World War II
Although by then completely obsolete, the FT-17 tanks were still used by France, Poland, Germany and Finland during the Second World War.
When the Second World War started, the infantry support role was still a major part of the French tank doctrine and tanks were distributed throughout the army in small penny-packets Being intended for an infantry support role, they had very few AP rounds, only enough to defend themselves against enemy tanks, the vast majority being HE rounds. It was intended to have completly replaced the Renault FT-17 tanks with modern Renault R-35 or R-40 tanks by 1940. However insuficient modern tanks had been built so one thousand F-17s went to war in the same role as they had a generation earlier. Their survieability was much lower as they made easy targets for German panzers and specilist anti-tank guns as well the field artillery and when these were unavailable, such as at the crossing of the Meuse, they even fell foul of hollow-charge equipped combat engineers.
The American army's first contact with an enemy tank in WW2 was with the FT-17. During the 1942 landings in North Africa the Vichy French forces advanced with seven FT-17s supported by infantry. These were repulsed by three Stuart light tanks under the command of General George Patton. The Americans destroyed three FT-17s without loss.
Their final use in combat was in 1944 when the Germans used them in the street fighting in Paris.
Renault FT-17 and FT-31 - Keiths Guide to Wargaming the French Army of 1940 (in 10mm / 12mm / N-Gauge)