This Hotchkiss 35 demonstrates the camouflage scheme to good effect on what appears to be an abandoned vehicle. Also clearly seen is the “playing card” method used to identify vehicles of a formation. In this case, the tank was probably assigned to the 1st Platoon of the 2nd Company of an unidentified element. In this system, the platoons were identified by the suits (1st Platoon = spades; 2nd = hearts; 3rd = diamonds; and 4th = clubs) and the companies by the sequence of the French national colors (1st Company = blue; 2nd = white; and 3rd = red). The location of these markers was apparently generally left up to the formation commander, with the sides of the turret and the hull rear being the most common locations.
Photo 1 of 2: Two views of a destroyed Char 2C. Its operational weight of sixty-nine tons made it heavier than any vehicle to see combat service in the initial stages of World War II. There were only ten of these vehicles in service, and they were used primarily for propaganda purposes, never seeing actual combat. After the first half of the campaign, the French decided to move the vehicles to the south of France to prevent their capture. While en route by train on specially constructed freight cars, their passage was blocked by a burning fuel train and the vehicles were destroyed to prevent capture. German propaganda later claimed that they had been destroyed by Stukas.
Photo 2 of 2: Two views of a destroyed Char 2C. Its operational weight of sixty-nine tons made it heavier than any vehicle to see combat service in the initial stages of World War II. There were only ten of these vehicles in service, and they were used primarily for propaganda purposes, never seeing actual combat. After the first half of the campaign, the French decided to move the vehicles to the south of France to prevent their capture. While en route by train on specially constructed freight cars, their passage was blocked by a burning fuel train and the vehicles were destroyed to prevent capture. German propaganda later claimed that they had been destroyed by Stukas.
A Hotchkiss 35 light tank finished in the rather flamboyant French camouflage scheme of the period, which featured a hard edge and a variety of colors: vert olive mat (a matte olive green), brun (brown), ocre jaune (very light brown), and vert (light green). In addition, the French national roundels are on prominent display.
Photo 1 of 4: The small size of the Hotchkiss is apparent in these photographs.
Photo 2 of 4: The small size of the Hotchkiss is apparent in these photographs.
Photo 3 of 4: The small size of the Hotchkiss is apparent in these photographs.
Photo 4 of 4: The small size of the Hotchkiss is apparent in these photographs.
Another Hotchkiss 35.
The Renault FT saw wide service with the French Army at the start of the campaign in France. It featured a main gun in a rotating turret, the engine in the rear, and the driver in the front. Usually referred to as the FT17, more than 3,000 were accepted into French Army service over the course of its production, with some 500-plus tanks still in service among eight battalions and three separate companies, even though considered completely obsolescent by then. All were the machine-gun variant of the tank. After the fighting, the Wehrmacht impressed more than 1,700 of the vehicles into service for occupation duties and airfield defense.
Photo 1 of 2: More Renault FT’s.
Photo 2 of 2: More Renault FT’s.
Photo 1 of 2: German soldiers and airmen can be seen inspecting knocked-out or abandoned Char B1’s.
Photo 2 of 2: German soldiers and airmen can be seen inspecting knocked-out or abandoned Char B1’s.
Abandoned Char B1’s and a Renault FT 17.
Knocked-out or abandoned Cruiser tanks (A13’s) of the British Expeditionary Force, somewhere in France. The Cruiser had a suspension based on the Christie design and was fast and maneuverable (if underarmed with a 2-pounder main gun), but underarmored and mechanically unreliable. Some sixty-five were delivered to British forces, with most of them being lost in the battle for France.
A Panhard 178 armored car under new ownership. The Automitrailleuse de Découverte Panhard modèle 1935, as the vehicle was officially known, was designed as a long-range reconnaissance vehicle. It fielded a 2.5-centimeter automatic cannon and a coaxial machine gun in a revolving turret, four-wheel-drive capability, a dual-driver system, and a range of approximately 300 kilometers. In all, some 491 were built for French service, with another 176 built after the armistice for German reconnaissance use. The armored cars used by the Germans were designated as the Panzerspähwagen P204(f).
A Vickers Mark VI light tank, the standard British light tank at the beginning of the war.
A Lorraine Tracteur Blinde 37L tracked ammunition carrier. This chassis also formed the basis for several German self-propelled antitank and artillery pieces. Some 300 chassis were eventually converted.
The excellent French Panhard 178 medium armored car, equal or superior to any other armored car of its type in service at that time. The large wheels gave it very good cross-country capability. The Germans used captured vehicles in large numbers, with 190 available for Barbarossa in 1941. Its armament consisted of a 2.5cm cannon and a 7.5mm machine gun.
