Renault R35 (Char leger Modele 1935 R)

History of Renault R35 (Char leger Modele 1935 R)

The Renault R35 was a French light tank development prior to World War II, following general French tank design practices at the time. It proved to be a viable main battle tank, albeit not without limitations, but was completely defeated by German tactics and French planning in the French campaign. Many people were captured in this attack, which meant that the tank was more useful to the Germans than it was to its original owner. At the time of the German invasion in May 1940, the R35 was apparently the most numerous of all French tanks in service.

Total production eventually reached 1,685 units, including the R40 offshoot.

Of course, the design influence of the R35 stems from the French battlefield experience of the First World War (1914-1918), where tanks led infantry attacks by providing fire support and breaking through defensive bases on specific fronts. Therefore, armor protection and short-range artillery were qualities of the time compared to speed and long-range direct attack on enemy armor.

At this time, French army authorities were looking for a successor to their once revolutionary WW1 Renault FT-17 light tank, which introduced the concept of a turret-mounted main gun.

In the absence of the threat of war, the French practice continued to develop in the 1920s and 1930s until several restricted-use products emerged. In 1933, a competition was held for all interested French tank builders, including Renault who supplied the "ZM" prototype. With some changes in 1935, French authorities revived interest in the car amid growing tensions with longtime neighbor Germany, which promised a new wave as its military prowess grew.

The revised ZM was flushed together with thicker armor and an overhauled turret, and an initial series order of 300 of this type was received before the tests were completed - such was the desire to modernize the French army. In 1936, the first production car followed.

Renault - known as the "R35" - had a three-piece cast hull and was a fully modern tank at the time. Its short-barreled 37mm L/21 SA18 gun was mounted on a movable turret mounted on a flat hull structure. The engine is enclosed in the rear, and the front fascia is almost horizontal. The driver sits in the front center of the hull structure, and the commander/gunner is in the turret - the R35 is a two-person light tank, just like the FT-17 before it.

The tracked undercarriage consisted of five small wheels located on one side of the fuselage, with the drive sprocket at the front and the track idler at the rear. Three chain return rollers are used, and the link section is thin.

The hull is suspended on a horizontal spring assembly of rubber cylinders.

When complete, the R35 weighs 12 tons, measures 13 feet long, 6 feet wide and 7 feet high. Armor protection peaked at 43mm, a substantial increase over the 30mm design form originally offered by Renault in 1934. Next to the 37mm main gun is a 7.5mm MAC31 Reibel series machine gun for anti-infantry work and in the turret as a coaxial weapon. Propulsion for the vehicle is provided by a Renault V-4 gasoline engine with an output of 82 hp.

This gives the vehicle a top speed of 12.5 mph and a range of up to 80 miles.

Official mass production of the R35 ran from 1936 to 1940, and ceased production in the summer of 1940 when France fell. 1,540 original R35 designs will be built along with approximately 145 related R40 models.

The R40 tank differs mainly in the use of a new suspension wheel assembly with twelve road wheels and a vertical spring suspension system. The tank was also standardized to a longer 37mm L/35 SA38 main gun mounted in a new cast turret.

Long guns help fight enemy armor at longer ranges, something the original short-barreled R35 form was sorely lacking in, and some early R35 tanks were quickly upgraded to the R40 standard when possible.

Prior to the German invasion in 1940, the R35 had been shipped overseas to store French colonial inventory and to fulfill overseas orders from customers such as Poland and Yugoslavia. Operational use of the R35 during the German invasion of France proved mixed, as well-trained R35 tankers were few and far between - the French army was simply not ready for a full-scale war on the scale the Germans used in their famous During the "Blitzkrieg" campaign - however, nearly 945 R35/R40 tanks in combat readiness were collected.

Which tanks are active usually includes units as well as outdated French Army tanks still in use and tied to infantry formations. At least nine French Army battalions deployed some R35 tanks and their infantry units, and by the end of the conflict there was no support structure common to all WWII armies.

Unfortunately, the R35 was unable to withstand German advances and French political bickering and inept war plans. The speed of the German attack usually meant that dozens of new French tanks were just caught up, if not destroyed.

As a result, stocks of R35s fell into the hands of the enemy, who saw clear value in restoring captured vehicles to their own use. After the conquest of France and the Netherlands, the German-managed R35 was reissued for local security and garrison support. In some cases, others have been upgraded to more powerful main guns, and still others have been modified into tank destroyers and artillery transporters, or downgraded for driver/crew training purposes. The remaining turrets were deployed as defensive static guns facing key strategic locations - like along the Atlantic wall facing the English Channel towards the UK.

Some German assets also went to allies in Hungary, Italy and elsewhere.

The German army name for the captured R35s was "Panzerkampfwagen 35R 731(f)" - the small "f" indicates their French origin.

At the time, the French R35 proved to be a viable combat platform for light tanks. Its protection against German light anti-tank guns at the time was actually pretty good. It's not a full-fledged battlefield product, though, and relies on a two-person crew.

Commanders, in particular, are given a lot of responsibilities in confined spaces. He stood by as his own gunner and loader, but also had to observe the battle and command the driver in combat conditions, while trying to see the action through the poorly sighted arrangement.

The in-game 37mm main gun eventually proved largely ineffective even against earlier tank forms. In addition, France's practice of using French tank squads alongside infantry and not supporting fire limited what French tank battalions could actually do against a more prepared and well-trained enemy.

In addition to WWII operations, the R35 survived long enough to see combat service in the years following the war, when the Syrian R35 was used against the newly formed State of Israel during the Arab-Israeli War. After the war, the French Army managed to recover some captured tanks and reused the systems until more remaining American armor became available in the late 1940s.

Specification

Basic

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Performance

Performance

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Armor

100 x 37mm bullet

2,400 x 7.5mm ammo

Changes