i was able to try and sit in a UE once, the thing is toight, i'm a bit over 5'11" and maybe a bit wider at the shoulders than the Chieftain, and i was wedged between the side armour and the engine, i could barely fit under the head dome bare-headed only by hiking my butt forward as to sit at an angle, and even then i was hitting the top of the dome and couldn't possibly look through the vision slits if i'm going to ever sit in one in movement, it's in the bin or the trailer, maybe next year if the track day at vincy-manoeuvre still take place
lets see, in add. to this puppy you have the tks tankette, the universal carrier, the l3 tankette(3 variants), the Type 94 tankette and Type 92 Heavy Armored Car, and the panzer 1 all taking design cues from the CLT
So funny thing, I'm so dog gone tired I loaded the video and thought this was the REAL description LOL! Did a double take. Man I gotta work for myself.. -_-
This looks like it would be brilliant to take out for a spin like a go kart. But never would want to be in it, in a war setting. Cannot believe how ground hugging this is when David Willey is standing beside it!
@@dirus3142 On that note also @Dirus what Calibre of round would that stop, or what level of round would it take and at what range? It just looks like here you are chaps have a go at popping my head open, compared to the rest of the vehicle? So that’s to save the vehicle over the crew members it looks to me.😵🤭🥶
The Chenillette, a French vehicle that was used more by the Germans than the French. The Panther, a German tank that was used for much longer by the French.
@@imranhazim5434 : I am german, Brittas boyfriend. In a german magazine about military history, some years ago there was an article about the in this video notes german officer Becker. This artillry officer had a lot of technical knowledge. He noticed, that german troops needed large numbers of specialized tanks. But it was difficult, to produce such specialised tanks in ,german' factories, because this factories had much work to produce standardized german tanks. So he noticed, that in 1940s West Campaign german troops captured lots of french, belgian and dutch armored vehicles. Many of this captured vehicles did not fit for german tank doctrine, but why not converting them in the producing factories into vehicles, useable for german forces? So the officer Becker, with good technical knowledge, and being an non bureau officer had many ideas. He converted with his ,Sonderkommando Becker' captured tanks into Commanders tanks, into Artillry observers tanks, into radio tanks, into ammunition carriers, into tanks for engineers corps, into tanks for repair teams, into medics tanks, so in few words , into tanks not doing combatfighting against the enemy. Of course he also converted tanks into selfmoving artillry pieces with howitzers or antitank guns, but this tanks served mostly not in first line at the , hottest' points of combat events, they served as second line vehicles at places, where there had been not the most hard fights. Also many vehicles converted by Beckers unit had been intended for ,security forces' guarding important buildings, roads etc. against irregular fighters/partisans.
@@imranhazim5434They didn't improve it, it was much better in terms of protection, speed and loading capacity than what the Germans had envisioned for its role: a horse. As the Germans grew ever-more-desperate, they modified them into stop gap tank destroyers and the like, and reverted to horses for the hauling.
@@AKUJIVALDO The Germans planned for horses to be the backbone of their logistics from the get go, because they lacked both the fuel and the industrial capacity to provide sufficient mechanised transport.
Very informative video, thank you. I just built a 1/35 scale model of the same basic vehicle. The kit was designed and manufactured by Mirage Hobby Ltd. Interestingly, they marketed the vehicle as the German captured “Renault UE Scout Tankette” and it packaged and box-displayed as a German Army vehicle. It is reconfigured with two forward facing MG 34 machine guns both in their own separate armored super-structured compartments. I think the “Scout Tankette” label is just a name given to the model by Mirage Hobby Ltd. and was never a proper descriptor. According to Hillary Doyle and Peter Chamberlain’s Encyclopedia of German Tank of World War Two Revised Edition 1993, the German Army referred to the captured Renault UE as “Infanterie Schlepper UE 630(f)”; basically tracked infantry carrier UE 630 (french). The Mirage Hobby scale model does very much physically match, spot-on, to the captured vehicles in the B&W photographs of the WW2 modifications the Germans did make to the captured Renault UE’s and conversions into machine gun [Tankettes?] for lack of a better term even though they’re still officially referred to as armored infantry carriers. They certainly look like tankettes after the German alterations. Just a tidbit of modeling info for you. This is actually a very historically interesting little unassuming military vehicle.
Fascinating. Thank you, Mr. Wiley, and the Tank Museum, for this exposition on this very interesting vehicle I'd never heard of before. One explanation for the request by the U.S. Army, in the late 1930s, for the jeep was that they were looking for a motorized replacement for the horse, not for the infantry, but for cross-terrain travel, supply, and general (Jeep=GP=general purpose) getting about. It seems to me that the Chenillette served a similar function for the French army, ie, a replacement for the horse, especially in its role of towing weaponry and resupply or combat troops.
