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178-772: In 1930 the Commission de Vincennes decided to develop a light armoured vehicle able to tow and supply small cannon and mortars. In 1931 the Renault company was given the contract for production of its Renault UE, combined with the Renault UK trailer. In 1937, from a number of competitors, the Renault UE2 was chosen as an improved type for large-scale production. Of both types combined over five thousand were built, including licence production in Romania , and they were part of

356-451: A German 3.7 cm Pak 36 was fitted just in front of the bin. There was no room for the crew in such a small vehicle: the gun had to be operated while standing behind it. Nevertheless, about 700 of these Selbstfahrlafette für 3.7 cm Pak36 auf Renault UE(f) would be built in 1941. A late modification from 1943 was the UE fitted with four Wurfrahmen 40 launchers for 28/32 cm rockets:

534-696: A Renault UE fitted with a machine-gun in a superstructure above the commander's seat; the Schneeschleuder auf Renault UE(f) , a snow plough, fifty of which were modified in 1942; the Schneefräser auf Renault UE(f) , also a vehicle intended to combat heavy snow conditions on the Eastern Front, but in the form of a snow miller; the Fernmeldekabel-Kraftwagen Renault UE(f) , a telephone cable-laying vehicle and

712-541: A Renault UK trailer. The system was to be controlled from the commander's position of the main vehicle. After the larger orders had been made in 1937, both AMX and the Renault design bureau, that had not been nationalised, tried to introduce further modifications to improve the production series. Several of these would indeed be incorporated into the UE 2 production run, but these were of a minor nature; there were however much more fundamental changes proposed, aimed at solving

890-468: A capable rival for cars such as the Morris Minor and Volkswagen Beetle ; its sales of more than half a million ensured its production until 1961. After the success of the 4CV, Lefacheux continued to defy the postwar French Ministry of Industrial Production , which had wanted to convert Renault solely to truck manufacture, by directing the development of its successor. He oversaw the prototyping of

1068-516: A choice had already been made for a rivalling type, was rejected because its mechanical parts were not easily accessible and the vibration level was too high. Berliet obtained an order for a prototype on 4 December 1936. A tractor and trailer were however only presented to the Commission de Vincennes on 6 March 1939, testing starting immediately. The type again resembled the Renault UE but

1246-487: A choice was made for the Renault UE2 to become the type for mass production: the Chenillette de ravitaillement d'Infanterie Modèle 1937 R . An order was placed with AMX — the nationalised former Renault factory — on 3 December. Other manufacturers were employed also: in fact Fouga had already obtained an order on 2 December; Berliet would be given one on 16 March 1938. These manufacturers however did not immediately take

1424-406: A closed disk, the production type had six circular holes; later vehicles were fitted with a wheel with six spokes. There were two return rollers. In all the suspension system was flimsy and vulnerable. This was compensated by limiting the official maximum speed to thirty kilometres per hour, although the combination of a weight of just 2.64 metric tons with an engine power of 38 hp would allow for

1602-412: A distinctive front shape caused by positioning the radiator behind the engine to give a so-called " coal scuttle " bonnet . This continued through the 1920s. Only in 1930 did all models place the radiator at the front. The bonnet badge changed from circular to the familiar and continuing diamond shape in 1925. The practice of installing the radiator behind the engine against the firewall continued during

1780-600: A dull bronze green overall, not using the intricate three- or four-colour schemes typical of French armour of the time. The more exposed forward positions would be supplied by the tractors only; their bins, though small, could still hold 150 25 mm rounds or 2,688 machine-gun rounds. Mortar and gun teams were expected to move their own weapons if the move was less than 1,000 meters, otherwise, they were loaded, two each, in UEs for longer movements; likewise four machine-guns could be loaded. The 25 mm gun could optionally be towed. As

1958-579: A foreign nameplate to win the award. (In 2000, Motor Trend did away with separate awards for domestic and imported vehicles.) A surprising side effect of the AMC linkup was that Renault felt the effects of the Arab League boycott of companies doing business with Israel, as AMC built Jeeps there under license. Plans to sell the Renault 9 in the Middle East were mothballed as a result. Introductions in

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2136-622: A greater effect on the famous Soviet T-34 battle tank by the Soviet tank design team of the Kharkov Locomotive Factory , led by Mikhail Koshkin . It was a technological response to the more effective anti-tank guns being put into service at this time. The T-34 had profound impact on German WWII tank design. Pre- or early war designs like the Panzer IV and Tiger I differ clearly from post 1941 vehicles like for example

2314-465: A greater thickness of armour to penetrate into the vehicle when it is sloped. The mere fact that the LOS-thickness increases by angling the plate is not however the motive for applying sloped armour in armoured vehicle design. The reason for this is that this increase offers no weight benefit. To maintain a given mass of a vehicle, the area density would have to remain equal and this implies that

2492-403: A higher speed; during testing 36 km/h (22 mph) was attained. This also reduced the chance of accidents while towing the trailer; fully loaded the road speed was reduced to 25 km/h (16 mph), the cross-country speed to ten km/h. The wading depth 30 cm (12 in) and the trench crossing depth 120 cm (47 in). The turning circle was 3 m (9 ft 10 in) and

2670-406: A highly oblique angle . However, these desired effects are critically dependent on the precise armour materials used in relation to the characteristics of the projectile hitting it: sloping might even lead to better penetration. The sharpest angles are usually designed on the frontal glacis plate, because it is the hull direction most likely to be hit while facing an attack, and also because there

2848-496: A hundred made early 1939 was in September changed into one for the other type. On 3 November 1937 Hotchkiss presented the prototype of a tractor; on 10 December of a trailer. On both elements however the manufacturer had not done any testing, the vehicles having been transported to Vincennes as soon as they were finished. Therefore, the commission delayed its trials until 27 December to allow Hotchkiss to make final adjustments on

3026-653: A joint AMC/Renault project since some early sketches of the XJ series were made in collaboration by Renault and AMC engineers (AMC insisted that the XJ Cherokee was designed by AMC personnel; even though a former Renault engineer designed the Quadra-Link front suspension for the XJ series). The Jeep also used wheels and seats from Renault. Part of AMC's overall strategy was to save manufacturing costs by using Renault's parts and engineering expertise when practical. This led to

3204-405: A long rod projectile, but different formulae may predict different critical ricochet angles for the same situation. The behaviour of a real world projectile, and the armour plate it hits, depends on many effects and mechanisms, involving their material structure and continuum mechanics which are very difficult to predict. Using only a few basic principles will therefore not result in a model that

3382-413: A mechanism such as shattering of a brittle kinetic energy penetrator (KEP) or a deflection of that penetrator away from the surface normal, even though the area density remains constant. These effects are strongest when the projectile has a low absolute weight and is short relative to its width. Armour piercing shells of World War II, certainly those of the early years, had these qualities and sloped armour

3560-419: A more or less horizontal trajectory to their target, as is often the case. The improved protection is caused by three main effects. Firstly, a projectile hitting a plate at an angle other than 90° has to move through a greater thickness of armour, compared to hitting the same plate at a right-angle. In the latter case only the plate thickness (the normal to the surface of the armour) must be pierced. Increasing

3738-423: A more sophisticated model or simulation. On the other hand, that very same deformation will also cause, in combination with the armour plate slope, an effect that diminishes armour penetration. Though the deflection is under conditions of plastic deformation smaller, it will nevertheless change the course of the grooving projectile which again will result in an increase of the angle between the new armour surface and

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3916-425: A much lower velocity than a shaped charge jet. An impact would not result in a complete melting of projectile and armour. In this condition the strength of the armour material becomes a relevant factor. If the projectile would be very light and slow, the strength of the armour might even cause the hit to result in just an elastic deformation , the projectile being defeated without damage to the target. Sloping will mean

4094-410: A process of elastic acceleration, when the projectile accelerates out of the plate (velocity along the plate is considered as invariant because of negligible friction). Thus the maximum energy accumulated by the plate can be calculated from the deceleration phase of the collision event. Under the assumption that only elastic deformation occurs and that a target is solid, while disregarding friction , it

4272-479: A rubber track; in 1932 this line of development was taken further by rebuilding a vehicle into the Renault UE Neige ("snow") or Renault UE N. For better traction this type had a more robust suspension with a broader rubber track, powered by a stronger six-cylinder engine. In the mid-thirties Chaubeyre produced the prototype of a smoke-laying vehicle, the generator using a thousand litres tank placed on

