Hobby Boss 83861 Schneider CA (Early Version)

The Schneider CA (another designation: Schneider CA1) was a French tank from the First World War. The first prototypes of this vehicle were built in 1915, and the tank entered service in 1916. It is estimated that about 400 tanks of this type were produced in the course of serial production. The cart was 6.23 meters long and 2.05 meters wide. The drive was provided by a single 4-cylinder engine with a power of 60 HP. The armament consisted of a 75mm cannon and two 8mm Hotchkiss M1914 machineguns.

The Schneider CA was the first French tank to enter service during the First World War. From the very beginning, it was designed for the realities of the trench warfare and was designed to create breaches in enemy positions. The car made its debut in the Battle of Chemin-des-dames, however, has been critically reviewed. The disadvantages of the tank include its thin armor, low top speed, not exceeding 8 km / h, and the range of operation barely reaching only 50 kilometers! Also, the placement of the main armament on one side of the hull turned out to be completely unfortunate. It is worth adding, however, that the tank was developed on its basis Schneider St. Chamond M16, which, however, was replaced relatively quickly by the very successful Renault FT-17. After the war, several Schneider CA tanks were exported to Spain, where they served until the mid-1930s.