French World War 2 Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder

Toreno

In this 2nd episode of my series looking at World War 2 Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder, we take a look at French tanks of the World War 2 period!  So join me as we take a look at various brand new French tank designs that were in testing before the Fall of France, various attempts to upgrade existing French tanks and the multitude of armoured cars, tank destroyers and SPAA vehicles that France produced during the war!  Support me at ⬇️ ☕Buy me a Coffee➡️ buymeacoffee.com/Toreno  Social Media ⬇️ 🦋Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social 🌍Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Toreno4 📸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toreno170 🐘Mastodon: Toreno17@mastodon.social 🧵Threads: https://www.threads.net/@toreno170  Sources ⬇️ Chars Français. (23/04/2025) Available at: http://www.chars-francais.net/ France 1940. (23/04/2025) Available at: http://france1940.free.fr/ International Ammunition Association, Inc. (16/04/2025). French 75mm Mle 1897 PCO 40. Available at: https://forum.cartridgecollectors.org/t/french-75mm-mle-1897-pco-40/46964/2 Little Wars. French 1940. (23/04/2025) Available at: http://www.littlewars.se/french1940 Tank Archives. (16/04/2025) Available at: www.tankarchives.ca Tank Encyclopedia. Available at: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ Valka. (23/04/2025). Available at: http://www.valka.cz/ Zaloga, S. J. (2014). French Tanks of World War II (1). Zaloga, S. J. (2014). French Tanks of World War II (2).  🎮 Game: War Thunder  ⬅️  #warthunder #france #french #tanks #ww2 #char #amx  Tanks in this episode ⬇️ AMX 38 (Both Prototypes) Char G1P Char G1R Renault R40 Somua S40 Char B1 Bis with welded turret Char 2C "Normandie" Gendron-Somua AMR 39 Panhard AM 40 (P)/Model 201 Panhard CDM Panhard 178b ARL V 39/ARL 1940 V939 40 Laffly W15 TCC Conus Gun Renault UE with 6 pounder Lorraine 37L with 17 pounder Berliet VPR2 SOMUA MCG AB 140 CCKW 353 P512  Intro: 00:00 New French Tank Designs: 00:52 Upgraded French Tank Designs: 09:25 French Armoured Cars: 19:58 French Tank Destroyers: 28:42 French SPAA: 36:31

Transcript

00:00So continuing my series looking at WW2 tanks that need adding to War Thunder, it's now time to take

00:05a look at French WW2 tanks, and despite France being knocked out of the war relatively early,

00:11and most of the existing French tank designs already being in game, there are still a very

00:16large amount of French tanks that still need adding, as well as various tank destroyers,

00:20assault guns and anti-air vehicles, so this is probably going to be quite a long episode.

00:25So at the start of WW2, France had a very large tank force consisting of 3025 tanks of various types,

00:33ranging from WW1 era Renault FT's all the way to the modern Samura S35, and many smaller and larger

00:40tanks in between. However, in the lead up to the war, it was recognized that improvements could

00:46be made to the existing tanks, while entirely new tank designs would be needed to fend off the German

00:51threat. So we'll start off by looking at the new tanks being developed by France in the early

00:57part of the war, beginning with the AMX 38, which was a new light infantry tank designed by AMX.

01:04Now in order to examine the AMX 38, we need to look at the small infantry tanks that were already in

01:10service, because of course France already had a light infantry tank in the form of the R35,

01:15which quickly became the most numerous of French tanks in WW2, with 1611 being produced.

01:22However, while the R35 was accepted and put into mass production, the military were so impressed

01:27by the FCM design, they ordered 100 examples of what would become the FCM 36. There were a few reasons

01:35for this, for example the use of a diesel engine which gave it nearly twice the range of the R35,

01:40as well as making it less likely to catch fire, and some other major features were the fact it

01:45used welded armour and had a turret that was considered superior to that on the R35,

01:50with plans made for it to replace the APXR turret of the R35, but its inability to accept the longer

01:5637mm gun quickly killed this idea. Despite this and only 100 being built, the French army considered

02:03the FCM 36 the best of the infantry tanks in service, and its design would even go on to inspire the

02:09Soviet BTSV tank, which in turn inspired the T-34, so this was a very influential design. The fact it

02:17used welded armour was also very important, because most French tanks used cast armour at this time,

02:23which it was hoped would lower production costs. However, in the summer of 1937, it was decided to

02:29test the armour of some R35s by firing on them, and it was worryingly found that the majority of 25mm

02:35shells penetrated the armour, while 14 out of 18 37mm shells also penetrated the armour, meaning that

02:43these tanks were highly vulnerable to existing German tank guns, and suggested that there might

02:48be some issues with the quality of the cast armour. Thus, when AMX started designing what would become

02:54the AMX-38, it was decided to use welded armour, with a maximum thickness of 40mm. Again, this is

03:01actually the same thickness as the R35, which you would think would give them the same effectiveness

03:07in-game, not taking into account angles, but in-game cast armour actually has a 0.94 multiplier,

03:14meaning the R35's armour only offers 37.6mm of protection, while welded armour would give the full

03:2140mm of protection, meaning the AMX-38 would already be slightly better protected off the bat in-game.