Photo 1 of 3: The Somua 35, officially known as the Automitrailleuse de Combat modèle 1935 S (AMC 1935 S), was a French medium tank designed for employment with its cavalry divisions. It was a relatively well designed fighting vehicle for the time, with more than 400 being delivered to the French Army prior to the campaign in the West. It featured cast, sloping armor and a 4.7-centimeter main gun in a revolving turret and could reach a maximum road speed of 40 kilometers an hour. In tank-on-tank combat, the S35 could best the Panzer III, but it was hesitantly employed and often committed piecemeal. After the fighting ended in June, the Germans employed a number of the vehicles for training, occupation, antipartisan, and security duties as the Panzerkampfwagen 35-S 739(f). BUNDESARCHIV, BILD 121-0412 / CC-BY-SA
Photo 2 of 3: The Somua 35, officially known as the Automitrailleuse de Combat modèle 1935 S (AMC 1935 S), was a French medium tank designed for employment with its cavalry divisions. It was a relatively well designed fighting vehicle for the time, with more than 400 being delivered to the French Army prior to the campaign in the West. It featured cast, sloping armor and a 4.7-centimeter main gun in a revolving turret and could reach a maximum road speed of 40 kilometers an hour. In tank-on-tank combat, the S35 could best the Panzer III, but it was hesitantly employed and often committed piecemeal. After the fighting ended in June, the Germans employed a number of the vehicles for training, occupation, antipartisan, and security duties as the Panzerkampfwagen 35-S 739(f). BUNDESARCHIV, BILD 121-0412 / CC-BY-SA
Photo 3 of 3: The Somua 35, officially known as the Automitrailleuse de Combat modèle 1935 S (AMC 1935 S), was a French medium tank designed for employment with its cavalry divisions. It was a relatively well designed fighting vehicle for the time, with more than 400 being delivered to the French Army prior to the campaign in the West. It featured cast, sloping armor and a 4.7-centimeter main gun in a revolving turret and could reach a maximum road speed of 40 kilometers an hour. In tank-on-tank combat, the S35 could best the Panzer III, but it was hesitantly employed and often committed piecemeal. After the fighting ended in June, the Germans employed a number of the vehicles for training, occupation, antipartisan, and security duties as the Panzerkampfwagen 35-S 739(f). BUNDESARCHIV, BILD 121-0412 / CC-BY-SA
A French medium Char D-2 tank. This was a twenty-ton vehicle mounting a 47-mm main gun, with maximum armor of 40 mm.
A captured Hotchkiss H-38. This was the French Army’s cavalry tank. It had a 37mm main gun, maximum armor of 45 mm, and speed of 23 mph. More than 800 were in service in May 1940.
An excellent photograph of the formidable Char B-1 medium tank, which had one 75-mm gun, one 47-mm gun, and a 7.5-mm machine gun. Its maximum armor of 60 mm was generally impervious to the standard 3.7-cm main tank gun of the Panzer III and the PaK 36, the standard German antitank gun. A serious limitation was the one-man turret, but the Char B was superior to all German tanks then in service.
A knocked-out Renault UE/AMX armored supply vehicle.
Another very good shot of an abandoned Char B-1. These vehicles were technically complex, and more were put out of action because of mechanical failure than were destroyed in combat.
Renault FT-17/18s. These tanks were relics from World War I. They were thinly armored and mounted only a machine gun.
A captured Char B-1 being inspected. The 223rd Panzer Company took four B-2 variants to Russia in 1941, and seven were used in the Balkans by 7. SS-Division Prinz Eugen for antipartisan duties.
Another view of a Char B-1.
Captured Renault R-35s. The two in the rear feature a multicolor camouflage scheme of dark green and two shades of brown and light green.
A Char B-1.
The remains of a Panhard P-178 medium armored car mounting a 25-mm automatic cannon. This excellent vehicle was the most technically advanced armored car of the French forces in May 1940, with 360 in service. Captured vehicles were used extensively by the Germans.
French crewman are buried next to their destroyed vehicles.
A British Vickers Mark VI, standard light tank of the British Army. It was comparable in many ways to the Panzer I.
An abandoned Panhard P-178 armored car.
Somua S-35, the best French medium tank in 1940 and considered by the Germans to be the best tank they faced during the Battle of France, despite the limitations of the one-man turret. It was twenty tons in weight, with a very good 47mm main gun and 56 mm of armor.
Another view of the S-35.
A very nice photograph of Wehrmacht officers posing next to a captured Renault R-35. Note the rubberized overcoat of the motorcyclist, a piece of clothing particular to these troops.
A dramatic shot of three knocked-out Renault R-35s.
The FCM Char-2C super-heavy tank, which had a 75-mm main gun. Only ten of this sixty-nine-ton tank were built soon after World War I. The tank did not see operational service during the Battle of France as the railway track on which they were being transported from the front was blocked and the tanks were blown up to avoid capture intact. The one intact example was captured by the Germans.
Abandoned due to mechanical difficulties is this French Schneider AMC P16 M29 half-track. Approximately 100 were produced from 1928 to 1931, with about 50 available for service in May 1940. It weighed 6.8 tons, with an armament of a 3.7cm SA-18 cannon and a 1 x 8mm machine gun, a maximum speed of 30 mph (50 kph), and a range of 150 miles (250 kilometers). Because of the age of these vehicles, breakdowns were common.
The panzers break through at the junction of the French 9th and 2nd Armies and begin their dash to the coast. DeGaulle’s counterattack on May 17 and that of the BEF on May 21 achieved nothing.