The concept of the battle tank was still evolving well after the lessons of World War I had been learned and put to bed. Many industrialized nations still weren’t sure what part the tank would play in a potential future conflict, some still believing it could do nothing more than accompany infantry at a sluggish pace into battle. As a result, all sorts of battle tanks and tankettes were produced during the inter-war period, some with merit, such as the German Panzer III and Czech CKD LT vz. 38 (later German 38(t)), while others were overblown carry overs from the Great War that had no place on the modern battlefield.

The Char 2C, also known as the FCM 2C, is a French heavy tank, later also seen as a super-heavy tank, developed during World War I but not deployed until after the war. It was, in physical dimensions, the largest operational tank ever made.

The origins of the Char 2C have always been shrouded in a certain mystery. In the summer of 1916, probably in July, General Leon Augustin Jean Marie Mourret, the Subsecretary of Artillery, verbally granted Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee (FCM), a shipyard in the south of France near Toulon, the contract for the development of a heavy tank, a char d’assaut de grand modele. At the time, French industry was very active in lobbying for defense orders, using their connections with high-placed officials and officers to obtain commissions; development contracts could be very profitable even when not resulting in actual production, as they were fully paid for by the state. The French Army had no stated requirement for a heavy tank, and there was no official policy to procure one, so the decision seems to have been taken solely on his personal authority. The reason he later gave was that the British tanks then in development by a naval committee seemed to be better devised as regarded lay-out, ventilation and fire protection, so a shipyard might improve on existing French designs. Exact specifications, if they ever existed, have been lost. FCM then largely neglected the project, apart from reaping the financial benefits. At that time all tank projects were highly secret, and thereby shielded from public scrutiny.

On September 15th, 1916, the British deployed tanks in battle for the first time in the form of the Mark I, and a veritable tank euphoria followed. When the public mood in Britain had been growing ever darker as the truth of the failure of the Somme Offensive could no longer be suppressed, tanks offered a new hope of final victory. The French people now became curious as to the state of their own national tank projects. French politicians, not having been over-involved in them and leaving the matter to the military, were no less inquisitive. This sudden attention greatly alarmed Mourret, who promptly investigated the progress that had been made at FCM and was shocked to find there was none. On September 30th, he personally took control of the project. On October 12th, knowing that the Renault company had some months earlier made several proposals to build a heavy tracked mortar which had been rejected, he begged Louis Renault to assist FCM in the development of a suitable heavy vehicle; this request Renault obliged. Even before knowing what the exact nature of the project would be, on October 20th Mourret ordered one prototype to be built by FCM.

This development coincided with a political demand by Minister of Armament Albert Thomas to produce a tank superior to the British types. On October 7th, he had requested Lloyd George to deliver some Mark Is to France but had received no answer. Correctly concluding that no such deliveries would materialize, on January 23rd, 1917, he ordered that French tanks should be developed that were faster, and more powerfully armed and armoured than any British vehicle. He specified a weight of forty tonnes, an immunity against light artillery rounds and a trench-crossing capacity of 3.5 meters.

Meanwhile, Renault had consulted his own team, led by Rodolphe Ernst-Metzmaier, which had been, since May 1916, in the process of designing the revolutionary Renault FT light tank. This work had not, however, stopped them from considering other tank types. Renault, always expecting his employees to provide new ideas instantly, had by this attitude encouraged the team to take a proactive stance – setting a pattern that would last until 1940 – and to have various kinds of contingency studies ready for the occasion, including a feasibility study for a heavy tank. This fortunate circumstance allowed a full-size wooden mock-up to be constructed in a remarkably quick time. It was visited by the Subsecretary of State of Inventions Jules-Louis Breton on January 13th, 1917, who was much impressed and developed a keen interest in the project. The design was presented to the Consultative Committee of the Assault Artillery on January 16th-17th, 1917, after the basic concept had been approved on December 30th. This proposed tank was the most advanced design of its time; it was received very favorably, also because of the enthusiastic report by Breton, and a consensus began to form that the project was most promising and a potential “war-winner”. It featured a 105 mm gun in a turret, had a proposed weight of 38 tons and 35 mm armor. The committee decided to have two prototypes developed, one with an electrical transmission, the other with a hydraulic transmission. In this period both the French and the British military had become aware of severe mobility and steering problems with heavy tracked vehicles; the French designs paralleled extensive British experiments with all kinds of improved tank transmissions to solve them.

While the Char 2C will eventually be released under the Armored Fighting Vehicles of World War II banner, it may be some time before it actually comes to fruition. As a result, we have decided to promote the DeAgostini version, which, apart from the lack of an acrylic display case, leaflet describing the vehicle and attractive outer packaging, is virtually identical to the upcoming AFV version. The DeAgostini replica is currently slated to arrive in very limited numbers in early June. Its massive when compared with a standard tank, and even some of the larger heavy tanks pale in size when compared to this ungainly land battleship. So, if you cannot wait for the AFV version, we strongly suggest you purchase the DeAgostini vehicle while it is still available.