03:28The armament was also improved, with the longer SA-38 37mm gun being fitted, which is capable of

03:36penetrating 36mm at 500m, compared to the short SA-18 of the previous tanks which could only penetrate

03:4424mm, making the AMX-38 more useful against enemy tanks, while a 7.5mm machine gun is also carried for

03:52close-in defence. Speed was ok at 15.5mph, or 25kmh, certainly not the fastest tank in the world,

03:59but definitely not the slowest either, and it was good enough for the infantry support role that it

04:03was intended for. Unfortunately, like many other French tanks, only two crew members are carried,

04:09making it rather easy to knock out fire crew losses. Unfortunately, before being put through

04:14testing, the original welded turret developed problems with cracks forming in the welds,

04:18showing some of the potential issues with welded armour, and requiring a new welded turret to be

04:23designed. So, with the turret replaced, the now 13.5 ton prototype would be put through tests,

04:30and seems to have performed very well, but the requirements for the tank were then increased by

04:34General Keller, Inspector of the Armoured Forces, with the tank now required to have a 47mm SA-35 gun,

04:42and a maximum of 60mm of armour in order to deal with the newer German tanks. This new AMX-38 prototype

04:49was larger and heavier, weighing in at 16.5 tonnes, and now had 60mm of frontal armour,

04:56as well as a new turret to house the more powerful 47mm gun, which is capable of penetrating 47mm at

05:02500m, while a more powerful engine is also carried, offsetting the increase in weight so it can maintain

05:09the same top speed. In War Thunder I could see both prototypes being added, with the first prototype

05:15being a 1.0 tank like with the FC-M36, while the second prototype, with its 47mm gun and thicker armour,

05:22could easily be added at 1.3 or 1.7, being a much bigger threat to enemy tanks compared to other

05:28French light tanks, and I think it would be a fun vehicle to have in game. In real life, the AMX-38 does

05:34seem to have been a good design, but never made it into service, despite the second prototype being

05:39built by December 1939. By this point, other companies had started to submit their own designs,

05:45with the last review of these being carried out on the 14th of May, so after the Battle of France

05:50had started. Despite the ongoing invasion, it was decided to wait a month to ensure that all designs

05:56had been submitted, by which point France had surrendered, bringing an end to the AMX-38,

06:02before it could even get started. Another tank that was being developed around this time was the

06:07Sha G1, which was intended to be a new 20 ton medium infantry tank, though this weight limit was later

06:14increased to 35 tons, and designs were submitted by various companies, though only two would actually

06:20build prototypes, these being Renault and SEAM. Renault's Sha G1R design would have been a very advanced

06:28tank, with its armament being a turret mounted 47mm gun, or a length 32 75mm gun, but as it turns out

06:37only a hull was ready by June 1940, and no turret was ever finished. Seems Sha G1P design on the other

06:44hand, might be possible to add. Now to start with, this only got a hull built, but this was done in 1936,

06:51allowing for testing to be carried out with a dummy turret, although it only used a 120 horsepower engine,

06:57instead of the intended 280 horsepower engine. Due to this it did badly in its first tests,

07:03with a top speed of only 8mph or 14kmh, so the prototype was rebuilt and fitted with the intended

07:09280 horsepower Hispano Suiza engine. However, at this point, unlike Renault's design, it was also

07:16ordered that an APX4 turret from the Sha B1 bis be fitted, which doesn't seem to have happened,

07:23but because this was ordered in 1938, it's possible that the prototype was modified to fit it,

07:29meaning it might be technically possible to add this tank, as we of course have the stats for the

07:34hull and the turret. It was also intended to have a hull mounted 75mm gun, though again this doesn't

07:41seem to have been fitted. Armour was pretty decent, at 57mm for the front, 35mm for the sides,

07:48and 35mm or 40mm for the rear, while some sloping is also used, making this pretty well protected.

07:55Speed is a little bit hard to work out, as it was supposed to reach a top speed of 25mph or 40kmh,

08:02which the first prototype obviously never reached, and while the second prototype does of course have

08:07the more powerful engine, additional weight added during the rebuild may have still resulted in a

08:13slower speed, though anything above 15mph or 25kmh now would be decent enough I would think.

