French Armoured Fighting Vehicle Production During World War Ii

Total 1 September 1939 1939 1940 total
Char 2C 10 - - 10
Renault FT-17 1580 - - 1580
NC27 35 35
Char D1 160 - - 160
Char D2 50 - 50 100
R 35 1070 200 331 1601
FCM 36 100 - - 100
Char B1 163 42 200 405
AMR 33 123 - - 123
AMR 35 167 - - 167
ZB 16 16
ZT2 - - 10 10
ZT3 10 - - 10
ZT4 - - 40 40
AMC 34 12 - - 12
AMC 35 22 23 5 50
Hotchkiss H35 640 130 322 1092
SOMUA S35 270 50 110 430

Total 4428 445 1068 5941

The following points should be taken into consideration:

The total export number of modern tanks was 281. The total tank assets in France and its colonies were therefore perhaps less than 5625 during the time of the German offensive.

Of the R 35 245 vehicles were exported; the production numbers of this type for June 1940 are unknown but amount probably to about two dozen tanks. The number given is that of the R 35's delivered on 1 June; about another sixty vehicles produced earlier might have been delivered that month as during a hearing in 1947 a total production was claimed of 1685. An alternative explanation is that the export of 54 vehicles to Yugoslavia in April 1940 was not subsumed under the 1601 total. About 75 R 40's were used to equip two Polish battalions in France. The R 35 numbers include the R 40 variant.

Of the AMC 35 production of fifty fifteen vehicles were exported to Belgium; both the still often stated total production number of 100 for this type and the number of 25 (or 12) for the Belgian tanks are now known to be incorrect. Two vehicles were later used to build prototypes.

Of the 123 AMR 33 's two were used as prototypes of the AMR 35. Not included in this number is the prototype of the ''Engin P'' (Renault VE).

The often stated number of 200 AMR 35's includes the Renault YS (thirteen command and artillery observation vehicles), the ZT2 and the ZT3, but excludes the ZT4 and the ZB. The ZT4 production consisted of hulls only. In general for French tanks the standard turrets were produced separately; none were ever fitted on the ZT4. The ZT3 was not a tank but a Tank Destroyer . The ZB was an export version for China.

The Char D1 number includes the ten pre-series "NC31" vehicles. All 35 NC27's had been exported:one to Sweden, ten to Japan and 24 to Poland. One Char D1 had been rebuilt into an artillery radiotank.

One Char D2 was being used for the development of a Flamethrower .

The Char B1 numbers include 34 Char B1 proper, two Char B1 ter and 369 Char B1 bis.

The Hotchkiss H35 numbers include the informally named "H 38" or "H 39" variants (at the time both informal names indicated the same derived type). The first vehicles with the original engine and gun numbered 400; about half of the remainder was built or refitted with the L/35 SA 38 gun. Five H 35's were exported.

Of the Char 2C two vehicles had been cannibalised. The 1580 FT-17's were all of the machine gun type. During the Fall Of France they equipped units with an organic strength of 1105. There were about 1000 additional FT-17 chassis in use or being rebuilt as utility vehicles and about 261 FT-17's serving in the colonies. Both types were obsolete tanks of WW-I vintage, so the total number of modern French tanks was over 4300 in June 1940.

The numbers given are those of the deliveries; actual production numbers were in general somewhat higher as the army would only accept those vehicles that could be used immediately to equip units and training lagged behind production. So the number for 1939 is lower than the actual production; e.g. the ZT2's were produced towards the end of 1939. This growing backlog led to a sudden release of tanks in May which is sometimes mistaken for a jump in production. However actual production in 1940 again lagged behind production goals: 477 for the last four months of 1939 and 1226 for the first five months of 1940 only. It was planned to build 3087 tanks in the last seven months: 840 R 40's, 373 Char B1's, 1750 H 35's and 124 S 35/40's; these numbers included a monthly production of 75 H 35's in Britain.

Armoured car and half-track AFV deliveries were:

Total 1 September 1939 1939 1940 total
AMD White TBC 86 - - 86
AMD Laffly 50 98 - - 98
AMD Laffly 80 28 - - 28
AMD Laffly S15 TOE 45 - - 45
AMD Berliet VUDB 32 - - 32
AMD Panhard 165/175 30 - - 30
AMD Panhard 178 219 69 239 527
AMC P16 M1929 96 - - 96

Total 634 69 239 942

It was intended to continue the production of the AMD 35 Panhard 178 at a rate of 60 per month.

After the armistice in the unoccupied Free Zone of France a clandestine rebuild took place of 225 GMC Truck s into armoured cars. When all of France was occupied in 1942 the secret hiding places (caves in fact) were betrayed to the Germans.

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French Armoured Fighting Vehicle Production During World War Ii

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