AMR 35

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AMR 35
A group of AMR 35s with a 13.2 mm machine gun

A group of AMR 35s with a 13.2 mm machine gun
General properties
crew 2 (commander / gunner, driver)
length 3.84 m
width 1.76 m
height 1.88 m
Dimensions 6.5 t
Armor and armament
Armor 13 mm steel plates
Main armament 1 machine gun Reibel 7.5 mm or Hotchkiss 13.2 mm or 1 cannon 25 mm
agility
drive 4-cylinder petrol engine Renault
84 HP
suspension Rubber reinforced horizontal suspension
Top speed 55 km / h
Power / weight
Range 200 km

The Automitrailleuse de Reconnaissance 35 ( AMR 35 ) was a light tank used by the French army before and during the Second World War . Contrary to what the name suggests, it was not intended for reconnaissance, but was used as a light escort tank for motorized infantry. The vehicle mostly did not have radio equipment.

development

After the AMR 33 VM developed by Renault was only accepted to a limited extent and only in small numbers was ordered, the designer Louis Renault used two of these vehicles to improve the model. In mid-February 1934, the first vehicle with a more powerful drive unit was presented to the acceptance committee. The order for 92 pieces was approved on July 3, 1934 under the designation "AMR 35"; 31 of these tanks were to have radio equipment. In addition, eight command tanks were produced. These were given the military designation “AMR 35 ADF 1”.

The AMR 35 was slightly larger than the AMR 33; the top speed was 55 km / h, which made the vehicle the fastest French tank of its time. The armor was a maximum of 13 mm thick, but the armament consisted only of a 7.5 mm Friction machine gun .

At this point in time, the "AMR 33" had already turned out to be an almost unsuitable vehicle, as the suspension was designed too weakly for driving off-road. The military command then ordered a completely revised chassis for this tank, which was also to be used for the new R-35 . Two different model variants were demonstrated; the variant called model ZT and equipped with a tandem axle was accepted. The second variant ZB with two tandem axles, on the other hand, was discarded, although this chassis was later installed in the R 35. In March 1936, however , the Republic of China ordered twelve of the ZB variant. A few months later, the Yunan provincial government ordered four more. These four tanks were delivered in 1938, the rest were not delivered until 1940.

Because of the constant delays, the first AMR 35 could only be put into service on April 22, 1936. In the meantime, the company Citroën had tried to get into business with their newly developed AMR Citroën P 103 and to take over the contract. This vehicle had a completely new type of hydraulic chassis suspension, but could not establish itself.

variants

  • "AMR 35 à mitrailleuse 13.2"
  • ZT2
  • ZT3
  • ZT4
  • YS

Two more orders followed in 1936. The first concerned 20 pieces of the type AMR 35 and five each of the variants Renault ZT2 and Renault ZT3 ; the second order was for 55 AMR 35 and five vehicles each of the types ZT2, ZT3, and Renault ADF 1. The total number of vehicles delivered was thus 167 AMR 35, 10 ZT2, 10 ZT3, and 13 ADF 1. In 1937 there were ten Command vehicles with an enlarged fighting compartment, but ordered without a tower; they were named "Renault YS" by the manufacturer. There was also a YS-2 prototype, which had been given the appropriate optical equipment as an artillery observation vehicle.

  • The Renault ZT2 was equipped with a larger welded turret of the APX 5 type and with a 25 mm cannon . It was not until the end of 1939 that the funds to produce the towers and thus to complete the vehicles were available.
  • The Renault ZT3 was intended as a tank destroyer with the 25 mm cannon in casemate design (lateral directional range 20 °).

Both vehicles were supposed to give the tank reconnaissance troops certain options for anti-tank defense.

The attempt to equip a turret with a 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun was also unsatisfactory. With armor-piercing ammunition, this should be able to penetrate 20 mm thick steel plates at a distance of 500 meters. Eighty of these vehicles were made. In 1936, 21 vehicles of the type were Renault ZT4 ordered for the colonial troops, as previously used there Renault FT - tanks had to be replaced. Since the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun was still used as a standard weapon by these troops, the new vehicles were also requested to be equipped with this weapon. However, the French military administration decided that it would be cheaper to put the old FT towers on top of the new chassis, which was strictly rejected by the future users. Nevertheless, the order had meanwhile been expanded to 55 vehicles, but none of the tanks had been produced until February 1940. At the time of the French surrender, only 47 chassis and no tower had been completed.

Second World War

For the battle for France 120 AMR 33 and 187 ZT had already been delivered and on three squadrons of the 1st and 2nd DLM (light mechanized division), (66 AMR 35 tanks per division); One squadron each in four light cavalry divisions (22 tanks per division; the 1st DLC used the AMR 35), one platoon each was divided into five mechanized infantry divisions (two ZT 2 and two ZT 3 per division). Even without combat operations, the failure rate was sometimes up to 40%.

During the fighting it turned out that the 13.2 mm machine gun could not do anything even against the German armored car .
Most of the vehicles then had to be abandoned due to technical defects.

Some of the vehicles captured by the German Wehrmacht were converted and used for their own purposes. Some AMR 35s were used as ZT 702 (f) armored cars . The ZT4 vehicles used were partially replaced with a tower that was open at the top and contained an 8 cm grenade launcher . The name of this vehicle was "8 cm heavy grenade launcher 34 on armored car AMR (f)"

literature

  • François Vauvillier: Les Automitrailleuses de Reconnaissance . Tome 1: L'AMR Renault modèle 1933 type VM. Ses Précurseurs, ses Concurrentes et ses Dérivés . Histoire & Collections, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-915239-67-3 , ( Les Matériels de l'Armée Française ).
  • François Vauvillier: Les Automitrailleuses de Reconnaissance . Tome 2: L'AMR Renault modèle 1935 type ZT. Ses Concurrentes et ses Dérivés . Histoire & Collections, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-915239-70-3 , ( Les Matériels de l'Armée Française ).
  • Walter J. Spielberger: Loot vehicles and tanks of the German armed forces . 3. Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-613-01255-3 , ( military vehicles 12).

Web links

Commons : AMR 35  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ François Vauvillier, 2007, “Notre Cavalerie Mécanique à son Apogée le 10 May 1940”, Histoire de Guerre, Blindés & Matériel , N ° 75, p. 45.
  2. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 4.
  3. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 60
  4. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 16
  5. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 8
  6. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 9
  7. ↑ a b Vauvillier (2005b) p. 13.
  8. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 52.
  9. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 56.
  10. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 45.
  11. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 47.
  12. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 50.
  13. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 27.
  14. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) pp. 46, 49.
  15. ↑ Vauvillier (2005b) p. 51.