Chinese World War 1 Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder

Toreno

Today we finish up our look at World War 1 tanks by looking at what would be available to China, this primarily being the French Renault FT-17 that would be used in China during the Warlord era!  Social Media ⬇️ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Toreno4 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toreno170 Mastodon: Toreno17@mastodon.social Threads: https://www.threads.net/@toreno170 Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Toreno17 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/toreno5/videos  Sources⬇️ https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/china/   Game: War Thunder  ⬅️  China during World War 1: 00:00 Renault FT-17: 01:32 Schneider CA1 and Fiat 3000?: 03:26 Next series?: 03:50  #warthunder #chna #chinese #warlord #worldwar1 #ww1 #tank

Transcript

00:00So, it's our last episode looking at World War 1 tanks I'd like to see added to War Thunder,

00:05and today we will be taking a look at some of the World War 1 tanks used by China.

00:10So, for World War 1, China was officially neutral until 1917, though Chinese labourers were used

00:17extensively by the Allied powers, doing work behind the lines in order to free up men for

00:22the front lines. China did eventually declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1917,

00:29with their few concessions quickly being occupied. But like with Japan, there was no large-scale

00:34deployment of troops to the Western Front, though about 2,000 or so Chinese troops would

00:39be sent to Vladivostok as part of the Allied interventions in Russia, and due to its late

00:45declaration of war, German territories like those on the Shandong Peninsula would be handed over to

00:51Japan, though they would start to be returned to China from 1922. But more importantly for this

00:57episode, China missed out on the beginning of tank development, and so like with Japan would

01:02have to import tanks from the Western Allies. However, unlike Japan, China was now entering

01:09a period of Warlordism, which, long story short, basically there was a weak and divided central

01:15government, various coups, and various factions and leaders decided to become warlords, carving

01:21out territories to rule for themselves. One of these factions was the Funtian Army, or North

01:27Eastern Army, led by General Xiangshu Ooling, and in order to bolster his army, he would order

01:34somewhere between 12 and 30 Renault FT-17s from France around 1925, with these being used in

01:42various battles against other rivals such as the Kuomintang, though due to low numbers they were

01:47never a decisive factor in these battles. Like with the French Renault FT-17s, they could be

01:53armed with either a single machine gun or a 37mm gun. However, the 37mm gun does appear to be

02:01different to the French SA-18, at least in some pictures, with some of the sources I've used

02:06describing it as a Manchurian 37mm gun. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find an exact

02:13designation, though perhaps some Japanese Type 11 37mm guns could have potentially been obtained

02:19at some point, though this is just speculation on my part. That said, if the barrel is a bit longer

02:25leading to higher muzzle velocities, it should in theory be a little bit better than the French

02:3037mm gun, though I suspect the improvements would be marginal at best. Other than that,

02:37it would have a two-man crew, a slow speed of around 4.3mph or 7kmh and a maximum armour

02:44thickness of 22mm. In War Thunder, the machine gun variants would be placed at battle rating 0.0,

02:51with the 37mm gun variants being at battle rating 0.3, with the tank itself being fairly slow,

02:58potentially under-armed, but decently armoured and it would make a good start for the Chinese

03:04tech tree, at least with regards to WW1 tanks. Unfortunately, the FT-17 seems to have been the

03:10only WW1 tank that is confirmed to have been used by the Chinese, with most of these destroyed by

03:16the 1930s, the last few survivors being used as training vehicles before being captured by Japan

03:22during the Second Sino-Japanese War. There are occasionally references to two other tanks being

03:29used in China, these being the Schneider tank and the Fiat 3000. For the French Schneider,

03:35I personally doubt the veracity of these claims and have yet to see any conclusive proof of their

03:40presence in China, while the Italian Fiat 3000 seems a bit more likely, though again I've yet

03:46to see any concrete proof of this. And so, unfortunately that is it for the Chinese tanks

03:52of the WW1 period, and indeed for the whole series looking at WW1 tanks I'd like to see

03:58added to War Thunder, so I hope you've enjoyed the episode and I hope you've enjoyed the series

04:02as a whole. I'll probably be moving on to interwar tanks next, but maybe not straight away,

04:07just have to see how things go, but hopefully I'll be joining you again with another video soon.

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