4450-417: A slope between 55° and 65° – better protection would be provided by vertically mounted armour of the same area density. Another development decreasing the importance of the principle of sloped armour has been the introduction of ceramic armour in the 1970s. At any given area density, ceramic armour is also best when mounted more vertically, as maintaining the same area density requires the armour be thinned as it

4628-467: A slope of 50% could be climbed. The value of the Chenillette as an armoured fighting vehicle was limited. In French service, the Modèle 31 carried no armament, although some later vehicles had attachment points for a removable AA-machinegun to be fitted — but this had to be operated from outside the vehicle in an awkward crouched position due to its low height. For the crew to use personal weapons through

4806-486: A small star fitted above the front hood logo. This proved to be a winning differentiator and in the 1930s all cars changed to the Stella suffix from the previous two alpha character model identifiers. The Grand Renaults were built using a considerable amount of aluminium . Engines, brakes, transmissions, floor and running boards and all external body panels were aluminium. Of the few that were built, many went to scrap to aid

4984-423: A soldier of normal height from closing the hood. However, the new Renault suspension offered no clear advantages over the older model in terms of vibration level and crew fatigue, so both models were in the end rejected as possible modification projects of existing vehicles; AMX's type was judged on 11 April 1940 not to be acceptable for future production. The Renault UE was employed at the start of World War II by

5162-607: A standard 3.5-ton truck and the existing Citroën-Kégresse half-tracks . Brandt, an arms producer having no experience in vehicle development, had already started cooperation with the British Vickers company to build a weapon carrier for its Brandt Modèle 1927 mortar; it proposed producing the British Carden-Loyd Mark VI carrier under licence and presented a smaller and a larger vehicle, together with matching trailers, imported from Britain, for

5340-495: A superstructure is still extant. On 31 May for trial purposes a 25 mm Hotchkiss anti-tank gun was fitted on a single vehicle; this led to an order on 10 June for 150 of such tank destroyers ; none were produced. In 1937, Romania , then still a French ally, bought about ten UEs. As a first step in creating an indigenous armored fighting vehicle industry, the Romanian Defence Minister bought in 1937

5518-747: A year later, on 4 April, this time delivered by the Americans, and on 3 and 15 September 1943. A few weeks after the Liberation of Paris , at the start of September 1944, the factory gates at Renault's Billancourt plant reopened. Operations restarted slowly, in an atmosphere poisoned by plotting and political conspiracy. In 1936, the Billancourt factory had been the scene of violent political and industrial unrest that had surfaced under Léon Blum 's Popular Front government. The political jostling and violence that followed liberation ostensibly reflected

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5696-404: Is a good description of the full range of possible outcomes. However, in many conditions most of these factors have only a negligible effect while a few of them dominate the equation. Therefore, a very simplified model can be created providing a general idea and understanding of the basic physical principles behind these aspects of sloped armour design. If the projectile travels very fast, and thus

5874-402: Is based on the fact that to attain a certain protection level a certain volume has to be enclosed by a certain mass of armour and that sloping may reduce the surface to volume ratio and thus allow for either a lesser relative mass for a given volume or more protection for a given weight. If attack were equally likely from all directions, the ideal form would be a sphere ; because horizontal attack

6052-495: Is easy to calculate the proportion of energy absorbed by a target if it is hit by a projectile, which, if also disregarding more complex deflection effects, after impact bounces off (elastic case) or slides along (idealised inelastic case) the armour plate. In this very simple model the portion of the energy projected to the target depends on the angle of slope: where However, in practice the AP-shells were powerful enough that

6230-495: Is in a state of hypervelocity , the strength of the armour material becomes negligible, because the energy of impact causes both projectile and armour to melt and behave like fluids , and only its area density is an important factor. In this limiting case, after the hit, the projectile continues to penetrate until it has stopped transferring its momentum to the target matter. In this ideal case, only momentum, area cross section, density and LOS-thickness are relevant. The situation of

6408-431: Is in fact to be expected the ideal becomes an oblate spheroid . Angling flat plates or curving cast armour allows designers to approach these ideals. For practical reasons this mechanism is most often applied on the front of the vehicle, where there is sufficient room to slope and much of the armour is concentrated, on the assumption that unidirectional frontal attack is the most likely. A simple wedge, such as can be seen in

6586-643: Is known for its role in motor sport , particularly rallying , Formula 1 and Formula E . Its early work on mathematical curve modeling for car bodies is significant in the history of computer graphics . The Renault corporation was founded on 25 February 1899 as Société Renault Frères by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand . Louis was a bright, aspiring young engineer who had already designed and built several prototypes before teaming up with his brothers, who had honed their business skills working for their father's textile firm. While Louis handled design and production, Marcel and Fernand managed

6764-423: Is more room to slope in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The cause for the increased protection of a certain point at a given normal thickness is the increased line-of-sight ( LOS ) thickness of the armour, which is the thickness along the horizontal plane, along a line describing the oncoming projectile's general direction of travel. For a given thickness of armour plate, a projectile must travel through

6942-403: Is sloped and the ceramic fractures earlier because of its reduced normal thickness. Sloped armour can also cause projectiles to ricochet , but this phenomenon is much more complicated and as yet not fully predictable. High rod density, impact velocity, and length-to-diameter ratio are factors that contribute to a high critical ricochet angle (the angle at which ricochet is expected to onset) for

7120-824: The Allied invasion of Sicily several were captured and used by the US Army . The Polish 1st and 2nd Grenadier infantry divisions which were established in France in 1939-40 were issued with UE 2s. In addition the Polish Independent Highland Brigade was issued with UE 2s. Seventeen units left over from the Polish Independent Highland Brigade's cancelled mission to Finland ended up in Britain where they were used by

7298-685: The Chevrolet Corvair . Renault also sold the Renault Caravelle roadster, which was called the Floride outside North America. During the 1950s, Renault absorbed two small French heavy vehicle manufacturers ( Somua and Latil ) and in 1955 merged them with its own truck and bus division to form the Société Anonyme de Véhicules Industriels et d'Equipements Mécaniques (Saviem). Renault then launched two successful cars –

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7476-547: The Compagnie Régimentaire d'Engins , the regimental heavy weapons support company. Their primary official function was that of a supply vehicle to provide frontline positions with ammunition and other necessities while under artillery fire. The light armour was sufficient to stop small shell fragments and rifle or machine-gun fire at ranges greater than 300 meters. The Renault UE could carry or tow approximately 1,000 kg of supplies; this included 350 kg in

7654-652: The Conseil Consultatif de l'Armement , under strong pressure by the Infantry to reach a quick decision, chose the Renault vehicle for production, even though the trial process had not been completed. On 9 December an order of fifty was made for the Chenillette de ravitaillement d'Infanterie Modèle 1931 R . On 26 March 1932 a preseries of fifty tractor-carrying trailers was ordered, the first was delivered in June. Further orders followed, mass-production commencing in

7832-544: The Dauphine (until his death ), enlisting the help of artist Paule Marrot in pioneering the company's textile and color division . The Dauphine sold well as the company expanded production and sales further abroad, including Africa and North America. The Dauphine sold well initially in the US, although it subsequently became outdated against increased competition, including from the country's nascent domestic compacts such as

8010-593: The Grand Palais in Paris . During World War I, the company branched out into ammunition and military vehicles such as the revolutionary Renault FT tank . Production of aero engines also ramped up with additional licensed production of the firms' products being undertaken by various companies, including Rolls-Royce who got their start in the aircraft engine business producing a batch of Renault 70 hp air-cooled V8s. Renault's most successful aircraft engine

8188-485: The Infanterie UE-Schlepper 630(f) , which also was used to tow light and even heavy infantry guns . They might also function in their original primary role of munition carrier, as Munitionsschlepper Renault UE(f) , some of these had an armoured roof fitted above the bin, to protect the ammunition load against overhead shell airbursts. Chenillettes were however also modified into self-propelled guns :

8366-664: The Kleiner Funk- und Beobachtungspanzer auf Infanterie-Schlepper UE(f) , a special radio and artillery observation vehicle, forty of which would be modified by the Baukommando Becker (named after Alfred Becker ) in France to eventually serve with the 21st Panzer Division . Germany later delivered many UEs to its allies, such as Italy . The Italian army obtained 64 UE and UE2s in 1941 and used them as ammunition carriers. Some were used in Sicily , where in 1943 during