08:19Lastly, it was to have a crew of 4, a driver, gunner for the 75mm howitzer, commander in the

08:26turret and a radio operator, so quite similar to the Sha B1 bis. In game this would be a rather

08:33interesting tank, playing much like the Sha B1 bis with similar armour and armament,

08:38but potentially being a bit faster, making this a bit easier to use on the battlefield,

08:43probably at a better rating of 2.3 to 2.7, and it would be cool to see this rather unusual and

08:48forgotten french tank represented in game. In real life the specifications were changed to fit a

08:55turret mounted 75mm gun, like in the Renault design, and Seam was unable to afford building a new prototype,

09:03and the existing prototype was not suited to be redesigned in such a way, though they did try

09:08and install a new ARL-3 turret, but in September 1939 development work was halted, and the hull was

09:15relegated to a technology demonstrator, but it was still the nearest of the various Sha G1 designs to

09:22being ready for mass production. So now that we've looked at the brand new designs, we can move on to

09:29existing tank designs that were planned to be upgraded by France, and we'll start with the

09:34Renault R40, or to give it its full name, Charly G Model 1935 R Modif 1939, which was an attempt to

09:43up gun and improve the Renault R35. The R35 as mentioned earlier had been introduced as a replacement

09:51for the Renault FT, which was nearly 20 years old by this point, and quickly became the most produced

09:57French tank, with 1611 being built by June 1940. Initially the design was considered pretty good

10:04for a light infantry tank, having a maximum armour of 40mm, a short 37mm gun and car axle machine gun,

10:12a top speed of 12.4mph or 20kmh and a two man crew. However during early trials a number of problems had

10:20quickly become apparent, the main one being with the suspension, which while fine for driving on roads,

10:26suffered greatly when going cross country. However despite this issue tanks were urgently needed,

10:32so production began regardless. It also became clear that the main armament was somewhat lacking,

10:38as while it was perfectly suited for dealing with enemy infantry, it was not suited for use against

10:43enemy tanks, so a better weapon would be needed. And then lastly as mentioned earlier some R35s were

10:50used in firing tests, involving 25mm and 37mm guns, and it was found that in many cases the cast armour

10:57was of poor quality, giving far less protection than it should have. In light of all of these issues,

11:03it was realised that a new tank would offer the best overall solution to these problems,

11:08for example the AMX-38 we looked at earlier. But with continued production being a priority,

11:14it was also decided to alter the existing R35 design by fitting a new suspension, with the modified design

11:21due to go into production from the 1501st tank produced. A number of companies offered solutions,

11:29such as Lorraine and Renault, but ultimately a suspension design by AMX was chosen, with this

11:34using 12 smaller road wheels, while an unditching tail was added to aiding crossing trenches.

11:40Even better news was that there was now enough longer 37mm SA38 guns, that they could be fitted as

11:47standard to the R40s, meaning that all R40s would fare much better against enemy tanks, while only some

11:54R35s were ever given this gun. So in real life this was a good improvement. Unfortunately in game we have

12:01an R35 variant that already has some of the features, for example some R35s were given the longer 37mm gun,

12:09which the in game version has, and it also has an unditching tail, so the only real difference would

12:15be the new suspension. However due to this it should now perform a bit better when going cross country,

12:21allowing it to move a bit quicker, and hopefully provide a slightly better firing platform when on

12:26the move. And while not the biggest upgrade, it would be nice to see this upgraded R35 in game.

12:32In real life the R40 would go into production, but not until the 1541st tank in March 1940,

12:40but with the Battle of France starting in May 1940, and France falling in June 1940, only 130 to 155 R40s

12:49would be built. And while those that were built did serve successfully, there were far too few of them

12:55to make a major difference in the war. The Samura S35 was another tank that was slated to be put into

13:02production in an upgraded form as the S40, and like with the R40, the changes made would be

13:08evolutionary rather than revolutionary. With the chassis being lengthened, the height reduced,

13:14the frontal armour becoming a bit more sloped, the suspension strengthened, and a new 240 horsepower

13:21engine was to be installed, giving it a new top speed of 28mph or 45kmh. So about 3mph or 5kmh faster

13:30than the S35, while still having a 3 man crew. However, while the first 50 hulls were to use the

13:36APX1 CE turret as used on the S35, from the 51st tank, a new ARL2 C turret was to be installed. This

13:46turret would have the same armament and armour as the original, but was to be welded rather than

13:51cast, though the commander's cupola was still cast and made larger. Now the welded turret was supposed

13:56to increase the strength of the armour, in theory increasing the protection, which as mentioned

14:01earlier is modelled in War Thunder, so in game the tank would be a little bit tougher to take down as

