11-184 Garand Picture of the Day

[Snafu]

Description

Burning a Tank


Recent comments Ardee (Thu 21 May 2009 02:38:53 PM EDT)
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JJ, since making the initial comment here, I came across the same photos elsewhere, which verified it was indeed a training activity. While I can't be sure, it also looks like the soldier is carrying what might be a clip board, as if he might be taking ...

JJ, since making the initial comment here, I came across the same photos elsewhere, which verified it was indeed a training activity. While I can't be sure, it also looks like the soldier is carrying what might be a clip board, as if he might be taking notes, giving a team a score, etc. Re: the FT-17 used in the defense of Paris...? I remember reading ("Is Paris Burning?") about the Resistance using one somewhere in the fight, but I honestly don't recall reading the Germans having used one. It is certainly possible - but remember, the FT-17 would have been employed by police units (e.g., riot control) or second-line (third-line?) units, not front line troops. So far as why soldiers would train to destroy an obsolete tank -- well, they do it for the same reasons Navy gunners occasionally train by sinking obsolete warships, etc. Live fire and real targets are always good training.

Jimmy James (Wed 20 May 2009 10:33:20 AM EDT)
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Renault FT-17 tanks, out-dated and practically useless, were actually used by the germans even up to 1944 for an unsuccessful defense of Paris, just proving their desperation in the closing days of WWII. And why would they be trained how to burn a tank ...

Renault FT-17 tanks, out-dated and practically useless, were actually used by the germans even up to 1944 for an unsuccessful defense of Paris, just proving their desperation in the closing days of WWII. And why would they be trained how to burn a tank like that? It looks and sounds both dangerous and a bit stupid...

Posted by gunny55 on Mon 30 Jun 2008 09:53:36 PM EDT
burn, baby, burn. definitely training, or this would be friendly fire caught on film. literally

Posted by Costas on Mon 03 Mar 2008 03:47:12 PM EST
Training all right, with the then obsolete US built version of the FT-17, the M1917.

Posted by Ardee on Thu 24 Jan 2008 07:38:09 PM EST
It looks like one of the French FT-17 series of tanks. Some kind of training?

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Bob Womack]

There's an M1917 at the nearby Virginia War Museum, as well as several Garands.

[TerryS]

Could that be a gas trap ? Pic does not blow up very well.

[browningautorifle]

I'm pretty sure it's not a gas trap.