Very interesting! I've been looking into these after finding notes from my grandad who said that when in France just before the end of the war, he and a few friends found one of these and repaired it so they could get round the airfield quickly! They used it mostly because as radio operators/ fixers they were camped right at the end of the airfield making it a long walk to the main area! It was either this or a similar sort of vehicle.
Im first wow. Like the finnish T26 and the SU 76 in the background. The chenillette is an interesting vehicle seen a few of these popping up on the internet recently.
The 20s and early 30s were definitely the adolescent years for armor. They aren't cute babies. They aren't confident adults. They are zit-covered teens.
Fabulous vidjoe bringing the museum to my computer. Excellent information presentation, which doesn’t replace my enthusiasm for visiting your museum. These short films are for people interested in battle history and how much great things are there to discover! Well done !
Very detailed as usual. I'm not a tank enthusiast but I like these explanations because they define the product development logic... which can be applied elsewhere!
Just imagine what a stressful job being the guy in charge of procuring spare parts for the division must have been. "You need HOW MANY different types of spark plugs?! And where the hell do you expect me to find a spare radiator for a Czech LT-34?"
I've said it before, the toughest job on the logistics side of the war was a German quartermaster. Supplying all those different vehicles and weapons must have been a true nightmare.
@@bezahltersystemtroll5055 Yes it is... but these bulges look like the eyes of a frog... and you know what these frenchmen love to eat... ... I'd rather stay with 'goofy' ;)
Really great content as usual. Thank you once again. 👍🇬🇧 It looks like only around one in ten views presses the 'like' button to show appreciation. Come on, you can do better viewers. Excellent free entertainment, least you can do.
If this is what I was given *during the war* (said in uncle alberts voice of course), as soon as the light communication system was explained to me, I'd have realised we were going to lose.
with the engine in the crew space a voice tube wouldn't have worked, and they were still a few years from developing vehicular interphones in reality the light system is quite effective and simple, you got one light for each basic order (fw, left , right and stop), 2 combinations for dropping load and 2 flickers for special orders (slow and reverse) the light box is right next to the drivers head so he's going to see them when they light up also keep in mind this vehicle only jobs was to tow the heavy weapons and bring forward ammunition
Thankyou so much David. If you hadnt presented this to us I never would have heard about it. And such a thorough going over too. The signal light system is quite interesting. Must have been seen as very modern. And you can dump the supplies from right inside?! Very cutting edge tech for the time!
That clunky double cockpit reminds me a bit of the German FUG, a field forklift vehicle. That has two seperated cockpits as well and was the most nauseating vehicle I've ever been in. No suspension but tire pressure on bumpy roads, it was baaaaad.
A side note about Renault numbering system. Every Renault project was given letters, starting with A. A letter was added when the end of the serie was reached. So WW1 tank was FT, chenillette was UE, for example, as explained here. The particularity is that all projects, successful or not, whatever they were, were numbered that way. That included civil cars, trucks, tractors and rail cars Renault manufactured. Meaning that, for example, GP was a tractor, YS another chenillette, ABH a truck, ABJ was a railcar, AGK another truck...
Finally, I know where the designers of the "Wiesel"(weazle) - a superlight agile paratrooper tank got their inspiration from... Greetings from Germany!!
@@ihtfp01 Maybe. A lot of arms technology of the early Bundeswehr origins in WW2. Maybe the engineers knew that particular British tank - but they definitly knew this old German design. The track system goes back to WWI, the hull is basically a box with a sloped front. None of those light tanks where created to look good, but for functionality. Leopard I tank was also engineered based on old plans. Do you know the NVA Helmets of GDR? Although they look a bit odd, they work very well against 7.62 Nato due to their sloped design. Bullets tend to bounce off. Way better than our US type helmets here in West Germany. Same trick as sloped armour on a tank or vehicle. That helmet was designed by the Nazi regime.
Love all these videos and got my books from the tank museum including the collectors book of the english translation for german tank crews as well as a couple others!
Many thanks to the tank museum . Yet again the most produced armoured vehicle is the one with the least cost . Government purse strings , they'd rather see 6 of these than one char b1on parade and of course little ones score high in the numbers game.
Of course, ask the Russians now if they used any foreign vehicles, and apparently they won WW2 completely on their own with their own Russian made equipment.
Mount a rack with small katyushas on the tankette, with reloads in the trailer. Mobile quick displacing arty support. If only you could send a letter to the past...And then I see the picture of the Minenwerfer launcher on the back as used by the Germans. Nice.
I think this is an example of being too specialised, which is probably worse than trying to be a jack of all trades. It looks like in the end it did end up being a tankette anyway. Very interesting episode. Considering it's ubiquity it should be better known.
Seeing this I think small armored vehicles might make a comeback since insurgent warfare is really showing the limits and impracticality of conventionally sized AFVs/MBTs use in today's urban battlefields
Suspension caused a lot of pitch and rock, well that has to be fixed quickly it is good wine that is being spilt here !!! Is this the original idea of the 2CV something cheap, agricultural, easy to fix for farmers to take their produce to the local market?
