Renault Armoured Car mle1914

[David]

The great Renault concern at Billancourt, near Paris, which was responsible for about one-fifth of all passenger cars built in France in 1914 was obviously an important unit in the French war effort. Among its earliest war productions was a preliminary order for 100 armoured cars. The earliest of these had improvised armour - "blindage de fortune" - built on the 18-h.p. Renault and other chassis without major modifications. By November 1914, however, a standard pattern was being delivered in which dual rear wheels were introduced. A truck-type armoured body was fitted mounting a machine-gun on a pivot and protected in some cars, but not all, by a large flat shield. The engine armour disguised the famous Renault dashboard radiator: there was an air intake at the front of the bonnet.

Louis Renault was infuriated by being told, after the first 100 armoured cars had been completed - with difficulty because of a shortage of armour plate -to convert them to ambulances! Renault refused and it appears that the decision was altered and the conversions were not carried out.

Late in 1914 appeared the Renault which, in both Automitrailleuse and Autocanon forms, continued in use throughout the war. This car was recognizably a Renault because the front portion of the bonnet was made as low as possible and the armoured grilles of the dashboard radiator appeared behind it at the front of the crew compartment. The hull was open topped and the armament - either an air-cooled machine-gun or a 37-mm. gun - was mounted here. A gun shield was fitted in either case, although that for the machine-gun was rather more V­shaped. The chassis with the 18-h.p. four­cylinder 95/160 engine was again used. This had semi-elliptic springs and detachable wooden-spoked, pneumatic­tyred wheels, dual at the rear.
France ended the war with only 39 Renault armoured cars left, so losses must have been heavy although it must also be said that armoured car production from the end of 1915 onwards was concentrated on White Armoured Car.