14:07a result. When it comes to adding the S40, we could in theory have two variants, the one with the original

14:13turret from the S35 and the one with the welded turret. That said, both would probably work at 1.3,

14:19along with the in-game S35, and could probably be folded with it if needed. And while not bringing

14:25massive changes to the game, it would be nice for these tanks to be available for French players,

14:30and to give players a glimpse of what sort of tanks might have been available in 1940,

14:35if things had gone a bit differently. As mentioned, the S40 with the original turret was to go into

14:41production from tank 451, which was slated to happen in June 1940. While the welded turret version was

14:48slated to start production in September 1940. However, S35 production was behind schedule,

14:55and with the invasion of France happening in May 1940, mass production of the first variant never

15:01started, and I don't think the welded turret was ever fitted to a hole, outside of a mock-up.

15:06That said, four holes would be completed, showing how close these came to actually going into production,

15:12though even if France had lasted a month or two longer, they still would have been built in

15:16very small numbers. Oddly enough, this isn't the end of the story, as after the occupation of

15:22France and the setting up of the Fichy French government, there was a tentative agreement

15:26in the Protocols of Paris for 800 S40s to be built by Fichy France, 200 for use by France, 600 for

15:34Germany and Italy, and another 250 would then be built for Japan. But due to Hitler having an

15:40understandable scepticism of French rearmament, this never went into effect, and German occupation

15:47of Fichy France in November 1942 killed the programme for good. The Char B1 Bis was another

15:54tank that was slated to be upgraded. Indeed, we already have its intended successor in-game

15:59as the Char B1 Ter. However, there was a more modest improvement that was tested out in 1938-1939,

16:06on the Char B1 Bis Number 234, Marseille, which was fitted with a new welded turret designed by

16:13FCM. The turret used seems to have been a simplified version of one of the turrets FCM had designed for

16:19its F4 design, which was a multi-turreted, super-heavy design that never went beyond a paper design.

16:26But this would lead to the FCM F1, a 130 tonne monster of a tank that actually had a wooden mock-up

16:33built by June 1940. Unlike with previous tanks, the reason for this turret being fitted doesn't

16:38seem to have been around enhancing protection, and more around testing a heavier turret, giving

16:44some practical experience with them, but it could also be potentially related to production issues.

16:50You see, while the hulls were produced by various firms, including FCM, all of these were then fitted

16:56with APX4 turrets produced by APX. This could sometimes be a problem, as production delays of

17:02the turret often meant that the hulls would be finished with no turret to fit. Thus, by showing

17:07they could produce their own welded turrets at a faster rate, potentially FCM was hoping to be

17:13allowed to fit their Char B1 hulls with this new turret, though this doesn't seem to have actually

17:18occurred outside of this one case, assuming it was even a factor in the testing of the turret.

17:23The rest of the stats are exactly the same as the regular Char B1 bis, so I'd suggest placing it

17:28in a folder with the B1 bis at the same battle rating, giving players a good tank with potentially

17:34slightly more protection, and again showing players some potential French tank designs from the era.

17:40In real life, Marseille was the only Char B1 bis fitted with the turret, and at the start of the war,

17:45the turret was replaced by the usual APX4 turret, while the tank itself would fight against the German

17:51invasion in 1940 before being captured on the 7th of June, having previously broken down,

17:56thus ending the story of this tank. Lastly for upgraded tanks, we have the Char 2C Normandy,

18:03which was originally named Lorraine, but was renamed after an extensive up-armouring program,

18:09with its frontal armour now coming in at 90mm thick, while the sides were 65mm thick, and a double roof

18:16was fitted to improve protection in this area. Now bear in mind, the Char 2C's whole armour in-game

18:22is 45mm for the front, and 22mm for the sides, and you can see what a massive upgrade this is to the

18:29armour, though unfortunately it increases the weight to 75 tons from 70 tons, which presumably slowed it

18:36down, though I've not seen any concrete figures on this. Other than that, the armament and crew remains

18:42the same. Placing this in War Thunder might be a bit problematic, as the current Char 2C is at rank 2

18:48batter rating 2.3, and its 75mm gun can only penetrate 58mm at 500m with its 1916 APHE shell.