I can just imagine this thing hauling a Howitzer or an 88 with that engine it would have taken a week to get across town 30KPH max speed only if unloaded & a good tail wind
I'm sceptical about the wisdom of making a vehicle unarmed and virtually unarmoured on the grounds that it isn't "meant" to be used as a tank/tankette. If something looks like an armoured fighting vehicle then, in battle conditions, it's likely to be treated as one. If not by your own troops then by the enemy. I would not like to have been aboard one of these when the enemy discovered it could only stop ball, rifle rounds. With a proposed family of ten different vehicle types, why not take a decently armed and armoured light, tracked vehicle, use it in the Chenillette's role and eliminate the Chenillette? That reduces the number of vehicle types in inventory and avoids the mistake of having something with only one - very restricted - role.
I think you could make a similar argument concerning the original battlecruisers. Yes, according to the original intent they were only ever “supposed” to be used as a means of sweeping the seas clean of enemy cruisers, so their light armor compared to other capital ships shouldn’t have been an issue. However, the fact that they still were armed with battleship-caliber guns practically guaranteed that at some point, some bright spark would decide to include them in the line of battle. In both cases, basically a failure to understand that reality is not bound by doctrine.
Given the desperate need for mechanisation in that era, a (relatively) cheap basic type makes a lot of sense. It’s a slightly whacky design, but does the job asked of it. Ultimately they were convinced the Maginot Line was the main defence, so a load carrier made sense. It makes you wonder what they’d have done if they’d decided against the Maginot Line.
the Maginot was never the main defence, it's goal was to force Germany to go through elsewhere instead of plowing directly through Alsace and the Lorraine basin, the latter of which contained a lot of France's industrial base if the enemy tried to go through it anyway then it's job was to slow down the enemy long enough for the rest of the army to mount a counter-attack problem was: -the Germans attacked on a specific point that was not defended well enough as the units stationed there were second rate and lacked many modern equipments, like anti tank guns or mines. -part of the fortifications at Sedan were not ready as most were part of the extension that would have reached to the channel sea, but works were started very late so the fortifications were incomplete -the French GHQ stayed on their designated course as signal of enemy movements in the ardennes were piling up, ignoring them until they could no longer be ignored
@@quentintin1 Sorry, I didn’t mean the Maginot Line was the totality of the French defensive strategy, but rather it being the dominant part of their funding. It just soaked up so much in the way of money and resources, that it left relatively little money for other projects. They lacked some key enablers that would have enabled a more responsive defence. The Germans had a lot of time to practice being on the offensive, which allowed them to defeat a sometimes superior French force. As you rightly say, a lack of investment in mines, AT guns and radios hampered the French defence. It does beg the question of what difference (if any) a bigger budget in the 30s would have made!
@@edsutherland8266 money was not the issue, over the period of it's construction (1930-1936), the Maginot line and the Alps line (facing Italy) represented together 5 billion francs, which was only 1.6% of the national budget, and it was separate form the army budget (which was at a higher percentage but can't find the numbers). for the radios, there was a lack of confidence in the technology, leading to a underutilisation even when the units were equipped, also the French army of 1940 was a very rigid structure, leading to decisions being made slowly with an over-reliance on written orders for the rest, there was little development done before 1930, where a slew of program were started in parallel (heavy weapons, tanks, small arms, explosives), so counting 5-10 years for a normal development cycle, new equipment could not really exist before 1935, which is where we see a lot of stuff (armoured cars, tanks, AT guns, mines,...) come at about a normal rate for peacetime, ramping up as the war draws near (1938-1940, more material was produced than in the 5 years before). also at mobilisation the French army just explodes in size, each peacetime regiment forming about 3 for war, classified as series A, B and C. the pre-war production wasn't sufficient to equip fully the series B and C regiments
@@quentintin1 Fair enough, I had always been under the impression that the priority placed on completion of the ML had seen a lower priority given to other projects. I know there were real problems equipping the second line formations. It probably wasn’t helped by the overall financial situation of the early 30s across Europe & the US. It’s interesting to see the sudden change in rearmament of that period, and the resultant equipment. The UK benefited in some ways from waiting, as a rearmament too early could have seen huge resources wasted buying obsolescent kit. The French just didn’t have time for theirs to fully deliver the quantities required.
@@edsutherland8266 yes, for the French there was also the issue that new equipment was issued piecemeal and a bit at random if the unit wasn't fully equipped. for example while the French army had a higher rate of motorisation than the Germans and even had fully motorised and mechanised division, but many units were furbished both in horses and trucks (divisions pétrole-picotin [en: petrol-oat divisions] as they called them), so they couldn't take advantage of the qualities of either; for example the infantry battalion had trucks replacing the old baggage and ammo carts, but still relied on horses to tow the heavy weapons or the communication equipment, and the soldiers were moving still on foot, only the large road movement being made on requisition buses used in special logistic units
i love how willey goes into the development history and service history in such depth.
