militaries than tanks, given what we’re being reminded about how tanks _must_ be properly supported.
imo, just make it long enough so you can stuff the engine behind the crew, like on the Lorraine tank supply tractor
which was developed in an infantry version (short trackbase and tipping bin) in a bid to replace the UE but the army decided against smh
in it's standard version it still had a towing hitch that could be uncoupled from the safety of the armoured cabin, towing a trailer similar to that used with the UE, the rear compartment could comfortably seat 4 men or receive up to 800kg of stores
alternatively by pushing the dimensions a bit you could easily convert it in a APC, capable of transporting 10 men (2 in the front cabin + 8 in the troop compartment) or you can decide to convert it in the role of SP anti tank by bolting a gun forward of the cargo compartment and erecting an armoured box over it
All I could think of was the Dark Helmet character in Spaceballs.
The Renault Chenillette (pronounce cheni-yet, traduction little or baby caterpillar) was a 2 persons light armoured recco vehicle usually equipped with a FM Châtellerault 24/29, machine gun model 1924 modified 1929 by Châtellerault Weapons Manufacture aka MAC, 7,5mm, 30 rounds magazines.
One of the local garages in Starbuck, Manitoba had a tow truck that was a CMP truck. As far as I know, the owners didn't use it much. And now I think I know why. Their tow truck is now at the Manitoba Threshermen's' Museum in Austin, just over an hour west of Winnipeg.
Well done, Sir!
This is such a cool vehicle 😍😃
A new species . . . first came the turret monster . . . French Island Dwarfism has produced the Chenillette monster!
Charles Darwin wants to know your location.
haha Cheers Chief. I needed a laugh tonight.
"We'll pencil you in as a bomber pilot trainee until the full size flying tanks are ready." "Next !"
Dude, you're awesome. I'm only 6'2" and I'd have trouble..
The franch at the time where smaller and tankers were choosen on the small ones. Also they have a helmet and a leather jacket. So no risk of burn.
The chenillette is only a truck like tank, not made to fight, made to bring supplies to the first line.
Well.... It is not an fighting vehicle, it´s purpose was to bring fresh ammo to the front, nothing more nothing less. The driver didn´t had to leave his `armoured` protection to unload. Just pull the lever and the ammo was dump out of the back. It doesn´t even has an pistol port so no 1st LT would get the idea to use this vehicle to support some grand idea for glory and fame...😅
Well, we drive this thing up, we ride in this flatbed trailer behind it, and it'll be fine
TBF I understand during the war it wasn't unusual for them to jury-rig an MG pintle mount for the passenger, just in case you ran into some enemy infantry that'd wandered past the front lines. But that's the same as such self-defence armaments on supply trucks etc. so yeah.
@@broadbandislife especially the American platforms tended to end up, "Well we've got this MG spare, We know we've already mounted 3, but we can use a 4th!"
@@Voron_Aggrav I mean the US military had those days what historians have with straight face termed "a cult of the Machine Gun" - extreme example being the M2 Light which crammed no less than _five_ MGs plus their ammo into the modest-sized chassis.
On top of the 37 mm main gun and a four-man crew. Suffice to say elbow room was at something of a premium.
Even postwar the Yanks were the only ones to stick with the classic bow MG mounting, which everyone else had already dropped as worse than useless, until the introduction of the M48 Patton in '52. And still for quite a while thereafter insisted on turning the commander's cupola into a mini MG turret (perhaps telling that eg. the Israelis quickly replaced those with smaller traditional cupolas)...
Institutional fixations are funny.
@@broadbandislife mean when you've got a million of something you'd also be looking to put them to use
Great video!
I would say the Chieftain KINDA FITS. As far as I'm concerned, he would have to fit in either side to count as 'fits' in. That said I agree with, declining for safety reasons, his decision to not ride in the passenger side.
I could use one here to plow snow and use as a snowmobile! 🤗
I see the guy behind French iron sights was involved in making the viewing slit in the lid. I wonder how many folds of that bit of paper before it is too thick to fit through?
I'm not to sure how id feel about getting a tank that has the equivalent of a jousting helmet protecting my head.
Good thing it's not a _tank_ then.
@@broadbandislife it's a pedant
I saw the one that's at Bovington. Interesting vehicle.