18:58However, there are a few shells that could help fix this issue, for example the recently added Saint

19:04Chamond uses the same model 1897 gun, and fires a model 1910 M APHE shell, which has 66mm penetration

19:13at 500m, giving it a slight increase in performance. Then we have the later 6.4kg Peacot 40, which was

19:21also able to be fired from the model 1897 at a velocity of about 625m a second, which should give

19:29it a similar penetration to the M72 shell in game, with a penetration of 78mm at 500m. So these two

19:37shells would allow the Char 2C to be added at a higher battle rating, while still having a decent

19:42armament, probably at a battle rating of 4.0 or higher. In real life, like with the other Char 2C

19:49tanks, Normandy wouldn't actually see any service, and ended up being scuttled by its crew when it was

19:54unable to be evacuated from advancing German forces. Of course, there are other types of vehicles from

20:01WW2 that France still needs adding, such as armoured cars, tank destroyers and anti-air vehicles. And

20:07we'll look at the armoured cars first, starting off with the Gendron Samura AMR 39, which initially

20:14started off as an armoured car prototype built in 1934 by a Mr Gendron, who seems to have been

20:20independent of the usual major manufacturers and designers of the time. This prototype looks

20:25fairly normal at the front, having two frontal wheels, but at the rear it has one set of wheels

20:32in a tail configuration. A rather odd choice more reminiscent of some of the oddball WW1 designs,

20:38like the Russian SAR tank and the US steam wheeled tank. Unsurprisingly, this first prototype had poor

20:45stability. So a second prototype was built to a more conventional layout, and while giving good

20:50results, Gendron was unable to put it into mass production. But luckily Samura stepped into the

20:56story at this point, producing a third prototype, which was accepted into service and ordered for

21:02production. Looking at the third prototype, it was armed with a 25mm SA-35 gun, giving an in-game

21:09penetration of 56mm at 500m, while a 7.5mm coaxial machine gun is also carried, making this a decently

21:17armed vehicle. Meanwhile, the top speed is 43mph or 69kmh, making it ideal for scouting and allowing

21:25it to avoid most enemies in the open, which it will need to do as the armour is only a maximum of

21:3015mm thick, making it extremely vulnerable, while its two man crew will make it easy to knock out fire

21:36crew losses. While in theory all of the prototypes could be added, I think Gaijin should focus on the

21:41actual production variant, and I could see this being a good 1.0 armoured car, having a decent

21:47armour and speed, and it would be nice to see this often forgotten armoured car in War Thunder.

21:53In real life, while 150 AMR-39s were ordered in September 1939, only four were ever built,

22:00meaning this vehicle never had any real effect on the war or vehicle development in general.

22:06The same cannot be said for the next armoured car, the Panhard AM40P or Model 201, a rather unique

22:13looking armoured car that is an ancestor to the world famous Panhard EBR, with the prototype being

22:19ordered for development in 1938 and finished in 1939. One of the designers for the AM40P was Louis

22:27Delagarde, who would later go on to develop the Panhard EBR of the 1950s, and a lot of design features

22:34that would be on that vehicle would get their start on the AM40P. For example, the turret is an

22:40oscillating turret, where the whole turret elevates and depresses rather than just a gun,

22:45potentially allowing for greater degrees of elevation and depression, while like on the EBR,

22:508 wheels are used. With four of these being able to be lifted when on roads, making it a 4x4 vehicle,

22:56but these can then be lowered on rough terrain to make it an 8x8 vehicle, allowing it to get around

23:01the battlefield no matter the terrain. The actual armament carried in the turret is the 25mm SA35,

23:09a decent weapon for a recon vehicle, while a 7.5mm machine gun is also carried, while plans

23:15were also made to fit a 37mm gun in the future. Unlike most other armoured cars, the armour is

23:21actually pretty good, maxing out at 60mm for the front while being sloped, meaning this can actually

23:27stand and fight against some enemies, giving them a bit of a surprise when they try to take out what

23:32looks like a vulnerable vehicle. That said, it should be avoiding these fights where possible,

23:37which is also helped by its small size. To top it off, it has a top speed of 50mph or 80kmh,

23:44both in forward and reverse, making this a very speedy vehicle, especially when combined with its

23:508x8 wheel arrangement when off-road, making this a brilliant scout vehicle and making it able to

23:56quickly cap points. Unfortunately, only two crew are carried, which does make it vulnerable when an

24:02enemy does penetrate the vehicle. I could see the AM40P being added at a battle rating of 2.0 or higher,

24:09mainly on account of its armour and high speed, making this a rather useful scouting vehicle,

24:15and it would be nice for this cool and unique armoured car to be added in-game.

24:19In real life, the AM40P was ordered into production, with 600 being ordered. Unfortunately,

24:25this was in May 1940, and with the invasion of France occurring in this month, this never ended

24:30up actually going into production. But the vehicle was successfully evacuated to French North Africa,

24:36where it seems to have ultimately disappeared, though its design would lead to the far more

24:41famous Panhard EBR, allowing it to live on in a sense. So, with much of France now occupied or under

24:48control of the Vichy French puppet state, armoured development was mostly halted, at least officially,

24:55with existing French tanks rapidly becoming obsolete as the war progressed. To make things worse,

25:01the new Vichy French Armistice Army was restricted from having tanks, and its Panhard 178 armoured

25:07had their 25mm guns removed, as well as the mantlets to prevent them being re-armed later on.

