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A World of Tanks | |
France
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Char de combat moyen Renault D2 |
| The "Char D", developed at the end of the 1920s as an
improvement of the light Renault N.C. tank, was, up to 1935, "The" French
AFV. Due to financial constraints, production was limited to 160 units of the lighter D1 version (1931), and to 50 units of the D2 version (1932). |
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Char B 1 bis |
| The heavy Char B1 bis, "la fortresse", dated from
the late 1920s and was intended to be the French Army's main battle tank. It was
considered an advanced vehicle : only the German 88mm anti-aircraft gun could penetrate
its frontal armour, while its 47mm anti-tank gun, which armed a small one-man turret (the
same APX turret mounted on the S35 and Char D tanks), was considered the best gun
in its category. Production was slow : by 1940 only 400 had been built (due to both complexity of the design and lack of mass production capacity). The B 1 bis' potential was, however, wasted as they were committed to piecemeal battles and not concentrated as the German panzertruppen. |
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Renault R.35 |
| The R.35 was supposed to be the replacement for the light FT-17.
By 1940 some 2,000 were manufactured, making it numerically the most important tank of the
French Army. Technically advanced, fast and reliable, the R.35 was handicapped by
two main factors : its poor main gun (a short-barrelled 37mm dating from 1918) and its
two-man crew. As well as the other French tanks, its action was penalized by the foolish strategy implemented by the French Headquarters. |
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Somua S35 |
| When first revealed in 1935 the SOMUA S35 was regarded by many as
the finest tank in the world. It had a cast steel hull (the first of its kind) and a cast
steel turret, mounting a 47 mm gun, and was fast. The S35 turret used an electrical
drive system. By 1940 about 430 tanks had been manufactured. The S35 had, however, quite a few weaknesses : the cast upper hull bolted to the lower section (so that it split apart along the length of the vehicle if struck by an AP projectile), the one-man turret (which required the commander to load, aim and fire the gun, leaving short time for actual commanding), and the cast turret and hull (which produced a terrific "bell resonance" effect when the tank was simply hit even by MG shots). After 1940 many S35 were used by the Germans, mainly for second-line duties. |
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Hotchkiss H39 |
| The Hotchkiss H39 was considered one of the better of the French
tanks in 1940. Some 1100 units were manufactured prior to the German invasion of France. The H39 features were similar to those of S35: reliable mechanics but of limited value as "battle beasts" (like all two-man tanks). After June 1940 the H39 began a second career with the German Army (including the Vichy French). From 1942, the H39 was gradually downgraded to second-line duties. |
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Acknowledgment
All the color images (by G.Canestrari) and information have been selected from the "I
Corazzati" book by B.Benvenuti, edited by A.Mondadori, and from "TANKS of World
War Two" by J.Restayn, edited by Histoire & Collections . Further information was
extracted from "Tanks of World War II", a handbook edited by COLLINS/Jane's.
All material is property of the respective authors
Page established on : July 15, 1997
Last update : January 20, 1998
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