Breton - Prétot machine The Breton - Prétot machine was a wire - cutting armoured vehicle developed in France from November 1914 . The vehicle was developed by Mr . Prétot , engineer , and Jules - Louis Breton , representative to the French Assembly . Background . 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 . Barbed wire especially posed a considerable threat as it was cheap and easy to install , extremely effective at slowing or stopping an offensive by troops against protected fire , and very difficult to eliminate , even with artillery . Special machines were considered to attempt to eliminate this problem : armoured , armed vehicles , with a capacity to flatten or otherwise eliminate barbed - wire lines . Wheel tractor base . The Breton - Prétot machine was equipped with a saw to cut the barbed wire protecting enemy trenches of World War I . The first version consisted of a small circular saw , driven by a six hp engine , attached to a long lever that was placed on a small cart with four wheels , that had to be pushed towards its objective . Breton proposed the machine to the French government in November 1914 and a prototype was tried in January 1915 , when it was shown that the system in this form had little practicality . The use of caterpillar tracks was discussed that same month , but since none were available at that time , the system was then mounted at Liancourt on the back of a Bajac tractor in order to obtain all - terrain mobility , towards the end of February 1915 . The small circular saw was replaced by a large vertical saw with thirteen teeth , but a larger horizontal circular saw was added , just above ground level to cut the barbed - wire poles . In July the system was again changed , the horizontal saw being left out and large deflection shields being placed to protect the wheels . Eight small bronze cannon were used as simulation weights . After satisfactory tests on 22 July 1915 , at Maison - Lafitte , the War Minister , Alexandre Millerand , ordered ten armoured and armed wire - cutters to be manufactured on 7 August . Caterpillar base . The Bajac agricultural tractor however proved not mobile enough — the initial experiment had only tested the wire - cutting ability — and had the severe disadvantage of having to approach the enemy lines driving backwards . Breton and Prétot then considered using some of the two hundred American four - wheel drive Jeffery tractors that had been commanded by the French Artillery . When this was refused , " Commandant " Boissin directed Breton to the Schneider company which was working on the caterpillar track system , under a production licence from the American Holt Manufacturing Company . Experiments with the Holt caterpillar tracks had 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 had followed in front of the President of the Republic , and again on 22 July 1915 in front of War Minister Alexandre Millerand , who decided on 7 August 1915 on the construction of 10 armoured and armed Breton - Prétot machines . For his machine , Breton was thus allowed to order ten Holt tractors , to use as a base for his wire - cutting machine . Experiments again took place on 10 September for Commander Ferrus . This order was modified on 7 December 1915 into an order to re - use the caterpillars to produce the first Schneider CA1 tanks . Souain experiment . Finally , on 9 December 1915 at Souain , on a former battlefield with rough terrain and trenches , and in the presence of General Philippe Pétain , a prototype armoured vehicle motorized with a Baby Holt caterpillar was tested , with provisions to attach Breton ' s wire cutting apparatus to it . Only later , in early 1916 , would such a device be actually attached during experiments . These very encouraging tests prompted General Estienne to make a formal proposal on 12 December 1915 to build tanks based on a modified , lengthened , Holt caterpillar . The ten Holt tractors were thus finally diverted to the production of the first French tanks of the Schneider CA1 model . The tanks were not equipped with the Breton - Prétot saw , as tests had shown that their tracks alone were sufficient to destroy barbed - wire . Because of the connection with the Breton - Prétot saw , Breton convinced himself he had become the leading French expert on armoured vehicle design and considered himself to be the true inventor of the French tank . He felt rather piqued when Estienne took over " his " project . This caused him to cooperate with a rival of Estienne , Colonel Émile François Léon Rimailho , in the development of the alternative Char Saint Chamond . In 1917 an Allied inter - parliamentary commission even concluded that Breton had a better claim to the invention of the tank than the British . In the postwar controversy on this subject Breton vociferously defended his position . Modern historians however , agree that the claim is unfounded .