French Renault FT-17 light tanks on parade in the mid-1930s. During the First World War France helped pioneer armoured warfare with the Schneider and St Chamond assault tanks. The subsequent two-man FT-17 went into service with the French Army in 1918 and was widely exported and copied round the world. The standard production model was armed with a 37mm Puteaux gun and around 1,600 were still in use in 1940 making up half of the French tank fleet, although by then they were completely obsolete.