Indeed. For such a tiny thing you'd think it only worth ten minutes. But its actually a whole system for battlefield transport.
But he can't hold a candle to David Fletcher for "no filter frankness"
@@johndoe-so2ef - They both bring something different to the game. Would love to hear Dr Fletcher’s view on the Chenillette.
Let's see the Chieftain can fit in one.
Oh bugger, the baguette tankette is on fire.
Nice.
In his last livestream chieftain saidhe didn’t fit in a universal carrier, he’d need to be greased for this.
uh oh, you might have snapped his back trying to get him in it
i was able to try and sit in a UE once, the thing is toight, i'm a bit over 5'11" and maybe a bit wider at the shoulders than the Chieftain, and i was wedged between the side armour and the engine, i could barely fit under the head dome bare-headed only by hiking my butt forward as to sit at an angle, and even then i was hitting the top of the dome and couldn't possibly look through the vision slits
if i'm going to ever sit in one in movement, it's in the bin or the trailer, maybe next year if the track day at vincy-manoeuvre still take place
Given how uncomfortable he'd be, it might end up being something more like, "Oh thank Christ, the Chenillette is on fire."
The Universal Carrier's French half-brother. Papa Carden-Loyd really got around.
I believe (and stand to be corrected) that it was the most numerous armoured vehicle produced in WW2..
lets see, in add. to this puppy you have the tks tankette, the universal carrier, the l3 tankette(3 variants), the Type 94 tankette and Type 92 Heavy Armored Car, and the panzer 1 all taking design cues from the CLT
Papa was a Rolling Stone?
@@ericgrace9995 2nd. Universal/Bren gun Carrier was the most numerous.
So funny thing, I'm so dog gone tired I loaded the video and thought this was the REAL description LOL! Did a double take. Man I gotta work for myself.. -_-
This looks like it would be brilliant to take out for a spin like a go kart. But never would want to be in it, in a war setting. Cannot believe how ground hugging this is when David Willey is standing beside it!
I dunno, between running with a wheel barrow, or on a completly unarmoured jeep, or this. I think id take this to rearm the front lines.
On a paved track. I would not want to risk losing my teeth with that helmet dome collar "hatch".
@@dirus3142 On that note also @Dirus what Calibre of round would that stop, or what level of round would it take and at what range? It just looks like here you are chaps have a go at popping my head open, compared to the rest of the vehicle? So that’s to save the vehicle over the crew members it looks to me.😵🤭🥶
The Ford GT40 of AFVs!
@@bmcg5296 In the conscript armies of the 1930s and '40s, men were cheap and vehicles weren't, even in the Enlightened Western Democracies.
The only thing missing from this is watching David try to squeeze into it. I'd love to see David Willey and David Fletcher crew one in the arena.
"If you see a red light- stop !" .. truly, a French designed vehicle.
Thanks, an excellent review of a ubiquitous piece of kit.
Thank you Mr. Willey. This felt really relaxed but comprehensive and took me back to the much-missed Garden Chats. :-)
The Chenillette, a French vehicle that was used more by the Germans than the French.
The Panther, a German tank that was used for much longer by the French.
Even Germans know how to upgrade captured vehicles and make it better.
@@imranhazim5434 : I am german, Brittas boyfriend. In a german magazine about military history, some years ago there was an article about the in this video notes german officer Becker. This artillry officer had a lot of technical knowledge. He noticed, that german troops needed large numbers of specialized tanks. But it was difficult, to produce such specialised tanks in ,german' factories, because this factories had much work to produce standardized german tanks. So he noticed, that in 1940s West Campaign german troops captured lots of french, belgian and dutch armored vehicles. Many of this captured vehicles did not fit for german tank doctrine, but why not converting them in the producing factories into vehicles, useable for german forces? So the officer Becker, with good technical knowledge, and being an non bureau officer had many ideas. He converted with his ,Sonderkommando Becker' captured tanks into Commanders tanks, into Artillry observers tanks, into radio tanks, into ammunition carriers, into tanks for engineers corps, into tanks for repair teams, into medics tanks, so in few words , into tanks not doing combatfighting against the enemy. Of course he also converted tanks into selfmoving artillry pieces with howitzers or antitank guns, but this tanks served mostly not in first line at the , hottest' points of combat events, they served as second line vehicles at places, where there had been not the most hard fights. Also many vehicles converted by Beckers unit had been intended for ,security forces' guarding important buildings, roads etc. against irregular fighters/partisans.
@@imranhazim5434They didn't improve it, it was much better in terms of protection, speed and loading capacity than what the Germans had envisioned for its role: a horse. As the Germans grew ever-more-desperate, they modified them into stop gap tank destroyers and the like, and reverted to horses for the hauling.
