Added: Nov 19, 2008
From: skoblinI
Duration: 0:18
British Newsreel. April 25, 1940.The R-35 was the most numerous of French light infantry tanks in service in 1940 with over 1600 units completed.In 1933 the French High Command called for the design of a 6 ton tank as a replacement for the aging Renault FT-17. The vehicle was designed to have a crew of two and to be armed with one or two 7.5mm machine-guns or a 37mm gun. Manufactures that took part in design process were Renault, Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), Compagnie Général de Construction des Locomotives and Delaunay Belleville.The first prototype was manufactured by Renault at the end of 1934 and was based upon the Auto-mitrailleuse de Reconnaissance 1935 Type ZT. The vehicle was called the Renault ZM (prior to acceptance) and immediately sent into trials in the winter of 1935. By Spring, an order for 300 was placed. The tank was now called char léger modéle 1935-R (R-35).A variation of the R-35 was developed by Atelier de Construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX) which introduced a new suspension that consisted of 12 pairs of small road-wheels on each side mounted in pairs, vertical coil springs, and protective skirting plates. The tracks were like the Char B1. This vehicle mounted the long barreled 3.7cm SA 38 L/33 cannon. It was officially referred to as the AMX 40, but generally became known as the R-40. The sometimes seen designator of R-39 seems to have been a semi-official designation.The Renault R35 better French tanks of WW2. Over 1600 had been built by 1940. Following the battle of, and fall of France many were pressed into service in the German Wehrmacht. This tank would see action in the Balkans and Russia in 1941.
Channel: News
Tags: 1940 army french front phony renault sitzkrieg war western
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