Amazing what was regarded as proper armored vehicles in the interwar period and the accomodations provided for the crew
Keep in mind that this was a supply hauler, basically intended to drag a couple trailers forward to the trenches through the harassing artillery fire.
It's armored enough to bounce small arms and 75mm shell splinters.
I have very distant blurry video of you attempting to get into this vehicle on the track at Ausarmourfest. Sorry to hear you burnt your leg going in that sounds painful! Was waiting for a video like this to crop up aha
Even at a much more "compact" 180cm/5'11'', the idea of climbing into this thing is still nearly as scary as the idea of going into actual combat in it.
At 6' 5" myself I am always amazed at how the Chieftain fits into anything. He's an inch or two taller than me and I don't seem to fit into many things. I guess for me I want to be at least somewhat comfortable and be able to function properly. LOL Can't wait to see what he classifies as "doesn't fit".
Soviet tank have rule for tank crew 5'6
I recognise the flag in the background. Is this Cairns Tank museum?
This series really ticles my funny bone :-D Keep 'em coming!
Hooray! Chieftan fits inside the Sontaran tank! 😊
Sonta-Ha!
Seems like on these small interwar tankettes & things they put more effort in to figuring out how to squeeze a guy properly in to them than on some of the wartime full sized tanks. Aside from that passenger compartment being a little dangerous the average sized person of the time shouldn't have had too much trouble.
the Chenillette wasn't a fighting vehicule, it wasn't armed. It purpose was to tow supplies to the front line with barely enough protection for the crew to survive shrapnels from nearby artillery shells.
I cannot explain adequately how much I love the fact that mr. Moran has decided to lean into this meme hard instead of trying to ignore it. Brings a smile to my face to know that a tall, sarcastic Irishman is out there roaming the earth on a quest to fold himself into ever smaller armoured vehicles for science, and our enjoyment.
No 'Oh bugger, the chenilette is on fire'? Probably for the best, although I think that looks a little easier to escape in a hurry than some of the other vehicles Chieftain has done - Comet anyone?
Guaranteed the crew never closed all that armour in use. Most tanks that saw action rolled around with every possible hatch open to prevent overheating.
Nomenclature: Maiden, Iron, Self-Propelled, Lightweight & Driver's Guillotine MkII Mod 0
Chieftain does a pretty good impression of Dark Helmet when he lowers the “hatch”
It appears that Chieftain's knees are at approximately a 90deg angle, so the drivers of the chenillette were probably selected for the physical attribute of "Chieftain's inseam" * .707 (as a 1st approximation.)
Chieftain: you prove to us that you really love tanks so much
Hooray!!!!! Now I can sleep well knowing that the Chieftain can fit inside the Chenillette!!!
Now are there still Lorraine 37 tractors out there?
The Chieftain does cat roleplay: "If I fits I sits"
_A Chieftain is fine too..._
You know, that looks like a perfect offroad toy imo, renault should do a second gen, it would be pretty popular.
Well done sir.
That passenger seat need the song "let's get ready to die" with Warhammer 40,000 orks playing in the background. Joking.
Note that until the end of the AMX-30 era, French tankmen were selected on their (small) size.
great video
Those "head bubbles" remind me about that one episode in Top Gear, where Clarkson attempted to design a compact car, and ended up basically with a wheelchair combined with a suit of armour. Every time he hit a pothole on the road, he smacked his head against the helmet. Correct me if I am wrong, but I could see how riding this through the terrain could end up in a serious concussion
He's pulling the "helmet" down and my first thought was Rick Moranis in Space Balls
The ergonomic disaster in these vehicles never ceases to amaze me. Make the thing 6” longer and it’ll make no difference to the performance of the vehicle, but the driver will actually be able to use it effectively
An answer to a question I had ever since I saw Walst from Honnest Gamming ram every UE they meet in game.
A fellow shenanigans enjoyer I see.
@@SoddingGit Run a train through that little tank
1:21 *prototype iron man suit helmet* "You can see absolutely nothing out of this..."
Ian, Over at forgotten weapons will be pleased.😃 Oh and customs have been warned about a very tall gentle man trying to smuggle it out "It's for a friend who likes many things french".😂😂
Its been so long since I've seen a track tensioning or an "Oh bugger the tanks on fire" I am going into withdrawl.
this is SO claustrophobic!