@@adrianguggisberg3656 give Germany fuel it needed and you would be eating your words.
@@AKUJIVALDO The Germans planned for horses to be the backbone of their logistics from the get go, because they lacked both the fuel and the industrial capacity to provide sufficient mechanised transport.
this vehicle doesn't have cupolas for the crews heads, these are external helmets
I would love to own one of these. I've learned more from this channel in the past 4 years then I have the whole time I was in school
Armoury school?....
Very informative video, thank you. I just built a 1/35 scale model of the same basic vehicle.
The kit was designed and manufactured by Mirage Hobby Ltd.
Interestingly, they marketed the vehicle as the German captured “Renault UE Scout Tankette” and it packaged and box-displayed as a German Army vehicle.
It is reconfigured with two forward facing MG 34 machine guns both in their own separate armored super-structured compartments.
I think the “Scout Tankette” label is just a name given to the model by Mirage Hobby Ltd. and was never a proper descriptor.
According to Hillary Doyle and Peter Chamberlain’s Encyclopedia of German Tank of World War Two Revised Edition 1993, the German Army referred to the captured Renault UE as “Infanterie Schlepper UE 630(f)”; basically tracked infantry carrier UE 630 (french).
The Mirage Hobby scale model does very much physically match, spot-on, to the captured vehicles in the B&W photographs of the WW2 modifications the Germans did make to the captured Renault UE’s and conversions into machine gun [Tankettes?] for lack of a better term even though they’re still officially referred to as armored infantry carriers. They certainly look like tankettes after the German alterations.
Just a tidbit of modeling info for you. This is actually a very historically interesting little unassuming military vehicle.
Fascinating. Thank you, Mr. Wiley, and the Tank Museum, for this exposition on this very interesting vehicle I'd never heard of before. One explanation for the request by the U.S. Army, in the late 1930s, for the jeep was that they were looking for a motorized replacement for the horse, not for the infantry, but for cross-terrain travel, supply, and general (Jeep=GP=general purpose) getting about. It seems to me that the Chenillette served a similar function for the French army, ie, a replacement for the horse, especially in its role of towing weaponry and resupply or combat troops.
Very interesting! I've been looking into these after finding notes from my grandad who said that when in France just before the end of the war, he and a few friends found one of these and repaired it so they could get round the airfield quickly! They used it mostly because as radio operators/ fixers they were camped right at the end of the airfield making it a long walk to the main area! It was either this or a similar sort of vehicle.
It's Friday and I've got a 23min Tank Chat. Game on.
With those domes, it reminds me of Tintin's moon rover.
Agreed!, and I'm getting a "Terrahawks zeroid battletank" vibe from certain angles as well.
I do prefer the David Wiley as presenter. He gives the history of the vehicles and why they were used.
What a fascinating story.
Thank you for uploading and sharing a history I would never have known otherwise.
I want one! That's perfect and small enough for the cedar swamps In My area . What a great channel .
Im first wow. Like the finnish T26 and the SU 76 in the background. The chenillette is an interesting vehicle seen a few of these popping up on the internet recently.
I noticed the captured T26 too, i wanna see a clip of that thing too.
The 20s and early 30s were definitely the adolescent years for armor. They aren't cute babies. They aren't confident adults. They are zit-covered teens.
I think the light tank mark ii is probably the best example of this
@@babomb2146 I was thinking something like the M3 Lee but maybe that's still too advanced to be considered a teen LOL
@@tacomas9602 that 20 year-old jock that decided to stay at school instead of going to college
France: We need smaller tanks.
Also France: *Builds 10 Char 2C's*
@@babomb2146 Nah, Vickers Medium. That thing is fugly.
Fabulous vidjoe bringing the museum to my computer. Excellent information presentation, which doesn’t replace my enthusiasm for visiting your museum. These short films are for people interested in battle history and how much great things are there to discover!
Well done !
Uploads from forgotten weapons (Featuring ‘the chieftain’ and a T-62), and the tank museum at the same time? What decision to have to make!
Also ConeofArc
Yep
Open 3 tabs.
Problem solved.
This was planned
Very detailed as usual. I'm not a tank enthusiast but I like these explanations because they define the product development logic... which can be applied elsewhere!
Cool, it's like an early version of the Terrahawks Zeroid Battletank :)
With all these goofy captured vehicles the Wehrmacht must have looked like a steampunk-circus.
Just imagine what a stressful job being the guy in charge of procuring spare parts for the division must have been. "You need HOW MANY different types of spark plugs?! And where the hell do you expect me to find a spare radiator for a Czech LT-34?"
I wouldn't say goofy, it's kind of cute
I wouldn't say goofy, it's kind of cool
I've said it before, the toughest job on the logistics side of the war was a German quartermaster. Supplying all those different vehicles and weapons must have been a true nightmare.
