Souain experiment

Souain experiment
Place of origin	France
Specifications
Engine	gasoline internal combustion engine

The Souain experiment was a French military experiment using a Baby Holt Caterpillar, in the former battlefield of Souain, in northeastern France, on 9 December 1915. The experiment has a decisive influence of the French tank program and initiated the design and order of the two French operational tank, the Saint Chamond and Schneider CA1. The experiment occurred the same month the British Little Willie was being completed.

The immobility of the trench warfare characterizing the First World War led to a need for a powerfully armed military engine that would be at the same time protected from enemy fire and could move on the extremely irregular terrain of battlefields. This led to numerous attempts at designing an effective all-terrain armoured vehicle.

In January 1915, the French arms manufacturer Schneider & Co. sent out its chief designer, Eugène Brillié, to investigate tracked tractors from the American Holt Company, at that time participating in a test programme in England, for a project of mechanical wire-cutting machines of the Breton-Pretot type. On his return Brillié, who had earlier been involved in designing armoured cars for Spain, convinced the company management to initiate studies on the development of a Tracteur blindé et armé (armoured and armed tractor), based on the Baby Holt chassis, two of which were ordered.

Experiments on the Holt caterpillar tracks started in May 1915 at the Schneider plant with a 75 hp wheel-directed model and the 45 hp integral caterpillar Baby Holt, showing the superiority of the latter. On 16 June, new experiments followed in front of the President of the French Republic, and on 10 September for Commander Ferrus, an officer who had been involved in the study (and ultimate abandonment) of the Levavasseur tank project in 1908.

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