The previous article reviewed light French tanks developed in the interwar period in accordance with French military doctrine. Light tanks were intended to support infantry and cavalry and were the main tanks of the French army. In addition, within the framework of the concept of a battle tank, it was supposed to use medium and heavy tanks for independent conduct of hostilities and confrontation with tanks and anti-tank artillery of the enemy.
To this end, after the end of the First World War, heavy tanks began to be developed in France, and after the Nazis came to power in Germany in the mid-30s, medium tanks. These tanks were produced in limited series and on the eve of World War II did not become widespread in the French army.
Medium Tank D2
The D2 medium tank, weighing 19.7 tons, was developed in 1934 as a further development of the D1 light "infantry" tank. During the period 1935-1940, about 100 tanks were produced. Before the medium tank, the military set the task not only to escort the infantry, but also to destroy the enemy's armored vehicles. As a base for this tank, the D1 was most suitable, featuring enhanced armor at a satisfactory speed.
The layout of the tank remained unchanged, the crew was 3 people. In the front of the hull there was a driver, a radio operator to his right. The tank commander was located in the fighting compartment and served the turret on which the commander's cupola was installed.
The front of the hull has been completely redesigned. The sloping upper part of the forehead and a separate cabin of the driver were abandoned. Instead of a two-piece hatch for the gunner-radio operator, a hatch that reclined forward was installed.
At the request of the military, the structure of the hull was not supposed to be riveted, but welded, but this was not fully realized. The tank had a riveted-welded hull with extensive use of armored cast parts, and the turret was also cast.
The body armor parts were connected by welding, bolts and rivets and thin steel strips. The armor of the tank was at a fairly high level, the thickness of the armor of the front of the turret was 56 mm, the sides of the turret were 46 mm, the forehead and sides of the hull were 40 mm, and the bottom was 20 mm.
The turret was fitted with a 47 mm SA34 cannon and a 7.5 mm Chatellerault machine gun, while the gun and machine gun had separate masks. For the radio operator, another machine gun of the same type was installed in the hull. In the second series of D2 tanks, a new ARX4 turret was installed with a more powerful long-barreled SA35 cannon.
The power plant was a Renault engine with a capacity of 150 hp, providing a speed of 25 km / h and a cruising range of 140 km.
The undercarriage, as on the D1, on each side consisted of 12 road wheels interlocked in three bogies with a locked spring suspension (one for each bogie), 2 independent road wheels with hydropneumatic shock absorbers, 4 support rollers, a front idler and a rear drive wheel … The track links were 350 mm wide. The chassis was protected by armor screens.
Medium tank SOMUA S35
The main medium tank of the French army and the best French tank of the pre-war period. Developed by SOMUA in 1935 as part of the creation of a "cavalry" tank. From 1936 to 1940, 427 samples were produced. The design of the tank was based on elements of the D1 and D2 infantry tanks, the transmission and suspension were largely borrowed from the Czechoslovak Lt.35 tank.
The tank weighed 19.5 tons. The layout was classic with the MTO located in the stern, and the control compartment and the fighting compartment in the frontal part of the hull. The tank's crew consisted of three people: a driver, a radio operator and a commander. The driver-mechanic was located in front of the left in the hull, the radio operator to his right, the gunner-commander in a single turret. The radio operator could also perform the functions of a loader, moving into the fighting compartment.
The landing of the crew was carried out through a hatch in the left side of the hull and an additional hatch in the rear of the turret. There was also an emergency evacuation hatch in the floor of the fighting compartment.
The tank had differentiated anti-cannon armor protection. The hull was made of four cast armor parts: two lower ones, in which all the units of the tank were mounted, and two upper ones - fore and aft. All these parts were bolted together.
The thickness of the armor of the lower part of the hull was 36 mm in a rounded frontal part inclined at an angle of 30 °, 25 mm in the sides, additionally covered with 10-mm screens above the chassis, stern (25-35) mm, bottom 20 mm, roof (12-20) mm. The forehead of the upper half of the body had a thickness of 36 mm with a rounded 45 ° inclined lower part and an inclined 22 ° upper part. The sides of the upper half with a slope of 22 degrees had a thickness of 35 mm.
