When the U.S. entered the Great War in 1917, it had no armored autos. Gen. John Pershing requested a tank corps for frontline deployment, however you can not create a tank pressure if you do not have tanks, so the U.S. Army wanted a fleet. However, developing and building tanks takes time, extra so when you create them from scratch.

In a present of unity, the French and the British shared their tank designs with the Americans, with the British proposing the Mark VIII Heavy Tank. However, this tank took too lengthy to provide, with the manufacturing facility the place it was speculated to be assembled solely ending development by November 1918 — simply because the conflict ended.

On the opposite hand, the French determined to license the Renault FT Light Tank design to the U.S., hoping it might produce the tank in numbers Stateside. Because it was an already present design, it was meant to be a fast repair whereas the heavier Mark VIII was nonetheless being developed.

This licensed-built tank was named the M1917 Light Tank, with the US initially ordering 4,440 tanks to be constructed, however solely 950 had been produced. It was meant to be the primary mannequin for the U.S. Tank Corps — the first-ever American armored division. It was assembled by then-Capt. George Patton, who finally grew to become the commanding common of the first Armored Corps in World War II.

There had been a number of delays in constructing the M1917. For instance, American and French factories used completely different unit measurements. The former used imperial models, whereas the latter used metric. This meant that American manufacturing services weren’t suited to construct issues utilizing French plans.

Of the 4,400 ordered tanks, solely 64 had been accomplished by the point the conflict was declared over. Just 10 made it to France, and none noticed fight.