@@bezahltersystemtroll5055 Yes it is... but these bulges look like the eyes of a frog... and you know what these frenchmen love to eat...
... I'd rather stay with 'goofy' ;)
Miss you sat at the car boot sale telling us about tanks and selling your goods. Bring back the garden chats. ;-)
Imagine the "twang" if that cover gets hit...right next to your ears :O
Inside the vehicle you'd hear (sorta) the French equivalent of "RUN AWAY!!!" 😏
Can't wait to get back down in September! I was there a couple of weeks ago it was a fantastic day!
Really great content as usual. Thank you once again. 👍🇬🇧
It looks like only around one in ten views presses the 'like' button to show appreciation. Come on, you can do better viewers. Excellent free entertainment, least you can do.
Another informative and engaging video on a French piece of kit which all who were forced to drive must have heartily cursed.
If this is what I was given *during the war* (said in uncle alberts voice of course), as soon as the light communication system was explained to me, I'd have realised we were going to lose.
with the engine in the crew space a voice tube wouldn't have worked, and they were still a few years from developing vehicular interphones
in reality the light system is quite effective and simple, you got one light for each basic order (fw, left , right and stop), 2 combinations for dropping load and 2 flickers for special orders (slow and reverse)
the light box is right next to the drivers head so he's going to see them when they light up
also keep in mind this vehicle only jobs was to tow the heavy weapons and bring forward ammunition
They need to take voip out of games and implement this system.
Man the Germans were so inventive with EVEN this little *captured* not-tankette. I like that stand up conversion with the tall machine gun mount.
A side comment, it's brilliant to see the museum has been given a Warrior II for its collection. Can't wait to see it.
Glad to see you guys back at the museum. Thanks for the great information.
Cutest WWII vehicle. Tamiya's model is very sweet.
Thankyou so much David. If you hadnt presented this to us I never would have heard about it. And such a thorough going over too. The signal light system is quite interesting. Must have been seen as very modern. And you can dump the supplies from right inside?! Very cutting edge tech for the time!
Excellent detailed content and a good length - thank you as ever
Literally saw this bloke Wednesday when I went to the museum 😂
The Triumph Spitfire of tanks! 😍
Just seen footage of Tiger Day 15, how great it looks. I wish I could have been there💖
Wow 22 whole minutes for such a small vehicle. Excellent.
That clunky double cockpit reminds me a bit of the German FUG, a field forklift vehicle. That has two seperated cockpits as well and was the most nauseating vehicle I've ever been in. No suspension but tire pressure on bumpy roads, it was baaaaad.
It reminds me of the 1959 GM Firebird III. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Firebird#/media/File:FirebirdIII.jpg
A side note about Renault numbering system.
Every Renault project was given letters, starting with A. A letter was added when the end of the serie was reached.
So WW1 tank was FT, chenillette was UE, for example, as explained here.
The particularity is that all projects, successful or not, whatever they were, were numbered that way. That included civil cars, trucks, tractors and rail cars Renault manufactured.
Meaning that, for example, GP was a tractor, YS another chenillette, ABH a truck, ABJ was a railcar, AGK another truck...
Finally, I know where the designers of the "Wiesel"(weazle) - a superlight agile paratrooper tank got their inspiration from...
Greetings from Germany!!
The Wiesel's granddaddy is a Vickers Mk. VI light tank. The lines are unmistakable.
@@ihtfp01 Maybe. A lot of arms technology of the early Bundeswehr origins in WW2. Maybe the engineers knew that particular British tank - but they definitly knew this old German design. The track system goes back to WWI, the hull is basically a box with a sloped front. None of those light tanks where created to look good, but for functionality. Leopard I tank was also engineered based on old plans.
Do you know the NVA Helmets of GDR? Although they look a bit odd, they work very well against 7.62 Nato due to their sloped design. Bullets tend to bounce off. Way better than our US type helmets here in West Germany. Same trick as sloped armour on a tank or vehicle. That helmet was designed by the Nazi regime.
Great video. Much appreciated
Love all these videos and got my books from the tank museum including the collectors book of the english translation for german tank crews as well as a couple others!
What an utterly alien approach to crew ergonomics. The human user seems to be the last element taken into account. 😶
"But Monsieur Renault, humans have heads!!" Slaps some pots on top of it.
3:14 King George V and Queen Mary second and third from right respectively.
Many thanks to the tank museum . Yet again the most produced armoured vehicle is the one with the least cost . Government purse strings , they'd rather see 6 of these than one char b1on parade and of course little ones score high in the numbers game.
A surprisingly capable and flexible little runabout.
@12:20 hauptmann Paul Daniels on the right? Das ist magik!
UE pulling UK
Abreviations can be confusing
Huey pulling the UK
The British hit the mark with the universal carrier. Way more practicle with the same pedegree. 13:11
support vehicles are always overlooked
kind of like the US trucks that revitalized Russia in 1942
And support units like the RASC. Without logistics the front line is going nowhere
Of course, ask the Russians now if they used any foreign vehicles, and apparently they won WW2 completely on their own with their own Russian made equipment.