On the first samples of the tank, the APX1 turret, tested on the D2 tank, was installed, on the subsequent APX1CE turret with an increased ring diameter. The tower was hexagonal and cast. The turret forehead was 56 mm thick, the sides and stern were 46 mm, the turret roof was 30 mm, the gun and machine gun masks were 56 mm thick. The tower had a commander's cupola with an observation hatch with a viewing slot and two observation holes, covered by armored shields. The tower, in addition to the manual one, also had an electric drive.
The turret was fitted with a 47 mm SA35 cannon with a 32 caliber barrel length and a 7.5 mm machine gun. The cannon and machine gun were mounted in independent masks on a common swing axis. An additional anti-aircraft machine gun could be placed on a turret on the turret roof above the aft hatch.
As a power plant, a 190hp Somua engine was used, providing a speed of 40 km / h and a cruising range of 240 km. The tank was controlled not with traditional levers, but with the help of a steering wheel connected by cables to the side clutches.
The undercarriage on each side consisted of 8 small-diameter road wheels interlocked in 4 bogies with two rollers each, one independent roller, two supporting rollers and a rear drive wheel. The feed roller had an individual suspension on a separate lever, with suspension by an inclined coil spring. There was also an oil shock absorber on the front suspension bogie. The caterpillar was 360 mm wide. The suspension was almost completely covered with armored screens.
Further development of the S35 was its modification S40. In this tank, the assembly of the armored hull and turret was carried out not by bolts, but by welding mainly rolled armor plates, which significantly simplified the production of the tank and increased its armor resistance. A new diesel engine with a capacity of 219 liters was also installed on the tank. with.
Super heavy tank Char 2C
The largest and heaviest tank in the French army. Developed since 1916 as a heavy breakthrough tank instead of the unsuccessful Saint-Chamond and Schneider assault tanks. Until 1923, 10 samples of this tank were made. It was the heaviest serial tank in the entire history of tank building, the weight of the tank reached 69 tons, the crew was 12 people.
The design of the tank was based on the "diamond-shaped" British tanks Mk. I and Mk. II. The tank was supposed to have anti-cannon armor and powerful armament in a rotating turret. It had impressive dimensions - length 10.2m, width 3.0m and height 4.1m.
According to the layout, the tank was divided into four compartments - a control compartment in the bow of the hull, behind it a fighting compartment with a 4-seat turret, an engine-transmission compartment and a rear turret fighting compartment. The engine was located in the center of the hull, due to its large size and additional equipment, the exhaust system had to be moved upward, limiting the circular shelling of the turret gun by 40 degrees.
Serious attention was paid to visibility from the tank. Large observation domes were installed on both towers, protected by a stroboscopic observation device - two sponsons with narrow slotted slots in the walls, inserted one into the other. Both sponsons rotated at high speed in opposite directions, due to the stroboscopic effect there was a feeling of almost transparency of the installation, as a result, the commander and the gunner of the stern machine gun had an all-round view.
In addition, there were observation slits and periscopic observation devices in the control compartment, fighting compartment and towers. To control the fire of the gun, there was a telescopic sight, machine guns were also equipped with sights. The tank was equipped with a radio station.
The main armament of the tank was a 75-mm ARCH cannon, placed in a turret with a firing sector of 320 degrees. Additional armament included four 8mm Hotchkiss machine guns, one mounted in the front of the hull, two along the sides of the main turret, and another in the aft turret.
The armor protection of the tank was calculated for resistance to 77 mm shells of the German FK 16 cannon. The front plate was 45 mm thick, the sides were 30 mm and the rear was 20 mm, and the main turret was 35 mm. At the time of the outbreak of World War II, the tank was also slightly vulnerable to shells from the main German Pak 35/36 anti-tank gun. In 1939, on several tanks, the frontal armor was reinforced to 90 mm, and the side armor to 65 mm, while the tank's weight reached 75 tons.