8544-570: The Modèle 31 — was not included in this number; total production was thus overestimated at about 6200. In the early 1930s, the French Cavalry was in need of a small scouting vehicle. On 27 November 1931, the Section Technique de la Cavalerie asked Renault to rebuild one of his six chenillette prototypes into an armed tankette . Prototype N° 77982 was therefore turned into a Automitrailleuse légère de contact tout terrain in

8722-481: The Modèle 37 into production; they in fact made the Modèle 31 to complete the first production batches; only in the summer of 1939, when the French economy went into full gear to prepare for increased war production, was the gradual transition to the UE 2 really made, though some new features, such as the mudguards, appear already in the summer of 1936; from the summer of 1937 instead of the original Restor headlights

8900-591: The Panther , Tiger II , Hetzer , Jagdpanzer IV , Jagdpanther and Jagdtiger , which all had sloped armour. This is especially evident because German tank armour was generally not cast but consisted of welded plates. Sloped armour became very much the fashion after World War II , its most pure expression being perhaps the British Chieftain . However, the latest main battle tanks use perforated and composite armour , which attempts to deform and abrade

9078-636: The Panzerkampfwagen-Attrappe auf UE(f) , a dummy tank for training purposes, resembling a Soviet T-34 . More complicated rebuilds were the Sicherungsfahrzeug UE(f) , an airfield security vehicle produced for the Luftwaffe which, besides the 7.92 mm MG 34 casemate on the right, had a special high armoured superstructure fitted on the left back in which a guard could sit armed with a 13 mm machine-gun and

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9256-754: The Perth Reconnaissance Battalion and later for driver training by the Polish 3/16th Tank Brigade. The Royal Thai Army captured a small number of Renault UEs during the 1940-41 Franco-Thai War . The National Revolutionary Army used some Renault UEs during Second Sino Japanese War . By January 2024, several UEs were still in existence, in varying degrees of condition. Renault Groupe Renault ( UK : / ˈ r ɛ n oʊ / REN -oh , US : / r ə ˈ n ɔː l t , r ə ˈ n oʊ / rə- NAWLT , rə- NOH , French: [ɡʁup ʁəno] , also known as

9434-492: The R 35 . During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Renault was surpassed by Citroën as the largest car manufacturer in France. Citroën models at the time were more innovative and popular than Renault's. However, by mid-1930s the French manufacturers were hit by the Great Depression . Renault could initially offset losses through its tractor, railroad and weaponry businesses, while Citroën filed for bankruptcy , and

9612-462: The Renault 4 (1961–1992), a practical competitor for the likes of the Citroën 2CV , and the rear-engined Renault 8 . The larger Renault 10 followed the success of the Renault 8, and was the last rear-engined Renault. The company achieved success with the more modern and more upmarket Renault 16 , a pioneering hatchback launched in 1966, followed by the smaller Renault 6 . On 16 January 1970,

9790-469: The Renault 6 and Renault 16 . The model was a success. 1970 was also the first year during which Renault produced more than a million cars in a single year, building 1,055,803. The company's compact and economical Renault 5 model, launched in January 1972, was another success, anticipating the 1973 energy crisis . The Renault 18 was introduced in 1978 and the larger Renault 20 in 1975. During

9968-598: The Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A. ) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company currently produces a range of cars and vans. It has manufactured trucks , tractors , tanks , buses /coaches, aircraft and aircraft engines, as well as autorail vehicles. Headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt , near Paris , the Renault group is made up of

10146-668: The Renault ZT 4s that had not yet received their turrets, and also the Renault UE Modèle 37s produced from that moment. On 25 May the Direction d'Infanterie requested that Renault produce a prototype on the lines of his Chinese UEs, with a machine-gun armed superstructure. Another existing 200 vehicles were to be refitted with a simpler external MAC 1931 "Reibel" machine-gun mount. It is unknown how many of both types were in fact built or modified; at least one vehicle with

10324-652: The Selbstfahrlafette für 28/32 cm Wurfrahmen auf Infanterie-Schlepper UE(f) , forty of which would be built in two versions, one with the launch frames at the sides of the hull, the other with a raised platform on the back. Other modifications included: the Mannschaftstransportwagen Renault UE(f) , a personnel carrier produced in two versions; the Gepanzerte-MG-Träger Renault UE(f) , simply

10502-584: The XJ Cherokee , could be launched. When the bottom fell out of the four-wheel drive (4×4) truck market in early 1980, AMC was in danger of bankruptcy. To protect its investment, Renault bailed AMC out with cash – at the price of a controlling 47.5% interest. Renault replaced some AMC executives, and Jose Dedeurwaerder of Renault became President of AMC. The partnership resulted in the marketing of Jeep vehicles in Europe. The Jeep XJ Cherokee may have been

10680-928: The "Rambler Renault" was positioned as an alternative to the Mercedes-Benz "Fintail" cars. Later, Renault continued to make and sell a hybrid of AMC's Rambler American and Rambler Classic called the Renault Torino in Argentina (sold through IKA-Renault). Renault partnered with AMC on other projects, such as a rotary concept engine in the late 1960s. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the company established subsidiaries in Eastern Europe , most notably Dacia in Romania, and South America (many of which remain active) and forged technological cooperation agreements with Volvo and Peugeot , (for instance, for

10858-522: The 1930s had the suffix "Quatre" and the luxury six-cylinder models that were sold with the suffix "-six", later becoming "Stella." For example, in 1928, when Renault produced 45,809 cars, its seven models started with a 6CV, a 10CV, the Monasix , 15CV, the Vivasix , the 18/22CV and the 40CV . Renault offered eight body styles. The longer rolling chassis were available to coachbuilders . The smaller were

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11036-559: The 1930s, the company took over the aircraft manufacturer Caudron , focusing its production in small airplanes, acquired a stake in Air France and partnered to establish the airmail company Air Bleu . Renault Caudron airplanes settled several speed world records during the 1930s. Renault continued developing tanks as part of France's rearming effort, including the D1 and the FT's replacement,

11214-427: The 1936–1938 strikes had left him without political allies and no one came to his aid. He was incarcerated at Fresnes prison where he died on 24 October 1944 under unclear circumstances, while awaiting trial. On 1 January 1945, by de Gaulle's decree, the company was posthumously expropriated from Louis Renault. On 16 January 1945, it was formally nationalised as Régie Nationale des Usines Renault . Renault's were

11392-488: The 1950s and 1960s on vehicles where the engine was installed longitudinally in the rear of the vehicle. Renault introduced new models at the Paris Motor Show , which was held in September or October of the year. This led to confusion about model years. For example, a "1927" model was mostly produced in 1928. Renault cars during this time period had two model lines; the economy four-cylinder engine models that in

11570-582: The Berliet chenillette was superior to the Renault UE in speed, range and mechanical reliability and saw no objection against taking it into production. This however was eventually rejected by the Army in order to concentrate all production facilities into a single type, which had already replaced the UE: the UE 2. Renault had been further developing the Renault UE from 1931 onwards. Some features had been introduced to

11748-514: The British Royal Air Force (RAF) launched 235 low-level bombers at the Île Seguin, Billancourt, Paris plant, the largest number aimed at a single target during the war. 460 metric tons (450 long tons; 510 short tons) of bombs were dropped on the plant and the surrounding area, causing extensive damage along with heavy civilian casualties. Renault resolved to rebuild the factory as quickly as possible, but bombardments continued

11926-539: The French AMX factory. Production lasted from the second half of 1939 to March 1941, during which 126 carriers were produced. The production was cut short when the supply of Renault parts was interrupted by the fall of France . Germany then delivered about fifty captured Renault UEs to Romania. The 126 Malaxa chenillettes accounted for the bulk of such vehicles (178 in total) in operation by the Romanian Army at

12104-459: The French Army, and was subsequently pressed into German Army service, as well as being used in limited numbers by Free France and Romanian forces. The chenillette was mainly allocated to the standard Infantry Regiments, the first on 10 September 1932. There were six chenillettes present in the Compagnie Hors Rang (the company not subordinated to any battalion, and serving as the regimental supply, maintenance and replacement unit) and three in