You mean 1944. Watch TIK’s lend lease and logistics videos for more on this.
Yeah, those trucks were important. But some people over state their importance.
@@slartybartfarst55 The Russian Army museum has a small exhibition on foreign aid during WW2.
Mount a rack with small katyushas on the tankette, with reloads in the trailer. Mobile quick displacing arty support. If only you could send a letter to the past...And then I see the picture of the Minenwerfer launcher on the back as used by the Germans. Nice.
They look well naughty. Those skull protectors lol. Naughty AND lethal......to the operators no doubt. Cheers for the upload
How to get a perm while losing to the Germans at the same time
this is an excellent description of a vehicle I didn't know existed
Love this vehicle. So cool.
Hopefully you guys can get a Automitrailleuse de Reconnaissance AMR 35 ZT3 or SAu40 in, would be pretty cool to see those in the museum
I feel this is one of those vehicles you don't get in. You strap it on.
*Fig. C* Sontaran two-man scout vehicle, captured by UNIT in London during the 2009 invasion.
Love to own one to drive around my place. Really kool.
And in contemporary operations, something similar (including UGVs) is being looked at for British light infantry
That little thing looks like it would be a ball to drive around the farm.
This looks like it could inspire a sci fi toy in the late 60s through 70s.
By the end of WW2 a Wehrmacht Quatermaster's Spare parts bin must have looked REALLY funky.
I want one. Great for shopping.
Wonder if a speaking tube between the two cupolas would have made (shouted) communication possible. Cheaper than lights and wiring too.
I wanna see a clip about the tanks that Finland captured. Like the T26 in the bakground in this clip...
If I recall correctly, its in one of the earlier tank chats
Anyone else thinking - R2D2 sitting in an X wing fighter ? .
"This is baguette-5 I'm going in"
I think it gives off an armored double-bubble batmobile kind of vibe.
Interesting little vehicle.
Thank you for going into detail on this. What a fascinating vehicle.
Very accommodating of the French to supply so many machines to the Wehrmacht
brits left over 1000 universal carriers behind as well
Genuinely curious - what's that wheeled vehicle behind David? Looks jolly intriguing!
The front has definitely got the look of the British Fox armoured car about it.
The only AFV crewed by two Sontarans.
I think this is an example of being too specialised, which is probably worse than trying to be a jack of all trades. It looks like in the end it did end up being a tankette anyway.
Very interesting episode. Considering it's ubiquity it should be better known.
Thanks mate
Really enjoyed this. The Crepe Tank?
David there, with his tan and snowy looking beard, is just starting to look a bit of a Tank Santa
Or as he is known in Germany: Santa Maus
Seeing this I think small armored vehicles might make a comeback since insurgent warfare is really showing the limits and impracticality of conventionally sized AFVs/MBTs use in today's urban battlefields
What is that wheeled vehicle behind the tankette in the background? It’s the exact same vehicle as seen in the photo of the challenger PIP autoloader.
Ferret Mk 5.
When Humans finally replace or try to replace Horse and Cart on battlefield terrain.
I would love to work at the museum
What is the vehicle next to it at 0:51? The turret looks too big for a Panzer I or II - and the chassis too small for Panzer III and up.
It’s a Soviet T-26 in Finnish colours.
@@AtheistOrphan Ah. Thank you.
Suspension caused a lot of pitch and rock, well that has to be fixed quickly it is good wine that is being spilt here !!!
Is this the original idea of the 2CV something cheap, agricultural, easy to fix for farmers to take their produce to the local market?
Part of the spec for the 2CV was that a man had to be able to wear his hat while driving it. Not so much with these things. :)
Is this before the joined up with Nissan ?
@@malcolmwolfgram7414 That happened in 1999, so... yes.
Is that camo scheme authentic? Looks like black sprayed over Khaki. Not seen any other early French vehicles using those colours.
The old button and light system eh? Who knew these would still be in use in the 23rd century to help those exposed to delta particle radiation...
Captain Pike
I can just imagine this thing hauling a Howitzer or an 88 with that engine it would have taken a week to get across town 30KPH max speed only if unloaded & a good tail wind
The French UE was pulling the UK? :)
Sure this whole video was made on this purpose.
Anyone know what the green tank in the background is with the swastika on the turret is? Any videos or tank museum chat on that specific vehicle?
Captured Russian T26
I saw a picture of one that was found by Canadian forces in Italy in 1944
Hey wait, isn't this the first time I see a tracked _trailer_ anywhere?
Italy began with Carden Lloyd and developed it in another direction. Therefore the T34, might not have been the more numerous.
Out of the choice of this and a half track type vehicle I think they made the best choice with this robust little vehicle
Could you do a chat about the t-26
Brilliant video thank you for sharing.