Two engines "Mercedes" GIIIa with a capacity of 180 hp were used as a power plant. each. For the first time in tank building, an electric transmission was used on this tank. Each engine powered its own DC generator, from which electricity was supplied to an electric motor that set in motion the corresponding tank track. If one of the engines failed, the power to the electric motors was switched to one generator and the tank could move at low speed. The tank could move along the highway at a speed of 15 km / h and had a cruising range of 150 km.
The chassis of the tank was made by analogy with the British and had 36 rollers, 5 guides and 3 supporting rollers on each side. The front wheels were driven, the rear guides. The tracks completely encircled the hull of the tank. The presence of a spring suspension provided the tank with a fairly smooth ride, unlike British tanks with a rigid suspension. The tank's maneuverability was impressive, due to its great length, it could overcome ditches up to 4 meters wide and a vertical wall up to 1.2 meters high.
Until 1938, Char 2C tanks were the only breakthrough tanks in the French army and were regularly involved in maneuvers. When Germany attacked France in 1940, they were sent to the front in an echelon, but they could not get off the platform on their own and were destroyed by their crews.
At the end of the 30s in France, they began to design a two-turret super-heavy tank FCV F1 with an armor thickness of up to 120 mm, the weight of which reached 145 tons, but the outbreak of the war did not allow this project to be realized.
Heavy tank Char B1
The Char B1 was the best heavy tank in the French army during the interwar period. This tank was assigned the task of supporting the infantry and independently breaking through the enemy's defenses. The tank was developed since 1921 as part of the "battle tank" concept, after repeated changes in the requirements for it, modifications and lengthy tests in 1934, it was put into service. In total, up to 1940, 403 samples of various modifications were made.
The tank had a layout of two compartments: a control compartment combined with a combat compartment and an engine-transmission compartment. The tank's crew consisted of four people: the driver, who also performed the functions of a gunner from the main gun, loading both guns, the tank commander, who was also a shooter and partly a loader of the turret gun and a radio operator.
In the frontal part of the hull there was an armored driver's cabin on the left, a 75-mm cannon on the right, a 47-mm cannon was installed in a rotating turret, the engine and transmission were located in the rear of the tank.
The tank had a bulky hull of rectangular cross-section, the tracked contour covered the hull, therefore, to provide a good side view of the driver, his workplace was raised and made in the form of an armored wheelhouse protruding forward. On the right, a 75-mm gun was installed and there was a loader's place, which served two cannons and a course machine gun. The commander was housed in a turret mounted on the central axis of the tank, he monitored the battlefield and fired from the turret gun. The turret was rotated using an electric drive, which greatly facilitated the commander's work. In the middle part, on the left side, below and behind the commander, there was a radio operator.
The driver-mechanic, in addition to controlling the tank using a power steering wheel, also performed the functions of the gunner of the main gun, since it was possible to direct it along the horizon only by moving the tank hull. He carried out aiming through a sight connected to the gun, with a 3.5-fold increase.
The crew entered the tank through a side door located on the right in the tank hull. The commander and driver had their own hatches in the tower and driver's cabin. In addition, there was a spare hatch in the bottom of the tank, as well as a hatch in the back, near the engine compartment.
The hull of the tank had a riveted-welded structure and was made of rolled armor plates. The frontal part of the hull, sides and stern had an armor thickness of 40 mm, a roof (14-27) mm, a bottom of 20 mm. The upper frontal armor plate was installed at an angle of 20 °, the lower 45 °, the upper side armor plates also had an angle of inclination of 20 °. The cast tower and the cast wheelhouse of the driver had a wall thickness of 35 mm. The armor resistance of the Char B1 was superior to all tanks available at that time. At the same time, the weight of the tank reached 25 tons.
The tank's armament consisted of two cannons and two machine guns. The main armament was 75 mm with a barrel length of 17.1 caliber and was intended to support the infantry. A 47 mm SA34 short-barreled cannon was installed in the turret and was intended to combat enemy tanks. To support the infantry, the tank was also armed with two 7.5 mm machine guns, one in the turret and the other in the hull.