12282-419: The French authorities of Indochina . Including these export vehicles, total French Renault UE production was thus about 5158. During the Battle of France , in May 1940 the swiftly deteriorating situation led to an order being issued to arm all available tracked chassis and send them to the front. This included the available FT-17 hulls from which the turret had been removed to turn them into utility vehicles,

12460-412: The French automobile industry. The disputes were eventually quashed by Renault in a particularly intransigent way, and over 2,000 people lost their jobs. After the French capitulation in 1940 , Louis Renault refused to produce tanks for Nazi Germany , which took control of his factories. As Renault was manufacturing the Renault UE tank for the Allies, he produced trucks instead. On 3 March 1942,

12638-401: The French military to transport troops during World War I which earned them the nickname " Taxi de la Marne ." By 1907, a significant percentage of London and Paris taxis had been built by Renault. Renault was also the best-selling foreign brand in New York in 1907 and 1908. In 1908 the company produced 3,575 units, becoming the country's largest car manufacturer. The brothers recognised

12816-475: The French state fully compensated him; the three companies were thus invited to build a "similar" vehicle, not an exact copy. The orders were for armoured tractors and matching tracked trailers and for a heavier trailer to carry again the tractor, to be pulled by a truck while the smaller trailer trailed behind. In the summer of 1931, the prototypes were ready for trials. Citroën had received orders for six tractor prototypes: three fully tracked vehicles and three of

12994-592: The LCVs were the 4, 5, and 12 Société and the Estafette. The company added 54,086 buses/coaches and trucks. In North America, Renault partnered with American Motors Corporation (AMC), lending AMC operating capital and buying a minority 22.5% stake in the company in late 1979. The first Renault model sold through AMC's dealerships was the R5, renamed Renault Le Car. Jeep was keeping AMC afloat until new products, particularly

13172-445: The LOS-thickness would also have to remain constant while the slope increases, which again implies that the normal thickness decreases. In other words: to avoid increasing the weight of the vehicle, plates have to get proportionally thinner while their slope increases, a process equivalent to shearing the mass. Sloped armour provides increased protection for armoured fighting vehicles through two primary mechanisms. The most important

13350-693: The MIDs in total 66. These are the official standard numbers; actual strengths (and uses) varied, also dependent on the replacement of the 25 mm gun by the 47 mm Brandt that was considered too heavy to be towed by a chenillette . In total the French Army had an organic strength of about 2500 Renault UEs; as the number of vehicles produced became after September 1939 much higher, Modèle 31 s, mostly completely worn out, were gradually phased out. These older vehicles were sometimes unofficially appropriated by engineer and artillery units. Depot strength on 10 May

13528-601: The Mechanised Infantry Divisions chenillette strength was much higher however. Their CDAC had twelve chenillettes , one for each 25 mm gun — and in this case each individual gun had its own tractor. In their CREs six Renault UEs were present, again one allocated to each 25 mm gun; and their battalions had in their Compagnies d'Accompagnement two Renault UEs to serve their organic two Brandt mortars and two 25 mm guns. The Mechanised Infantry Regiments thus had eighteen chenillettes each,

13706-559: The Motorised Cavalry Regiments. After 1943 of the fifty surviving vehicles 33 were used for training; seventeen were from January 1944 until March rebuilt by the Malaxa factory, which reinforced them to allow them to tow the even heavier German 50 mm L/60 anti-tank gun . The Romanian vehicles, including the ten imported, bring the total Renault UE production to about 5294. One of the six Renault UE prototypes had

13884-623: The Type GP was produced between 1919 and 1930. It was based on the FT tank. Renault struggled to compete with the increasingly popular small, affordable "people's cars," while problems with the United States stock market and the workforce slowed the company's growth. Renault also had to find a way to distribute its vehicles more efficiently. In 1920, Louis signed one of its first distribution contracts with Gustave Gueudet , an entrepreneur from Amiens , France. The pre-First World War cars had

14062-504: The US by 1928 had declined to near-zero from their high point prior to WWI. A Type NM 40CV Tourer had a US list price of over US$ 4,600 ($ 81,623 in 2023 dollars ), about the same as a Cadillac V-12 , Packard Eight , Fiat 520 , or Delahaye . Closed 7-seat limousines like the Renault Suprastella started at US$ 6,000 ($ 106,465 in 2023 dollars ). Cars were conservatively engineered and built. The Renault Vivasix , model PG1,

14240-710: The US during the 1980s included the Renault Alliance GTA and GTA convertible – an automatic-top convertible with a 2.0 L engine – big for a car of its class and the Renault Fuego coupé. The Alliance was followed by the Encore (US version of the Renault 11 ), an Alliance-based hatchback. In 1982, Renault become the second European automaker to build cars in the US, after Volkswagen . However, bland styling and poor product quality proved insurmountable. Eventually, Renault sold AMC to Chrysler in 1987 after

14418-469: The Vickers type. There were 18.4 cm wide tracks with 131 small links and three bogies per side, sprung by small leaf springs, each carrying each two small road wheels. The prototype had an armoured plate protecting this assembly, but it was omitted on the production vehicles to save weight, leaving only two elongated beams to brace the whole. Likewise, the sprocket was simplified: the prototype's had been

14596-400: The angle between the armour plate surface and the projectile's initial direction), however the change of direction could be virtually divided into a deceleration part, when the projectile is halted when moving in a direction perpendicular to the plate (and will move along the plate after having been deflected at an angle of about α {\displaystyle \alpha } ), and

14774-429: The armour leads to a better approximation of the ideal rounded shape. The final effect is that of deflection, deforming and ricochet of a projectile. When it hits a plate under a steep angle, its path might be curved, causing it to move through more armour – or it might bounce off entirely. Also it can be bent, reducing its penetration. Shaped charge warheads may fail to penetrate or even detonate when striking armour at

14952-457: The armour slope improves, for a given plate thickness, the level of protection at the point of impact by increasing the thickness measured in the horizontal plane , the angle of attack of the projectile. The protection of an area, instead of just a single point, is indicated by the average horizontal thickness, which is identical to the area density (in this case relative to the horizontal): the relative armour mass used to protect that area. If

15130-403: The armour's LOS thickness, bend toward the armour's normal thickness and take a path with a length between the armour's LOS and normal thicknesses. Also the deformed penetrator tends to act as a projectile of a very large diameter and this stretches out the remaining armour, causing it to fail more easily. If these latter effects occur strongly – for modern penetrators this is typically the case for

15308-634: The armoured type of Guicherd was fitted. The Army did not discern between the two UE types and eventually in the statistics subsumed all chenillettes received under the denominator Modèle 31 . On 1 September 1939 2848 Renault UEs of both models had been manufactured. In 1940 a production of 300 vehicles per month was aimed at. To ensure such a high output Renault bought the SUP factory at Pontlieue  [ fr ] , to start another UE 2 assembly line there. On 1 April 1940 AMX had built 1080 Renault UE2s, Fouga 260 and Berliet 310. In May monthly deliveries reached

15486-716: The assassination of Renault's chairman, Georges Besse by Action directe . The Renault Medallion (Renault 21 in Europe) sedan and wagon was sold from 1987 until 1989 through Jeep-Eagle dealerships. Jeep-Eagle was the division Chrysler created out of the former AMC. Renault imports ended after 1989. A completely new full-sized 4-door sedan, the Eagle Premier , was developed during the partnership between AMC and Renault. The Premier design, as well as its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Bramalea, Ontario , Canada, were

15664-479: The attractiveness of his Renault UE he also offered a version with a machine-gun. In March 1936 the government of China placed an order for ten Renault UEs armed with machine-guns, together with twelve Renault ZB tanks. Though the tanks eventually reached China in 1940, the chenillettes were held up in Haiphong from 1938 because France gave in to Japanese pressure; they appear to have been confiscated in 1940 by

15842-405: The axles waterproof, to the Commission de Vincennes . These were tested from 12 February until 6 July and again from 21 September until 21 November. In July 1938 a prototype of a lengthened chenillette was presented by Renault. It had a fourth bogie in the suspension to reduce track pressure and a third return wheel. To save weight and better dampen shocks the number of leaves in the leaf springs

