Thinking about this subject and the maintenance of them it must have added to the supply and repair headaches presented by the types and ages of the vehicles.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

"The French FT-17 light tank was undoubtedly the most common
foreign vehicle in Japanese service. A fair number of these vehicles
were purchased from the French outright, and the Japanese built an
unspecified number of illegal copies. Other FT-17s were captured from
the Chinese. Many of the FT-17s in Japan's inventory were modified for
the peculiar needs of the China/Manchuria operations then being
executed by the Imperial Japanese Army. These included flamethrower
tanks, smoke laying vehicles, and chemical projection devices. Of
course, the traditional FT-17 (male and female variants) were also
widely used. At least one company, Hasegawa, briefly produced a
series of Japanese FT-17 variants in 1/72 scale. I am not aware if they
are still in production."

Home

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

"Many of the FT-17s in Japan's inventory were modified for
the peculiar needs of the China/Manchuria operations then being
executed by the Imperial Japanese Army."




Does anyone know what the modifications were and why?

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

I had also forgot Belgium had FT-17s in thier inventory.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

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)

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

I've read now that the Philippine Army used a FT-17 for traning up untill 1940. I wonder what happened to it and if it was used in combat in 41.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

And it looks like Siam/Thailand and the French used FT-17s against eachother in 1941.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Might have been part of the Lend-Lease program.

Im not sure of if they were. Ill have to look that up. Anyone else know if they were?

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Canada did not take part in the Lend-Lease program.

From what I have found that is true.

"Lend-Lease, an Act of the US Congress passed March 1941, providing for the transfer of American war materials to Britain and its allies in return for theoretical deferred payment. Canada's involvement in WORLD WAR II had caused serious deterioration in the BALANCE OF PAYMENTS vis-à-vis the US, and the Lend-Lease Act threatened to divert all British war orders from Canada to the US.
To avert a crisis, on April 20 Prime Minister Mackenzie King and President F.D. Roosevelt issued the Hyde Park Declaration, named for the latter's Hyde Park estate, where they met, providing for American war purchases in Canada. American-produced components of war materiel manufactured in Canada for Britain were to be included in the Lend-Lease scheme, an arrangement which alleviated Canada's trade deficit and made it easier for Canada to fill British orders and guarantee financing for them. Lend-Lease, terminated August 1945, greatly helped the war efforts of Britain, the USSR and some other Allied powers; it benefited Canada only indirectly."

Lend-Lease

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Err, Fallschirmjaeger, Canada just bought the vehicles before Lend-Lease was implemented.
They needed them for training.

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"One might as well try to charge at a wall."-Napoleon, regarding the British Infantry.

Makes total sense to me. They were purchased before the US entered the war.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

This is true. The US military had them trucked to the Canadian border where Canadian crews had to drive them into Canada and then load them onto Canadian trucks. Then current US law prohibited the delivery of these vehicles (designated as "scrap") directly to the Canadians.

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!

Well with the age of the tanks I guess that technically they could have been "scrap" . Could have called them "tractors" too LOL.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

IIRC the Turks had some FT-17s too.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Does anyone know what happened to the FT-17 that was used in the Philippines in 1940 that was used for training?

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman