These were all related to trench warfare and the experience of WWI. For this reasons strong armor was of capital importance, the speed was “infantry pace” and the low-velocity guns were meant to deal with concrete fortifications and pillboxes. They were not seen as independent units, but spread among infantry units for close support on the battlefield. The reasons behind was their doctrine of use. French limitations in designįrench tanks were generally better protected than their German opponents. However, this system proved too fragile and complex in operations. The French engineers, however, designed a system theoretically giving the greatest possible precision to the driver, allowing accurate traverse. Many other tanks allowed some limited traverse for their hull-mounted gun, compensating for the lack of precision of the standard brake-steering system. In this case, the driver was also aiming the main 75 mm (2.95 in) gun. Other innovative features were more specific, like the oleo-pneumatic steering system designed to steer the massive hull of the B1 heavy tank. Its design remained influential when the US decided to built the Sherman M4A1. The SOMUA S35 also made great use of an entirely cast hull and turret, also with many large prefabricated parts. Cast parts welded together lowered the weight, was less labor-intensive and prevented the risk of spalling. The Hotchkiss H35, for example, was the first to be built entirely by cast sections (the hull needed three sections, the driver’s compartment, fighting compartment and engine bay), which helped standardization for mass-production. The French adopted it for the AMC P16 and many off-road trucks and gun tractors delivered to the Army.Ĭasting was incorporated in French tanks manufacture early on, in 1934-35, first for turrets and then for hulls. The mass-produced US M2/M3 models used such a system. Renault attempted to modernize its best seller (very popular on the export market) and Panhard courted the cavalry with its armored cars.īoth tried to implement the Kégresse track system, an innovative design which turned to be more useful on half-tracks. This forced the use of the existing obsolescent types, the fleet of Renault FTs and the few, but impressive, FMC-2Cs. The army -partly because of political issues and spending concentrated on the Maginot line- was never given a sizable budget before 1932-34. Characteristics and innovationsĪs far as tank design was concerned, the French engineers came with various innovative designs of their own. By June 1940, 6126 tanks had been delivered to the army. Production and testing was relentless in the twenties and thirties, leading to a new generation of armored vehicles in 1935-36, which formed the bulk of the armored forces of France (then numerically one of the largest in the world) in September 1939 (4436). French tanks were classified as their counterparts in Great Britain, in infantry and cavalry models, and some “chars de rupture” (breakthrough tanks). But the vagaries of the Fourth Republic and the choices facing an ageing staff would turn to the creation of a force largely marked by a strong defensive vision, relying mainly on the Maginot Line. Campaigns and Battles in East Africa – The North, British and French Somalilandįrance came out of the First World War with the laurels of a winner and the promise of interesting developments with the little Renault FT, the first mass-produced modern tank.Canon de 25mm Semi-Automatique Modèle 1934 Modifié 39.Canon de 25mm Semi-Automatique Modèle 1934 (25mm SA 34).Panhard 178 with Renault 47 mm Gun-Armed Turret.Batignolles-Châtillon Automitrailleuse à vapeur.Batignolles-Châtillon Light Infantry Tank.Spanish Republican Armor in French Service.Lorraine 37L (Tracteur de Ravitaillement pour Chars 1937 L).Cruiser A.10 and A.13 in French Service.Light, medium, heavy tanks and armored carsĪround 11,000 armored military vehicles in May 1940 Heavy Tanks
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