25:14However, a clandestine effort was begun by an organisation within the Armistice Army, the CDM,

25:20or Camouflage du Materiel, to set about hiding weapons from the Germans, so that they could be

25:25used in the event of a German invasion of Vichy France. They also worked with Joseph Resteney,

25:31who had previously designed a Panhard turret with a 47mm gun, which is in-game as an event vehicle,

25:37to design a new Panhard turret that could be fitted to existing Panhard holes, and armed with

25:42either 25mm or 47mm guns, becoming the CDM. The new turret is similar to the event Panhard turret,

25:51being extremely sloped at the front, which greatly improves the protection of the vehicle,

25:55and potentially players could choose whether to use the 25mm or 47mm gun, with both weapons having

26:02advantages over the other. The 25mm performing better against flat surfaces, while the 47mm gun

26:09is better against sloped armour and has a larger shell for post-penetration damage. A coaxial machine

26:14gun is also sometimes carried to the right of the gun, which does somewhat negate the protection as it

26:19is placed in an unsloped boxy superstructure, but does provide close-in defence against soft-skin vehicles.

26:26The rest of the stats should be the same as the regular Panhard 178, and I could see is doing well

26:31at a better rating of 1.3 to 1.7, depending on which weapon is used, and it would be nice for this

26:37somewhat unknown French armoured car to see some use in War Thunder. In real life the turrets were

26:42distributed to various armistice army units, ready to be used in the event of a German invasion of

26:48Vichy France, the hope being that they could hold off the Germans until allied forces were able to

26:53intervene. As it turns out however, when the German invasion came after Operation Torch, the armistice

26:59army was ordered to remain in its barracks and was subsequently disarmed, with some of the Panhard

27:04CDMs falling into German hands or being hidden until France's liberation. So with all of France

27:10now completely occupied, there was no chances of producing armoured vehicles until after its liberation,

27:17and new designs would now be needed as the existing French tanks were by now hopelessly obsolete.

27:22However one design that was considered good enough to put back into production was the Panhard 178,

27:28as a new upgraded variant named the Panhard 178B, which was quickly designed with a new turret,

27:34upgraded armament, and new engine. The new turret was the FL-1, a large cylindrical turret that it had

27:41been hoped to fit with a new 75mm Healtzer, but was ultimately armed with the 47mm SA-35 gun,

27:49while a coaxial machine gun was also mounted. The new engine should have about the same performance,

27:54or maybe a little better, than the existing Panhard 178s, giving a top speed of at least 44mph or

28:0170kmh, or perhaps a little faster, making this a very quick scouting vehicle. The rest of the stats

28:08should be broadly the same, with the crew being 4 and the armour maxing out at 26mm, making this rather

28:15easy to penetrate. I think this would work well at 1.7, being a fast vehicle and having a very hard

28:22hitting gun, and it would be nice for this lesser known armoured car to be added. In real life about

28:27414 of these vehicles were made, with these serving in France and its various colonies up until 1964,

28:35though by then, armoured cars like the Panhard EBR would have long eclipsed it in usefulness.

28:42Moving on from the armoured cars, we now come to the French Tank Destroyers, and we'll start off by

28:47looking at the ARL V39, a tank destroyer that looks somewhat similar to the already in-game

28:53Samara Sale 40, which was its main competitor. The V39 came about in 1935 as a response

29:01to a requirement for a new self-propelled gun, with a vehicle made of soft steel finished in 1938,

29:07and a second prototype being produced some time after. And after trials in 1939, 48 were ordered,

29:15plus 24 unarmed command variants, so 72 in total. The V39 was armed with a 75mm APX gun in the hull,

29:24which has an in-game penetration of 66mm at 500m, and to top this off it uses an APHE shell,

29:31making this a very deadly weapon. Like the Sale 40, a turret was fitted, which housed a 7.5mm

29:38machine gun for all around defence against soft skinned vehicles. Armour was also pretty good,

29:45being 50mm thick for the front, 30mm for the sides and 40mm for the rear, while the turret maxes out at

29:52around 38-40mm, making this a little bit better protected than the Sale 40. Speed is also pretty

29:58good, with a top speed of 26mph or 42kmh, again faster than the Sale 40, while having a more powerful

30:06engine, more gears and only weighing 1 ton more, meaning this should be a decently mobile tank

30:12destroyer. Lastly it had a crew of 5, with the driver also acting as the gunner, the commander being in the

30:18turret, and the rest being radio operators, loaders, or doing other jobs related to the gun.