16020-439: The back compartment of the vehicle; the larger front compartment was for the crew and engine. The four-cylinder 38 hp engine is positioned in the centre, with the driver to its left and the commander to its right. The gear box (six speeds forward, two reverse), differential and transmission were placed in front of the engine. These mechanical parts were placed under two projections on the otherwise very steeply sloped armour of

16198-418: The back section. As otherwise a bar between the roof and the glacis would have hindered entrance, the forward hinging glacis hatches had an extension forming the roof section that fits around the front part of the hood; if the hood is retracted and the hatch opened, a larger entry space was thus available. An interesting feature of the vehicle was the internal communication system used. When the hoods were closed,

16376-525: The base area. The tractor was tested until 10 February 1938. The type closely resembled the general outline of the Renault UE. The main difference was the presence of two bins instead of one, able to tilt sideways, positioned over the back of the mudguards. This doubled the carrying capacity. Instead of the small hoods, two very large armoured covers, retractable to the back, served as both entrance hatch and visor. The engine, differential and steering system were judged to be acceptable. The suspension system however

16554-574: The bin; the back plate then hinged downwards, forming a slope on which cargo could slide to the ground. The main cargo was carried by the tracked trailer, a close copy of the British type, with a length of its bin of again 145 cm, a width of 110 cm and a height of 35 cm; weighing itself 775 kg, it could hold a load of about 600 kg — whereas the specification had asked for only 400 kg. The tracks could be removed for road transport; there were two road wheels per side. The bin forms

16732-508: The business. The first Renault car, the Renault Voiturette 1CV, was sold to a friend of Louis' father after giving him a test ride on 24 December 1898. In 1903, Renault began to manufacture its own engines; until then it had purchased them from De Dion-Bouton . The first major volume sale came in 1905 when Société des Automobiles de Place bought Renault AG1 cars to establish a fleet of taxis. These vehicles were later used by

16910-405: The cargo bin and 600 kg in the trailer. Typical loads included 81 mm Brandt mortar ammunition, ammunition for the 25 mm Hotchkiss anti-tank gun or rifle and machine-gun ammunition. To indicate they were towing, the tractors would erect a small rectangular steel plaque on the roof showing a yellow triangle on a contrasting blue background. The remainder of the vehicle was normally painted

17088-415: The commission concluded that there were no objections to series production; already the prototype had on 25 August been presented to the Commission de l'Infanterie at Mourmelon for tactical evaluation. Although the Infantry clearly favoured this type, eventually it was decided to use all production capacity of the company for the longer Lorraine 37L , as there was a lack of heavier movers; a first order of

17266-420: The company into four business areas: automobiles (for car and light commercial vehicles or LCVs), finance and services, commercial vehicles (coaches and trucks over 2.5 tons GVW ), and minor operations under an industrial enterprises division (farm machinery, plastics, foundry, etc.). In 1980, Renault produced 2,053,677 cars and LCVs. The cars at the time were the Renault 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 30;

17444-648: The cooling system failed and that there was no possibility of decoupling the trailer from inside the driver's cabin. On 31 July the other two half-tracks were delivered together with the first two trailers. The matériel was rejected as being too vulnerable. Citroën discontinued the development of the fully tracked vehicles but rebuilt one of the half-tracks prototypes into the prototype of the larger AMR Citroën Kégresse P 28 half-track, fifty of which would be built. On 10 and 17 December 1930 Brandt had obtained an order for six complete sets: tractor, trailer and tractor-carrying trailer. To honour its commitments to Vickers, it let

17622-420: The cosine of 60° is ⁠ 1 / 2 ⁠ . When armour thickness or rolled homogeneous armour equivalency (RHAe) values for AFVs are provided without the slope of the armour, the figure provided generally takes into account this effect of the slope, while when the value is in the format of "x units at y degrees", the effects of the slope are not taken into account. Sloping armour can increase protection by

17800-399: The cosine rule: it is equal to the armour's normal thickness divided by the cosine of the armour's inclination from perpendicularity to the projectile's travel (assumed to be in the horizontal plane) or: where For example, armour sloped sixty degrees back from the vertical presents to a projectile travelling horizontally a line-of-sight thickness twice the armour's normal thickness, as

17978-685: The design was inherited by the Chrysler Corporation in late 1987 after Renault divested AMC – which debuted in 1989 as the Jeep Concept 1 (evolving into the Jeep Grand Cherokee in April 1992). The Renault-AMC marketing effort in passenger cars was unsuccessful compared to the popularity of Jeep vehicles. This was because, by the time the Renault range was ready, the second energy crisis was over, taking with it much of

18156-529: The desire for economical, compact cars. One exception was the Renault Alliance (an Americanised version of the Renault 9 ), which debuted for the 1983 model year. Assembled at AMC's Kenosha, Wisconsin plant, the Alliance received Motor Trend ' s domestic Car of The Year award in 1983. The Alliance's 72% US content allowed it to qualify as a domestic vehicle, making it the first car with

18334-692: The development of the PRV V6 engine, which was used in Renault 30 , Peugeot 604 , and Volvo 260 in the late 1970s). In the mid-1960s, Renault Australia was set up in Melbourne. The company produced and assembled models including the R8, R10, R12, R16, sporty R15, R17 coupes, R18, and R20. The unit closed in 1981 and the factory closed with LNC Industries taking over import and distribution of Renaults in Australia. When Peugeot acquired Citroën and formed PSA ,

18512-632: The end of the decade. Renault acquired a controlling stake in Automobiles Alpine in 1973, and over the decades, Renault developed a collaborative partnership with Nash Motors Rambler and its successor American Motors Corporation (AMC). From 1962 until 1967, Renault assembled complete knock down (CKD) kits of the Rambler Classic sedans in its factory in Belgium. Renault did not have large or luxury cars in its product line and

18690-472: The energy transferred to the target would thus be used to damage it; it would also mean that this energy would be higher because the effective angle α {\displaystyle \alpha } in the formula is now higher than the angle of the armour slope. The value of the appropriate real α {\displaystyle \alpha } ' which should be substituted cannot be derived from this simple principle and can only be determined by

18868-545: The firm, assuming his responsibilities at once. Meanwhile, provisional government accused Louis Renault of collaborating with the Germans. In the frenzied atmosphere of those early post-liberation days, with many wild accusations, Renault was advised by his lawyers to present himself to a judge. He appeared before Judge Marcel Martin, on 22 September 1944 and was arrested on 23 September 1944, as were several other French automobile-industry leaders. Renault's harsh handling of

19046-410: The first Grand Prix motor racing event in a Renault AK 90CV in 1906 . Louis took full control of the company as the only remaining brother in 1906 when Fernand retired for health reasons. Fernand died in 1909 and Louis became the sole owner, renaming the company Société des Automobiles Renault (Renault Automobile Company). Renault fostered its reputation for innovation from very early on. At

19224-460: The forces involved reach the plastic deformation limit and the elasticity of the plate could accumulate only a small part of the energy. In that case the armour plate would yield and much of the energy and force be spent by the deformation. As such this means that approximately half the deflection can be assumed (just α {\displaystyle \alpha } rather than 2 α {\displaystyle \alpha } ) and

19402-445: The glacis; these can be retracted for maintenance of the mechanical parts. Each crew member, sitting below a hatch that is the only way of entrance or exit, has a fuel tank behind its seat, together having a total capacity of 56 litres, allowing for a range of a hundred kilometres. The exhaust pipe ran in front of the commander to the right ending in a silencer on the right side of the vehicle; in later production vehicles an armoured cover

19580-480: The group's collaboration with Renault was reduced, although established joint production projects were maintained. Prior its merging with Peugeot, Citroën sold to Renault the truck and bus manufacturer Berliet in December 1974, merging it with its subsidiary Saviem in 1978 to create Renault Véhicules Industriels , which became the only French manufacturer of heavy commercial vehicles. In 1976, Renault reorganised

19758-424: The gun and the vehicle meant that it had to be operated from rear, as there was no room for the crew to operate it in the vehicle. After disappointing trial runs, the prototype was reverted to its original role as an artillery tractor. After the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 some vehicles were used by the French irregular and regular forces in France. After the war some units for a few years still made use of