This is one of my most favourite tanks
Yep figured you could, since I remember you fitting into the TKS
I remember a school trip to Bodø military airport as a kid, the highlight was sitting in the cockpit of a f-16. But after having a guided tour inside the hangar the guide said:"So this is the part we give you kids a chance to sit inside the cockpit, but unfortunately on the last visit. A kid got his foot stuck under the pedal of the aircraft and we had to dismantle the entire cockpit to get the kid out. So you can walk to the top of the ladder but you can't sit inside it" I wanted to jump inside it, but I was allready on kind of a bad report with the teacher. And I'll probably ruin things for the next guy so I decided against it.
Man what a bummer.
Chieftain booty at 2:12 and I am here for it ahahahahha
Nice video, very interesting
I find it funny that they wrapped the exhaust on the outside of the hull for some reason, but inside - nah, it is just a meat bag sitting there, plus - it is warmer that way during the cold seasons!
Other people pointed out that there probably WAS originally a wall or asbestos curtain on the inside, but the museum took it off at some point to make maintenance easier.
Have you already done a Cv.33/Cv.35?
1:40 ah damn it .. just you wait we'll get you one of these days
I think it's safe to assume that viewers would like you to try to get into more French tanks.
*happy Ian noises*
Oh bugger, the tanks on fire! 🔥🔥🔥
the UE 57 anti tank gun carriage. . small and hard to spot at range ... My actual favorite french anti tank weapon system :)
Or the variant the Germans made mounting four Wurfrahmen 40 launchers, either in a row behind the crew or hanging from a frame that slung them outboard of the tracks like the SdKfz 251 'Stuka zu Fuss'.
P sure that was a somewhat desperate Free French project from before the Brits could start sparing them proper kit, after which it was simply dropped. Not like they could source spare parts for the chenillettes they'd managed to bring along anyway.
At the time crews also were issued leather jackets If I remember correctly. Must've been a dilemma in summer, roast or suffer the burns and arm-eating belts of the interior.
Such a cool little vehicle.
Ahhh yess... this is the content the people wanttt
In this thing you can decide to be grilled by heat of engine, or dismemberd by drivebelt... nice idea..
Finally! The mystery of the universe has been solved. No "OH bugger, the tanks on fire!" The Chief would need a can opener for that. If you ain't Cav......
UE might be too small which was its downfall, but I always liked its trailers.
That's basically half the advice I'd give to any country that bought Carden Loyd tankette - design a series of good cargo trailers for it.
Second half of advice would be to upsize it as much as you can(especially in terms of width) before starting license/copy production proper and make it have open cargo space in the back. Yes, second part is basically "copy Universal Carrier".
For many countries and instances that would be ideal AFV for WWII era and onwards;) Heck, even nowadays you can't go wrong with having capacity to produce those yourself. Unless you can produce Hilux instead...
>supply carrier
>AFV
...pick one?
@@broadbandislife that's the point of my comment though, lol. How effective were L3 and other Loyd clones in combat? And yet they were mass produced as exactly that, AFVs. Oh, and anything that has armor and a gun is AFV by definition. Sometimes having just one of the two already qualifies;)
@@TheArklyte I mean. This didn't have a gun of any sort either, unless you count the field-expedient jury-rigged MG pintle mounts for emergency self-defence (y'know same reason why military trucks have those).
@@broadbandislife there were also experiments with AT guns strapped on top of it, with making it an SPG, germans also just strapped rockets to it.
The point is that when you create such a light vehicle in terms of both weight and offensive/defensive capabilities, you're already making it a compromise for cost, you know that you're producing cheap vehicle. So you're better off making it good at least at something ie being multipurpose transport... that you will later on strap guns or rockets to anyway if you'd have no other choice, but to use it in combat. Not sure if I'm succeeding in putting my words "on paper" and sending them across in comprehensive manner, but that's the PoV I'm trying to express.
@@TheArklyte The Free French looked into using it as a _Waffentrager_ style gun carrier but near as I know that never went past some experiments, already because they hadn't been able to bring many along in the first place less still spare parts to maintain them an' shiet. Plus the Brits were able to spare them enough stuff to get started on anyway.
And the imaginative German conversions of any number of obsolete trophy stuff for diverse purposes are downright memetic.
Neither has anything to do with what it was _designed as and for._ (The French actually had an APC derivative of it for the heavy DCR breakthrough formations but near as I know those were by themselves unarmed, too.)