30:24This seems like it could be a decent tank destroyer at 2.0-2.3, maybe between the Sale 40 and M4A3105,

30:33as it has better armour and mobility, and potentially could have its armament slightly

30:37improved if given access to the Peacot 40 shell, allowing this to deal with enemy tanks a little bit

30:43better. In real life the initial order was increased to 108, but like with many other

30:48tanks we've looked at today, this never occurred due to the fall of France. Also like other vehicles

30:53we've looked at, these were evacuated to North Africa, and also like other vehicles, seems to

30:59have promptly disappeared, bringing their history to an end. After the German invasion of France,

31:05there would be some hurried attempts to get more vehicles out in the field, including tank destroyers.

31:10Which brings us to the Lefley W15 TCC, which was a Lefley W15 track fitted with a 47mm SA37 gun at the rear.

31:21This design actually started in late 1939, and was originally fully armoured, with trials carried

31:28out in March 1940, leading to its adoption by the army. However, after the German invasion,

31:34it was decided to put it straight into production, and to get them out as quickly as possible,

31:39so much of the armour was removed. Though the driver's cab was still armoured, and a large gun

31:43shield was carried. Though the armour only maxed out at 15mm anyway, so it was only really good for

31:49against machine guns. The 47mm gun is the same as carried by the Lorraine 37L, giving it an in-game

31:55penetration of 89mm at 500m. Making this a very effective weapon, though the fact it's mounted at the

32:02rear of the truck, does limit its effectiveness somewhat. Meaning, you should really already be in

32:07position before engaging enemies, as you can't fire forwards. Though on the bright side, it does

32:12mean you can quickly drive away after starting any fight. Meanwhile, the top speed is about 30mph or

32:1840kmh, so decent enough for getting around the battlefield, and a crew of four is carried, one

32:24driver and the commander, gunner and loader for the gun. I think the W15 TCC could work well at 1.3-1.7,

32:32probably folded with the Lorraine 37L, as it has a decent speed, ok protection and a very good gun.

32:39Making this an excellent tank destroyer, while the fully armoured prototype could possibly be added

32:44as an event or premium vehicle. In real life these vehicles seem to have been pretty successful when

32:50deployed, but this didn't happen until early June 1940, by which point things were far too gone for

32:56these vehicles to salvage the overall situation. So despite some promising successes, they ultimately

33:02failed to change the course of the battle, and France was soon lost. It should be noted there

33:07was also another Laffley variant with a France facing 25mm gun, which could also be added and

33:13would make it a good early tier tank destroyer, especially since it doesn't have the drawback of

33:18a rear facing gun. So France may have now fallen to the Germans, severely limiting tank development,

33:25but three French forces in the UK were still able to make some improvised vehicles in decent numbers.

33:31One of these being the Konus gun, named after its creator Adrian Konus, which is basically a Ford

33:37truck with a Model 1897 mounted to the back, that was used to great effect by three French forces in

33:44North Africa. It would be unarmoured aside from the gun shield, making it vulnerable to enemy fire,

33:50and the main gun would be rear facing. But the Model 1897 hits pretty hard, and has an APHE shell with

33:5758mm penetration at 500m, so it should do pretty well, with the truck presumably having a decent

34:04speed on road, though maybe suffering when going cross country, while the crew count seems to be

34:09about 4-5. It should also be noted that a German 50mm gun was also mounted in at least one case,

34:15which could also be a good variant to add. I could see this being added at 1.3 to 1.7,

34:21maybe folded with the Lafley or Lorraine 37L, and it would be a good hard hitting tank destroyer for

34:26France in the early tiers. There were also a few experimental vehicles produced in the UK by three

34:33French forces, with at least two unique tank destroyers being produced. One of these being a

34:38Renault UE tractor, armed with a British 57mm 6lb gun, and another being a Lorraine 37L tractor,

34:46armed with the 17lb gun. Both of these seem to have some weird muzzle brakes added to them,

34:51though I'm not sure if that's going to make any difference to the guns. Both vehicles were very

34:55lightly armoured, with a maximum of 9mm of armour, plus what looks like a mostly enclosed gun shield for

35:01the crews, making them pretty vulnerable to enemy fire, but in return they pack a massive punch. With the

35:0757mm gun having a penetration of 82mm at 500m with its stock AP round, depending on what variant of

35:15the 6lb is used, and 155mm at the same distance for the 17lb AP round, making both of these guns very

35:23deadly for enemies over a range of battle ratings. Both vehicles have decent if not spectacular top