I'm sceptical about the wisdom of making a vehicle unarmed and virtually unarmoured on the grounds that it isn't "meant" to be used as a tank/tankette. If something looks like an armoured fighting vehicle then, in battle conditions, it's likely to be treated as one. If not by your own troops then by the enemy. I would not like to have been aboard one of these when the enemy discovered it could only stop ball, rifle rounds. With a proposed family of ten different vehicle types, why not take a decently armed and armoured light, tracked vehicle, use it in the Chenillette's role and eliminate the Chenillette? That reduces the number of vehicle types in inventory and avoids the mistake of having something with only one - very restricted - role.
I think you could make a similar argument concerning the original battlecruisers. Yes, according to the original intent they were only ever “supposed” to be used as a means of sweeping the seas clean of enemy cruisers, so their light armor compared to other capital ships shouldn’t have been an issue. However, the fact that they still were armed with battleship-caliber guns practically guaranteed that at some point, some bright spark would decide to include them in the line of battle.
In both cases, basically a failure to understand that reality is not bound by doctrine.
finally my favourite tank!
Its not a tank.
@@JohnyG29 its tankette
Given the desperate need for mechanisation in that era, a (relatively) cheap basic type makes a lot of sense. It’s a slightly whacky design, but does the job asked of it. Ultimately they were convinced the Maginot Line was the main defence, so a load carrier made sense. It makes you wonder what they’d have done if they’d decided against the Maginot Line.
the Maginot was never the main defence, it's goal was to force Germany to go through elsewhere instead of plowing directly through Alsace and the Lorraine basin, the latter of which contained a lot of France's industrial base
if the enemy tried to go through it anyway then it's job was to slow down the enemy long enough for the rest of the army to mount a counter-attack
problem was:
-the Germans attacked on a specific point that was not defended well enough as the units stationed there were second rate and lacked many modern equipments, like anti tank guns or mines.
-part of the fortifications at Sedan were not ready as most were part of the extension that would have reached to the channel sea, but works were started very late so the fortifications were incomplete
-the French GHQ stayed on their designated course as signal of enemy movements in the ardennes were piling up, ignoring them until they could no longer be ignored
@@quentintin1 Sorry, I didn’t mean the Maginot Line was the totality of the French defensive strategy, but rather it being the dominant part of their funding. It just soaked up so much in the way of money and resources, that it left relatively little money for other projects. They lacked some key enablers that would have enabled a more responsive defence.
The Germans had a lot of time to practice being on the offensive, which allowed them to defeat a sometimes superior French force.
As you rightly say, a lack of investment in mines, AT guns and radios hampered the French defence. It does beg the question of what difference (if any) a bigger budget in the 30s would have made!
@@edsutherland8266 money was not the issue, over the period of it's construction (1930-1936), the Maginot line and the Alps line (facing Italy) represented together 5 billion francs, which was only 1.6% of the national budget, and it was separate form the army budget (which was at a higher percentage but can't find the numbers).
for the radios, there was a lack of confidence in the technology, leading to a underutilisation even when the units were equipped, also the French army of 1940 was a very rigid structure, leading to decisions being made slowly with an over-reliance on written orders
for the rest, there was little development done before 1930, where a slew of program were started in parallel (heavy weapons, tanks, small arms, explosives), so counting 5-10 years for a normal development cycle, new equipment could not really exist before 1935, which is where we see a lot of stuff (armoured cars, tanks, AT guns, mines,...) come at about a normal rate for peacetime, ramping up as the war draws near (1938-1940, more material was produced than in the 5 years before).
also at mobilisation the French army just explodes in size, each peacetime regiment forming about 3 for war, classified as series A, B and C. the pre-war production wasn't sufficient to equip fully the series B and C regiments
@@quentintin1 Fair enough, I had always been under the impression that the priority placed on completion of the ML had seen a lower priority given to other projects. I know there were real problems equipping the second line formations. It probably wasn’t helped by the overall financial situation of the early 30s across Europe & the US.
It’s interesting to see the sudden change in rearmament of that period, and the resultant equipment. The UK benefited in some ways from waiting, as a rearmament too early could have seen huge resources wasted buying obsolescent kit. The French just didn’t have time for theirs to fully deliver the quantities required.
@@edsutherland8266 yes, for the French there was also the issue that new equipment was issued piecemeal and a bit at random if the unit wasn't fully equipped.
for example while the French army had a higher rate of motorisation than the Germans and even had fully motorised and mechanised division, but many units were furbished both in horses and trucks (divisions pétrole-picotin [en: petrol-oat divisions] as they called them), so they couldn't take advantage of the qualities of either;
for example the infantry battalion had trucks replacing the old baggage and ammo carts, but still relied on horses to tow the heavy weapons or the communication equipment, and the soldiers were moving still on foot, only the large road movement being made on requisition buses used in special logistic units