19936-545: The half-track type. The first prototype to be ready, not at all resembling the Carden-Loyd carrier, was in the form of a very small half-track fitted with a Kégresse track and manned by only a driver protected by an armoured hood with vision slits, sitting on the left side of the vehicle, with the engine to his right. Only the nose of the vehicle was armoured. It was presented to the Commission de Vincennes on 24 July 1931 and tested until 29 July. The commission noted that

20114-415: The hatches while sitting inside the hull was highly impractical. Consideration had been given to arming it with a machine-gun, but the Direction de l'Infanterie feared that if such a weapon were mounted, the UE would be misused as a light tank rather than being dedicated to its correct tactical resupply role. Likewise, the armour protection was minimal. The vertical plates had a thickness of nine millimetres,

20292-401: The horizontal thickness is increased by increasing the slope while keeping the plate thickness constant, a longer and thus heavier armour plate is required to protect a certain area. This improvement in protection is simply equivalent to the increase of area density and thus mass, and can offer no weight benefit. Therefore, in armoured vehicle design the two other main effects of sloping have been

20470-546: The hull design of the M1 Abrams , is already a good approximation that is often applied. The second mechanism is that shots hitting sloped armour are more likely to be deflected, ricochet or shatter on impact. Modern weapon and armour technology has significantly reduced this second benefit which initially was the main motive sloped armour was incorporated into vehicle design in the Second World War. Even though

20648-452: The improvement of the venerable AMC inline six – a Renault/Bendix-based port electronic fuel injection system (usually called Renix ) transformed it into a modern, competitive powerplant with a jump from 110 to 177 hp (82 to 132 kW) with less displacement (from 4.2 to 4.0 litres). The XJC Cherokee concept, which was conceived in 1983 as a successor to the XJ series, was also a joint collaboration with AMC and Renault engineers until

20826-407: The increased protection to a point, provided by angling a certain armour plate with a given normal thickness causing an increased line-of-sight ( LOS ) thickness, is of no consideration in armour vehicle design, it is of great importance when determining the level of protection of a designed vehicle. The LOS-thickness for a vehicle in a horizontal position can be calculated by a simple formula, applying

21004-469: The licence for the local production of 300 Renault UE Chenillettes. The vehicle was meant to tow the 47 mm Schneider anti-tank gun. The licence was acquired by the Malaxa factory in Bucharest , the vehicle being subsequently designated Şenileta Malaxa Tipul UE . All of the vehicle's parts except the engine, gearbox and instrument panel were manufactured locally by Malaxa, the former three being delivered by

21182-469: The manufacturer celebrated the 25th anniversary of its 1945 rebirth as the nationalised Régie Nationale des Usines Renault . The 1960s had been a decade of aggressive growth: a few months earlier, in October 1969, the manufacturer had launched the Renault 12 , combining the engineering philosophy of its hatchbacks with the more conservative "three-box" design. The four-door Renault 12 model slotted between

21360-465: The mass production of smaller armoured vehicles in the roles of munition and supply carrier and weapon carrier for machine guns and mortars seemed feasible. For some years, the decision to produce these types was delayed. But when in 1929 an experiment with an automotive trailer guided by a walking soldier had completely failed, it was decided to develop a single vehicle for both missions. In the spring of 1930 several possibilities were considered, among them

21538-636: The mid-seventies, the already broad-based company diversified into more industries and continued to expand globally, including South East Asia . The energy crisis led Renault to again attempt to attack the North American market. Despite the Dauphine's success in the United States in the late 1950s and an unsuccessful assembly project in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec (1964–72), Renault began to disappear from North America at

21716-436: The most popular while the least produced was the 18/ 24CV . The most expensive body style in each range was the closed car. Roadsters and tourers (torpedoes) were the cheapest. The London operation was important to Renault in 1928. The UK market was quite large and North America also received exports for the luxury car market. Lifted suspensions, enhanced cooling, and special bodies were common on vehicles sold abroad. Exports to

21894-399: The motive to apply sloped armour. One of these is the more efficient envelopment of a certain vehicle volume by armour. In general, more rounded shapes have a smaller surface area relative to their volume. In an armoured vehicle that surface must be covered by heavy armour, so a more efficient shape leads to either a substantial weight reduction or a thicker armour for the same weight. Sloping

22072-918: The namesake Renault marque along with subsidiaries Alpine , Dacia from Romania and Mobilize . It is part of Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance (previously Renault–Nissan Alliance) since 1999. The French state and Nissan each own a 15% share of the company. Renault also has other subsidiaries such as RCI Banque (automotive financing), Renault Retail Group (automotive distribution), and Motrio (automotive parts). Renault has various joint ventures, including Horse Powertrain (engine development), Oyak-Renault (Turkish manufacturing), Renault Nissan Automotive India (Indian manufacturing), and Renault Korea (previously Renault Samsung Motors, South Korean manufacturing). Renault Trucks , previously known as Renault Véhicules Industriels, has been part of Volvo since 2001. Renault Agriculture became 100% owned by German agricultural equipment manufacturer CLAAS in 2008. Renault

22250-594: The new three spring rear suspension that considerably aided stability that was needed since some vehicles surpassed 90 mph (140 km/h). The straight 8-cylinder Reinastella was introduced in 1929 and expanded to a range culminating in 1939 Suprastella . Coachbuilders included Kellner , Labourdette , J. Rothschild et Fils and Renault bodies. Closed car Renault bodies were often trimmed with interior woodwork by Rothschild. In 1928, Renault introduced an upgraded specification to its "Stella" line. The Vivastella 's and Grand Renaults had upgraded interior fittings and

22428-484: The only factories permanently expropriated by the French government. In subsequent years, the Renault family tried to have the nationalisation rescinded by French courts and receive compensation. In 1945, and again in 1961, the Courts responded that they had no authority to review the government's actions. Under the leadership of Pierre Lefaucheux , Renault experienced both a commercial resurgence and labor unrest , that

22606-636: The other plates, all riveted, were six millimetres thick, just enough to stop normal rifle bullets and shell fragments. From 1935, in reaction to the German rearmament, the French Infantry embarked on a major expansion and modernisation programme. Part of this was the project to replace the Chenillette Modèle 31 with an improved type, which however should remain within the weight limit of the earlier vehicle or 2.6 metric tons. Interest from

22784-482: The penetrating metal jet caused by the explosion of the shaped charge of high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) ammunition, forms a good approximation of this ideal. Therefore, if the angle is not too extreme, and the projectile is very dense and fast, sloping has little effect and no relevant deflection occurs. On the other extreme, the more light and slow a projectile is, the more relevant sloping becomes. Typical World War II Armour-Piercing shells were bullet-shaped and had

22962-464: The pre-war years. The first real commercial truck from the company was introduced in 1906. Renault were also an important pre-war manufacturer of aircraft engines . The firm entered the business in 1907 with the first of what would become a series of air-cooled V8 engines . In 1911 the Renault 90 hp became the world's first V12 aircraft engine when it was exhibited at the Salon de l’Aéronautique at

23140-510: The production series, some expressed into new prototypes; others had remained mere paper projects. Renault always strongly lobbied to attain official, and thus financed, state orders for his development projects and on 20 December 1934 he had managed to obtain one for an improved Renault UE, the Renault UE 2 . One by one during 1935 and 1936 improved components were submitted to the Commission de Vincennes to be tested and modified according to

23318-494: The projectile will groove into the plate before it slides along, rather than bounce off. Plasticity surface friction is also very low in comparison to the plastic deformation energy and can be neglected. This implies that the formula above is principally valid also for the plastic deformation case, but because of the gauge grooved into the plate a larger surface angle α {\displaystyle \alpha } should be taken into account. Not only would this imply that

23496-415: The projectile will have to attain a higher velocity to defeat the armour, because on impact on a sloped armour not all kinetic energy is transferred to the target, the ratio depending on the slope angle. The projectile in a process of elastic collision deflects at an angle of 2 α {\displaystyle \alpha } (where α {\displaystyle \alpha } denotes

23674-406: The projectile's initial direction. Thus the projectile has to work itself through more armour and, though in absolute terms thereby more energy could be absorbed by the target, it is more easily defeated, the process ideally ending in a complete ricochet. One of the earliest documented instances of the concept of sloped armour is in the drawing of Leonardo da Vinci's fighting vehicle . Sloped armour

