1940 French tanks on the Western Front

British Newsreel. April 25, 1940.The R-35 was the most numerous of French light infantry tanks in service in 1940 with over 1600 units completed.In 1933 the French High Command called for the design of a 6 ton tank as a replacement for the aging Renault FT-17. The vehicle was designed to have a crew of two and to be armed with one or two 7.5mm machine-guns or a 37mm gun. Manufactures that took part in design process were Renault, Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), Compagnie Général de Construction des Locomotives and Delaunay Belleville.The first prototype was manufactured by Renault at the end of 1934 and was based upon the Auto-mitrailleuse de Reconnaissance 1935 Type ZT. The vehicle was called the Renault ZM (prior to acceptance) and immediately sent into trials in the winter of 1935. By Spring, an order for 300 was placed. The tank was now called char léger modéle 1935-R (R-35).A variation of the R-35 was developed by Atelier de Construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX) which introduced a new suspension that consisted of 12 pairs of small road-wheels on each side mounted in pairs, vertical coil springs, and protective skirting plates. The tracks were like the Char B1. This vehicle mounted the long barreled 3.7cm SA 38 L/33 cannon. It was officially referred to as the AMX 40, but generally became known as the R-40. The sometimes seen designator of R-39 seems to have been a semi-official designation.The Renault R35 better French tanks of WW2. Over 1600 had been built by 1940. Following the battle of, and fall of France many were pressed into service in the German Wehrmacht. This tank would see action in the Balkans and Russia in 1941.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• French
• Army
• Western
• Front
• Phony
• War
• Sitzkrieg
• Renault
• 1940

[skoblinI]

I have that video of char Bs on the Eastern Front...near Pskov, I believe. You will see it in time.

[artyparis]

French Army used its tanks as infantry support. WW1 glorious officers didn't understand technical and strategy rules changed.

One german officer understood this, Guderian...

Few french were aware of this new military era. One of them... De Gaulle...

[MaitreMithrandir]

Oh yes I totally agree. Equipment was good, artillery excellent, tanks were generaly better than the german ones, only the French Air Force was at a real disadvantage. French soldiers demonstrated their courage and skills and achieved many local successes. The real problems were indeed tactics and strategy, and leadership.

My point was just to say that the book of De Gaulle was as good as Guderian's, and that it is a shame it was not recognized by the french generals in time.

[MrHihohum1]

Where's their government issued white flags?

[88pie88]

this tank was still better then the Panzer 35(t) Whitch was 60% of the german armor. Panzer 2 and 3 was no match for the Char Tanks neither, even there most powerful tank the pazer 5 could barley penetrate the armor. The french just sucked at fighting. Out dated generals with out dated tactics, and outdated training.

[lefr33man]

@MaitreMithrandir Actually the Devotine 510 and 520 were quite good, maybe even better than german planes. St-Exupéry said that the best fighter in the world would probably be a Devotine 520 with a BF-109's engine.

aaaaaaaaand....you wrote this 2 years ago, and you probably don't care anymore. sigh.

[TheChaotician]

Hahaha!

[ModelbuildingTANKS]

@ChaosTicket The R35, and H38 where relatively well armored at the time.

[ChaosTicket]

oh were they so wrong.

only some french vehicles were that effective, such as the Char B1 and Somua S35, which were better than nearly every vehicle at the time.

those poor infantry tanks in the video are slow, light armored, lightly armed vehicles ment to slowly advance with infantry, not face other tanks.

[colddrake80]

@Kikuta1Kotaro Actually, the Germans did use the 88mm against tanks in France. They also used a 105mm artillery piece. These were the only guns in the German inventory that could reliable destroy French heavies like the Char B1 bis.

[Kikuta1Kotaro]

@Djarzel dude read some stuff before even dare to open your mouth to let your rotten brains thoughts out

[Djarzel]

@Kikuta1Kotaro completely wrong ... 

[Djarzel]

@MaitreMithrandir roosvelt doesnt help de gaulle ,( to much charactere and independant people when usa want put a puppet in france ) america doesnt want help france really , but annexe it ..