France is a military power with a long history, and its manufacturing level has always been in the leading position in the world, not only in terms of technological innovation, but also in terms of design. Before the outbreak of World War I, France had already begun to work on the new type of armored vehicle, which appeared earlier than tanks and had more modern features. The French Charron M1905 armored car is considered the world's first armored car in the true sense of the word.
The predecessor of the Charron M1905 is the Charron M1902, which is a 4-wheeled armored car launched by the French Charron Girardot VOIGT automobile company in 1902, it made its debut at the Paris Motor Show that year, but its performance is not ideal, its weight is about 3 tons, the front part of the hull is an unarmored engine compartment, it is said to be equipped with a 50-horsepower internal combustion engine, and the middle of the hull is an unarmored cab, At the rear of the hull was a combat compartment surrounded by 3 mm thick armor plates, the roof was not covered, only a Hatch Kaiss 7 with a shield7 mm machine gun.
Such an armored car was tested by the French Army in 1903 and turned out to be very unsatisfactory, its armor was too thin to protect against rifle shells, and the driver and engine were completely exposed and could be easily destroyed, and the machine gun had a limited firing range and could only suppress fire on the enemy in the front. This armored car was only an experimental product, which was not produced and used, but it sparked interest, and ** ordered a batch of armored vehicles from France, prompting France to develop a more advanced Charron M1905.
The Charron M1905 has made great improvements on the basis of the M1902, the most obvious is that it has more complete armor, the thickness of the armor plates is between 4 8 mm, all parts of the hull are covered with armor, the engine compartment has a large hatch for easy maintenance, the cab and the combat compartment have a lot of viewing windows, the front of the cab also has an armor plate that can be turned up, and when it is closed, the front can be seen through a small window on the armor plate; The biggest highlight of the armored car is its turret, which is a small turret that can rotate 360 degrees and is equipped with a Hatch Chase 8mm machine gun; The armored car also paid attention to the protection of the wheels, partially shielded them with armor plates, which were early run-flat tires filled with liquid, which allowed them to continue driving for a while even if they were pierced by bullets.
Although the Charron M1905 looks rough, it already has all the elements of a modern armored vehicle, it is capable of providing armor protection, mobility and fire support on the battlefield, and its performance has also been recognized, ** and France have purchased some of these armored vehicles, and after the start of World War I, France also used 4 such armored vehicles to participate in the battle. However, the technical level of the Charron M1905 is not high, and other countries with *** can easily copy or transform, and its number is too small to play much role on the battlefield.