23852-548: The prototype was again tested from 3 June. A second prototype, fitted with a rubber track, was tested between 28 April and 12 May. This other track type was shown to be too weak. The project had as factory designation Renault UE , a chronological letter code without further meaning; the smaller trailer was the Renault UK . The Vickers suspension with double track guides was imitated. For Renault this new suspension type, that he patented despite its obvious Vickers ancestry, offered

24030-462: The rivalries between capitalist collaboration and communist resistance; many of the scores settled predated the invasion. Responding to the chaotic situation at Renault, a 27 September 1944 meeting of the Council of Ministers ( fr ) took place under de Gaulle's presidency. Postwar European politics had quickly become polarised between communists and anti-communists, and in France de Gaulle

24208-405: The roof was only 103 cm high. Its cargo carrying capacity was rather limited. There was a rectangular armoured bin at the back, 145 cm long (its length corresponds to the width of the vehicle as a whole), 60 cm wide and 36 cm high, able to hold a load of about 350 kg (lower than the original specification of 500 kg); unloading was made easier by the possibility of tilting

24386-401: The second half of 1934. The series vehicles differed from the first in having a towing sign plate fitted on the top, new towing hooks and an elongated stowage box on the left side. Orders reached a total of 793 on 1 January 1936 and of about 1,200 by June 1936 — 700 of which had been delivered by June 1936, 920 by October 1936, 976 on 1 January 1937. In December 1936 the military branch of Renault

24564-413: The side of the French industry was high and during 1937 five companies proposed prototypes: Lorraine, Hotchkiss, Fouga, Berliet and Renault. Lorraine de Dietrich , a company specialised in locomotive construction, presented a tractor and trailer to the Commission de Vincennes on 23 April 1937. The prototype was tested between 28 April and 10 June. Though, at a weight of four tons, heavier than specified,

24742-412: The solution for severe problems he had experienced trying to adapt his existing suspension models, using single track guides, to a high-speed vehicle without increasing the chance that the track would be thrown at higher speeds. Renault hoped to further develop the UE into a light tank by adding a turret; accordingly, the hull resembled a tank chassis rather than a dedicated supply vehicle. In October 1931

24920-470: The standard equipment of all French infantry divisions. Most Renault UE vehicles in French service were unarmed; those in 1940 captured by Germany were used for a variety of purposes, including being armed with machine-guns, antitank-guns and rocket artillery. From 1922 onwards it had been the policy of the French Infantry to mechanise as many units as possible. Budgetary restraints made it unrealistic to fully equip them with armoured personnel carriers ; but

25098-537: The start of Operation Barbarossa . The chenillette first saw combat service during the Iron Guard rebellion , when two were used by the Iron Guard . The Malaxa chenillette was not an entirely identical copy of the Renault UE. It was heavier by 0.1 tons and was able to carry in its cargo bin 0.15 tons more than its French counterpart. Its length, width and height were all slightly increased by five centimetres, six centimetres and one centimetre respectively. Its engine

25276-598: The starting point for the sleek LH sedans such as the Eagle Vision and Chrysler 300M . Sloped armour Sloped armour is armour that is oriented neither vertically nor horizontally . Such angled armour is typically mounted on tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), as well as naval vessels such as battleships and cruisers . Sloping an armour plate makes it more difficult to penetrate by anti-tank weapons, such as armour-piercing shells , kinetic energy penetrators and rockets , if they follow

25454-571: The structural suspension problems, that were the reason Berliet and Fouga still tried to obtain approval of their chenillette projects, even after a choice had been made for the Renault UE2: they hoped that eventually the Renault UE would be abandoned altogether. To be able to present immediate alternatives, should the occasion arise, AMX and Renault developed stronger suspension systems. In February 1938 Renault presented stronger tracks and more resistant road wheels, with an improved device to keep

25632-520: The supply and weapon carrier task respectively. On 24 July 1930 the Commission de Vincennes rejected the truck and half-tracks as being too heavy and opted for the smaller weapon carrier of the Vickers type after limited, though satisfactory, testing. On 7 October development of such a vehicle under the name of Type N was decided upon. Orders for prototypes were placed in December 1930 with three companies: Renault, Citroën and Brandt. Renault however indicated he had no intention to pay licence rights, unless

25810-549: The time, cars were luxury items manufactured without assembly line advances. The price of the smallest Renaults at the time was 3000 francs (₣); an amount equal to ten years pay for the average worker. In 1905, the company introduced mass production techniques and Taylorism in 1913. In 1911, Renault visited Henry Ford at the Highland Park factory and adopted some of the manufacturing principles from his trip. Renault manufactured buses and commercial cargo vehicles in

25988-417: The total number of 509, made possible by emptying the factory matériel stocks; on 1 June 4977 Renault chenillettes of both models had been built, 4557 delivered; total production destined for France was about 5148, on the assumption that about 2300 vehicles had been produced after 1 September. In the seventies it was still assumed that the production realised before December 1937 — mistakenly equated to that of

26166-501: The tractors were too small to accommodate the weapon crews, these had to move behind, following the vehicles on foot; the piece commander during this procedure sat next to the chenillette driver to indicate the desired new position of his mortar or gun. This was the only occasion that within the Infantry Regiments a second crew member was really present: the driver normally formed the entire crew, although an assistant driver

26344-453: The trailers and one tractor be built in Britain. To conform to the requirement for production in France, Brandt delegated the task of building a new tractor type to the Latil company, as it had too little experience itself. The Latil prototype, presented on 7 August 1931 was very much on lines of the British type and strongly resembled the later Universal Carrier : fully tracked and with most of

26522-418: The trench crossing ability was improved to 160 cm. As the air outlets had been placed higher, the wading capacity was improved to 45 cm. However, the main purpose: ameliorating suspension reliability, was not really achieved. Tracks were still thrown, track guides bent, springs broke and entire bogies were sheared off, just as with the series model. On 22 November 1938 AMX presented its new track. This

26700-433: The two crewmen, separated by the engine between them, could not directly communicate; neither internal nor external radio communications were possible, as there were no radio sets fitted. A system of white, blue, green and red lights, that could be made to shine continuously or flicker, was used by the commander to direct the driver when buttoned up, based on a predetermined signal code: The suspension system closely resembled

26878-458: The type was approved by the commission on 8 July, with the period of testing extended to 23 August. Compared to the Modèle 31 , the Lorraine chenillette was much more a dedicated supply vehicle, the larger size of which allowed for a superior carrying capacity, crew comfort and range, while its suspension with two bogies and four large road wheels ensured a good tactical mobility. On 8 September

27056-610: The type. Some vehicles were taken into use by the army of Syria . In the Fall of France , about 3000 UE and UE2s had been captured by the German armed forces ( Wehrmacht ). Most were employed unmodified, after an overhaul by the Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX) factory under guidance of the German MAN company , as tractors for the 37 mm, 50 mm and, ultimately, 75 mm and 76.2 mm anti-tank guns as

27234-506: The value of publicity that participation in motor racing could generate for their vehicles. Renault made itself known through succeeding in the first city-to-city races held in Switzerland, producing rapid sales growth. Both Louis and Marcel raced company vehicles, but Marcel was killed in an accident during the 1903 Paris-Madrid race . Although Louis never raced again, his company remained very involved, including Ferenc Szisz winning

27412-450: The vehicle covered by an open rectangular superstructure to ensure as large a carrying capacity as possible. Only a small driver's and engine section on the front was armoured on top. On 17 July the commission considered the type ready for troop trials. The first prototype to be ready was that of Renault, that also had received orders for six sets. It was tested between 15 and 23 April 1930. Certain defects were found and remedied, after which

27590-496: The war effort. In 1931, Renault introduced diesel engines for its commercial vehicles. Renault was one of the few French vehicle manufacturers that pursued the production of aircraft engines after World War I. In the late 1920s, it attempted to produce a high-power military engine to compete with the American Pratt & Whitney units, which proved unsuccessful, although its civil engines achieved better results. In

27768-588: The winter of 1932, by being fitted with a small rectangular superstructure holding in its front a ballmount with machine-gun to be operated by the commander; the hood was placed on top of it. This type was rejected by the Cavalry for being too slow; further developments would however result in the AMR 33 light cavalry tank of which the Renault UE was the direct ancestor. Renault was always very intent on procuring foreign orders, but generally without much success. To improve