A 250 hp Renault engine was used as the power plant, providing a speed of 24 km / h and a power reserve of 140 km.
The suspension contained three bogies with four road wheels on each side, equipped with shock absorption on vertical spring springs attached to the upper beam. Three front rollers and one rear were equipped with leaf spring suspension. The caterpillar was 460 mm wide. The sides were covered with 25 mm armor shields, which completely protected the suspension elements, partly the road wheels and guide wheels.
Due to its low cross-country ability and insufficient armament, the Char B1 was outdated by the beginning of World War II and required modernization; in 1937, the modernized Char B1bis tank began to be produced. The tank was equipped with a new APX4 turret with 57 mm frontal armor and a new long-barreled 47 mm SA35 cannon with a barrel length of 27.6 caliber. The frontal armor was increased to 60 mm, the side armor to 55 mm and the width of the tracks to 500 mm. The weight of the tank increased to 31.5 tons.
To compensate for the weight, a more powerful Renault engine with a capacity of 307 hp was installed. sec., which made it possible to increase the speed to 28 km / h. The powerful 60 mm armor was not penetrated by any German tank, and the long-barreled 47 mm Char B1bis cannon pierced all German tanks of that time. A total of 342 B1 and B1bis tanks were produced.
Tanks B1 and B1bis took part in a clash with the Germans in 1940, showed good firepower and protection, but due to their large size, low maneuverability and maneuverability, they were easy prey for German tanks and aircraft.
The state of the armored forces of France on the eve of the war
In the interwar period, France, on the euphoria of the success of the most massive tank of the First World War, FT17, was preparing not for the future, but for the past war and did not want to see the fundamental possibilities of using tanks in modern warfare.
The French military, guided not by an offensive, but by a defensive military doctrine, did not recognize tank forces as an independent branch of the army and considered them only as an appendage to the infantry and cavalry.
The main attention was paid to the creation of light tanks for infantry and cavalry support and their mass production; medium and heavy breakthrough tanks were created. Produced in small series. Over the years, a line of light tanks with approximately equal characteristics was introduced.
Light tanks were riveted construction, weighing 5, 5-12 tons, crew of two, occasionally three people, armed with light 37 mm or 47 mm cannons and machine guns, armor protection was only from small arms and shrapnel - forehead 13-20 mm, side 10 -16 mm, developed a speed of 7, 8-40 km / h.
Light tanks developed in the mid-30s (R35, H35, FCM36) were already distinguished by anti-cannon armor, rational armor slope angles, and more advanced cannons of the same caliber. Of particular note was the FCM36 tank, which had a welded structure, powerful 40 mm anti-cannon armor and a diesel engine.
Light tanks had good mobility, but weak weapons and protection and became easy prey for anti-tank artillery and enemy tanks.
In parallel with light tanks, from the mid-30s, they began to develop medium tanks weighing about 20 tons, a crew of three, with 47 mm cannon armament, serious anti-cannon armor - forehead (36-56) mm, sides (35-40) mm and relatively high speed (25-40) km per hour. They did not go to the installation of more powerful cannon weapons on medium tanks. These tanks represented a fairly serious force, but did not receive mass distribution in the army.
The development and legacy of the First World War continued - the creation of heavy and super-heavy tanks. Heavy tanks with a weight of about 30 tons at that time had powerful forehead armor up to 60 mm and sides up to 55 mm, quite effective 75 mm main and 47 mm additional guns, but had low mobility and speed. A super-heavy tank weighing 75 tons with good armor and a 75 mm cannon turned out to be practically useless and was not used in real combat.
In the interwar period, French tank builders, based on the false concept of the military about the priority of cavalry and infantry tanks, focused on the development of light tanks and could not find the optimal combination of firepower, mobility and tank protection. As a result, they created either light mobile and clog-protected tanks or powerful medium and heavy tanks with insufficient mobility.