35:29speeds, the Renault UE's being 19mph or 30kmh, and the Lorraine's being 22mph or 35kmh,

35:38but this was before adding the guns, so it's likely they will be a little less mobile than in

35:42their original configuration. Lastly, the crew count is unknown, but I suspect a minimum of 4,

35:481 driver and 3 crew for the guns themselves. The 57mm armed vehicle could be added at 2.7-3.0,

35:55while the 17lb vehicle could be added at 3.0, with these vehicles giving French players access to some

36:01rather deadly vehicles that retain some French elements to them. Especially since most French tank

36:07destroyers at rank 2 or 3 are American, and it would be nice for these improvised vehicles to

36:12be added in some form. In real life it seems only one of each example was made, possibly as a

36:18technology demonstrator, or blueprint for some potential future conversions. But either way,

36:24it seems they didn't see any combat, and were probably reconverted back into artillery tractors at

36:29some point. So now we come to French anti-air vehicles, and we have a few examples here for

36:35France, such as this anti-air vehicle with a single 25mm Hotchkiss gun. There isn't much information on

36:41this, but I suspect a crew of 4, a decent on-road speed, and limited to no armour, while due to being

36:48fed by 15 round box magazines it might suffer in prolonged engagement. But it could work at tier 1

36:54after the P7TAA, or it could be folded with it. There are also quite a few anti-air vehicles like the

37:01Berlier VPR2, which is armed with two 13mm Hotchkiss machine guns, on an unarmoured vehicle, and I think

37:09they would work at batterating 1.0, though these type of vehicles would play much like the existing

37:15P7TAA. However, there are some more deadly examples that were built just after WWII, but used WWII

37:22era components. Starting with this quad 20mm Flak 38 AA gun mounted on the back of a truck,

37:28which made sense news as an anti-air weapon, as France now had access to vast quantities of

37:34surrendered German equipment after the war. The 20mm would have limited anti-armour

37:38armour capabilities, but will be lethal against enemy aircraft at short ranges, and should be

37:44able to move about quickly on roads, while having probably a crew of 4 and no armour, making it a

37:50vulnerable vehicle. I could see this being added at 3.7, giving French players a very effective

37:56anti-air vehicle for rank 3, and showcasing some French uses of captured equipment. After this we have

38:02the Samura MCG AB140, which is a French half track with Quad Hispano HS404 cannons mounted at the rear,

38:11similar to the Israeli TCM20 which has twin cannons. The vehicle itself is not the fastest, having a top

38:18speed of 22mph or 36kmh, so a bit slower than the P7TAA, and it seems mostly unarmoured except for around the

38:26firing platform. But the armament should be pretty lethal against most enemy aircraft, while the crew

38:32is again probably about 4, and this would work well at 4.3 to 4.7, again giving French players access to

38:39a good alternative to the current slower firing French anti-air vehicles at rank 2 and 3. Lastly,

38:45we have the CCKW353 P512, which is a French truck with four German 20mm MG151s mounted at the rear,

38:55and as you can see it would be unarmoured, but would pack quite a punch against enemy aircraft

38:59at short ranges, being able to put up a large amount of fire in a short amount of time to deal

39:04with air attacks. Of course being mounted on a truck might not be the best when going cross country,

39:09but it should have a decent speed on roads, and again probably a crew of 4, and they will be

39:14vulnerable due to a lack of armour. I could see this being added somewhere between 3.3 and 4.0,

39:20filling in the gap between the VTT DCA and the AMX-13 DCA-40, and giving French players yet

39:27another excellent anti-air vehicle for rank 3, and I could see this being used over the DCA-40

39:32by many French players due to its rapid fire weapons. So coming towards the end of the episode,

39:38and as you can see France was on the cusp of introducing quite a few effective tank designs

39:43right before the occupation of France, and if things had gone on for just a few months longer,

39:47it's possible we might have seen some of these entering service with the French army.

39:52But unfortunately France ran out of time for these vehicles, and so most of them didn't enter

39:57production. And of course with the occupation of France, most tank development did halt,

40:02though some clandestine work did carry on in Vichy France and abroad. For example the 75mm SA-44 gun,

40:09as used on the ARL-44 prototype, was originally designed to be fitted in the SARL-42,

40:17which was a tank design in Vichy France that never went beyond drawings.

40:21So that brings us to the end of this episode, hopefully you've enjoyed it, and I'd be interested

40:26to hear your thoughts on these vehicles, and any other vehicles you'd like me to cover in the

40:29comments below. I will probably be covering British World War 2 tanks in the next episode,

40:35which I expect to be quite a lengthy episode again, so hopefully you're looking forward to that.

40:40Anyway, I've been Toreno, and I'll see you next time.

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