27946-411: The wishes of the Army. These included: reinforced pistons; a new gear box with four speeds forward and one reverse; a reinforced differential; longer front mudguards of which the back part bent upwards to form a continuous plane with the glacis, a semi-automatic attachment system for the trailer and a night light at the lower left back of the vehicle. These changes were not very fundamental — the commission

28124-618: Was 1278. Being in principle an unarmed vehicle, the Germans allowed the Renault UE be employed by Vichy France . The type served in various conflicts involving the French colonies, used both by the government forces and the Free French . In May 1943, there was an attempt by the Free French to add the British Ordnance QF 6 pounder anti-tank gun, mounted on the rear of the vehicle with a gun shield. The relative size of

28302-654: Was actually used on nineteenth century early Confederate ironclads , such as CSS Virginia , and partially implemented on the first French tank, the Schneider CA1 in the First World War, but the first tanks to be completely fitted with sloped armour were the French SOMUA S35 and other contemporary French tanks like the Renault R35 , which had fully cast hulls and turrets. It was also used to

28480-427: Was added. As it tended to overheat a later variant of this cover had cooling slits. To reduce the height of the vehicle it was made impossible for the crew members to retract their heads under the roof. To protect these vital parts two hemispherical armoured hoods ( calottes ) were fitted. These had vision slits but to improve the field of vision the front section of these hoods can like a visor be pivoted backwards over

28658-558: Was allocated. A chenillette was thus never permanently attached to an individual weapon system; each 25 mm gun e.g. was normally towed by its own horse-team. For longer distance moves, the chenillette would be normally loaded on a truck, with the Renault UK trailer and (on good roads) possible mortars or guns towed behind. The larger trailer was officially never part of such a tow; it was in short supply, with just one available for four tractors each (two in each regiment) and only used to remove these if they had broken down. In practice it

28836-415: Was caused by the use of chrome steel that made it 70% more expensive, too pricy for the French Army. On 27 September 1939 AMX presented its new suspension system. It resembled that of the Renault R35 , with two bogies, horizontal springs (though with oil dampening) and five road wheels per side. The prototype also had a new Chausson radiator and more comfortable suspended crew seats. The new type however

29014-437: Was considered to be too weak, not having been reinforced to match the larger cargo mass to avoid surpassing the specified total weight. It consisted of two bogies, each with two small road wheels, sprung by narrow horizontal coil springs. A large tension wheel trailed on the ground, which lowered ground pressure to compensate for the larger weight of the bins but also increased track resistance and vibration. The cross-country speed

29192-497: Was fitted only to the right side of a trials vehicle so that direct comparisons could be made with the old track type. After 1,500 kilometres the normal track was completely worn out and the AMX track was now fitted to a second vehicle. Testing resumed on 9 January 1939 but it was not until after 3,700 km, on 21 March, that the new track was worn. The commission concluded that the new type was clearly superior in durability, but that this

29370-497: Was just 15 km/h. As even during testing when fully loaded entire bogies collapsed, the prototype was rejected. The Fouga aircraft company submitted a prototype tractor and trailer on 2 February 1939. It was tested until 8 May. This vehicle also closely resembled the Renault UE, but had a higher roof, making hoods unnecessary and enlarging the cargo space. Its suspension had two bogies per side with each two road wheels, sprung by leaf springs. The type, its submission too late because

29548-404: Was keen to resist Communist Party attempts to monopolise the political dividends available to resistance heroes: politically Billancourt was a communist stronghold. The government decided to "requisition" the Renault factories. A week later, on 4 October, Pierre Lefaucheux , a resistance leader with a background in engineering and top-level management, was appointed provisional administrator of

29726-463: Was later acquired by Michelin . Renault became again the largest car manufacturer, a position it would keep until the 1980s. Renault was finally affected by the Great Depression economic crisis in 1936. The company spun off Caudron and its foundry and aircraft engine divisions into related but autonomous operations, keeping its core automotive business. Between 1936 and 1938, a series of labour disputes, strikes, and worker unrest spread throughout

29904-466: Was nationalised as the AMX company which continued production to a total of about 2,200, later joined by Berliet which would build another 100 and Fouga which would produce 300 for a grand total for the Modèle 31 of about 2600. The Chenillette ("small tracked vehicle") or tracteur blindé ("armoured tractor") as Renault preferred to call it, was a very small vehicle: just 280 centimetres long, 174 cm wide and having its highest point at 125 cm;

30082-402: Was not even aware this was supposed to end in a new type — but Renault used this very fact as an argument to select the UE 2 as the replacement vehicle: the improvements could be introduced without interrupting production, whereas the switch to a completely different design might cause a fatal delay in the rearmament process. This proved to be a decisive consideration for the Army and November 1937

30260-561: Was not tested immediately; only after Renault had presented another prototype, this time with seven road wheels — an extra wheel having been inserted in the space created by moving the bogie assembly 20 cm (8 inches) s backward — both types were compared together between 7 and 23 February 1940. It was shown that the AMX suspension, though much sturdier, had a negative influence on the performance: speed and range fell about 15%, mostly due to an incorrect weight distribution. The new seats, though clearly adding to crew comfort, were too high, preventing

30438-509: Was not uncommon to transport the smaller trailer on the truck, while using the larger to move the tractor, as the prescribed procedure lowered the convoy speed to 15 km/h. Each Infantry Regiment in total had nine Renault UEs; the Compagnie Divisionnaire Antichar (CDAC), the division anti-tank company, also had three chenillettes , making for a total of thirty Renault UEs in the normal infantry division. In

30616-504: Was reduced from six to three. The tracks were obviously longer too, with 156 instead of 131 links. The bin was also "longer" at 72 centimetres, but less "wide" with 123 cm. Internally a new centrifugal ventilator type was fitted. The total length increased to 335 cm, the weight to 3.67 metric tons. Trials took place between 13 July 1938 and 8 February 1939, during which the vehicle was again modified. The top speed without trailer transpired to be reduced to 32.7 km/h; unsurprisingly

30794-479: Was slightly weaker by 3 hp, but it still managed to achieve the same top speed and range as its French counterpart. In the Romanian army the type was deployed in the anti-tank companies, towing the 47 mm Schneider Model 1936  [ ro ] — a heavier gun than in the French army, which had considered the Renault UE to be much too light to move guns of this calibre — and as a munition and fuel carrier in

30972-509: Was sold as the "executive sports" model beginning in 1927. Lighter weight factory steel bodies powered by a 3,180 cubic centimetre (cc) six-cylinder motor provided a formula that lasted until the Second World War . "de Grand Luxe Renaults", those with a wheelbase over 12-foot (3.7 m), were produced in small numbers in two major types – six- and eight-cylinder. The 1927 six-cylinder Grand Renault models NM, PI and PZ introduced

31150-445: Was somewhat higher. It had three bogies per side with two road wheels each, sprung by horizontal coil springs. The weight was 3.05 metric tons, its stop speed 36 km/h, the range 143 kilometres. The first report of the commission was favourable and trials resumed on 24 April, lasting till 20 May. It transpired that the tractor could attain a top speed of 30 km/h even when pulling the trailer. The commission concluded on 8 June that

31328-689: Was the 300 hp 12Fe with around 5,300 built during the war. The company's military designs were so successful that Louis was awarded the Legion of Honour for his company's contributions. The company exported engines to American automobile manufacturers for use in such automobiles as the GJG , which used a Renault 26 horsepower (19 kW) or 40 hp (30 kW) four-cylinder engine. Louis Renault enlarged Renault's scope after 1918, producing agricultural and industrial machinery . The war from 1914 until 1918 led to many new products. The first Renault tractor,

31506-414: Was therefore rather efficient in that period. In the sixties however long-rod penetrators, such as armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot rounds, were introduced, projectiles that are both very elongated and very dense in mass. When hitting a sloped thick homogeneous plate, such a long-rod penetrator will, due to the incoming rear of the projectile acting as a lever , after initial penetration into

31684-484: Was to continue into the 1980s. In the early 1950s, Renault assembled at least two models; "Standard Saloon" and "De Luxe Saloon" in England. In secrecy during the war, Louis Renault had developed the rear engine 4CV which was subsequently launched under Lefacheux in 1946. Renault debuted its flagship model, the largely conventional 2-litre 4-cylinder Renault Frégate (1951–1960), shortly thereafter. The 4CV proved

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