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Ceci est un échantillon des projets de véhicules blindés
qui ont atteint the stade du prototype ou de la maquette taille réelle.
Tous les projets ne sont pas traités ci-dessous (donc pas de B1
ter ou d'AMX 38 pour l'instant).
| [ ARL V 39 ] [ SOMUA S 40 and SAu 40 ] [ FCM F1 ] [ Renault G1R ] [ Gendron AM 39 ] [ Panhard AM 40 P ] |
Prototype en acier doux de l'automoteur ARL V 39.
Automoteur prévu pour les Divisions Cuirassées de Réserve (DCR), 72 ARL V 39 (dont 24 exemplaires de la variante de commandement) sont commandés le 15 octobre 1939 pour armer 8 groupes d'artillerie, de deux batteries de trois véhicules chacune, à raison de deux groupes par DCR. Le 9 mai 1940, cette commande est portée à 108 véhicules afin de standardiser les DCR et DLM sur le même automoteur. L'ARL V 39 devait avoir un blindage de 50mm et être armé, comme le SAu 40, du nouveau 75 APX à grande puissance dont seuls deux exemplaires esxistaient alors, tous deux montés sur les prototypes d'automoteurs. Aucun exemplaire de l'ARL V 39 ne sera produit, autre que ce prototype, évacué vers le Maroc et puis abandoné sur place.
Dérivé du canon de forteresse mle 1939 (lui-même adapté du 75 mle 1897) avec une culasse semi-automatique et un système de chargement automatique, le 75 APX à grande puissance tirait l'obus explosif mle 1915 avec une charge réduite à 400 m/s et l'obus de rupture mle 1915 à 570 m/s (pénétration de 50mm à 1000 m). Ses deux collimateurs et son télémètre stéréoscopique permettait le tir direct jusqu'à 2000 m.
Horizontal traverse was 7° to the left and 7°6 to the right, -10° to 30° vertically. 200 rounds were carried. One original feature of the gun was the fact that the barrel could be retracted inside the hull to reduce the vehicles length when moving.
De gauche à droite : un SOMUA S 35 tardif, les prototypes du S 40 et de l'automoteur SAu 40.
The main differences between the S 40 and its forerunner are : slightly wider simplified hull for ease of production, uprated engine (220 hp instead of 190, 13475 cc, 45 km/h), slightly redesigned running gear with the front wheel moved forward, a new wider ARL 2C turret (the turret on the photo is a wooden mock up). Production was planned for July or late June 1940.
The SAu 40 SPG was initially the ARL V 39's counterpart for the DLMs, the Cavalry's armoured divisions. 36 vehicles were ordered on the same day as the ARL V 39 (24 SPGs and 12 command vehicles, organised as the ARLs) but this was cancelled on 1 May 1940 because of teething problems with the new 75mm "high power" APX gun and in order to standardise production on the ARL design. Instead, 72 SAu 40s were ordered as tank destoyers, armed with the 47mm mle 1937 (the same gun as the Artillery's 47mm ATG). None of these were produced but it appears that the SAu 40 prototype above saw action in an improvised unit in June 1940.
Maquette grandeur nature du FCM F1 (l'homme à gauche de la photo permet d'évaluer la taille de l'engin).
Twelve of these 140 tonnes behemoths were ordered on 27 April 1940 to replace the aging FCM 2Cs. This tank, designed to lead assaults on the Siegfried Line in 1941, was to be armed with a high-velocity 90mm gun (mv 710 m/s, penetration 100mm at 1000 m) in the rear turret and a 75mm SA 35 in the front turret (the mock up above shows a 47mm gun mock up instead) with a 25mm AT gun on each side of the hull ! The design wasn't finalised however and armament variants included a 105mm gun in the forward turret of in the front hull. Its front armour was to be 120mm with 100mm side armour and its two 550 hp engines would hopefully allow it to race along at a mighty 24 km/h...
Deux photos de la maquette grandeur nature du G1 R de Renault, vraisemblablement le projet le plus prometteur.
The 1936 requirement for a D2 replacement in the "battle tank" role called for a 20 tonnes tank, capable of 40 km/h, with the armour of a B1 bis, a 47mm SA 35 turret gun and a hull-mounted 75mm gun. However, Renault's design evolved into a 35 tonne tank with a turret mounted "high power" APX 75mm gun... which was rejected on 14 May 1940 because it was too far from any official requirement !
A droite : Prototype définitif de l'AM 39 Gendron avec une tourelle APX 5 (canon de 25mm gun et mitrailleuse coaxiale de 7,5)
Designed as a short-range reconnaissance armoured car (AMR) in 1934, the Gendron AM 39 was adopted on 2 September 1939 and 150 were ordered as stop gap vehicles to supplement the Reanult AMR 1935 pending the delivery of the Panhard AM 40 P.
Engine : 75 hp, 4840 cc Weight : 6150 kg
Speed : 69 km/h Armour : 15 mm
Length : 3.74 m Width : 2.05 m
Height : 2.00 m
A droite : Prototype de l'AM 40 P Panhard.
Designed to the 1938 specifications of the "auto-mitrailleuse puissante" (powerful armoured car) which fused all armoured car classes into one, this was a very innovative low profile, 8-wheel drive, monocoque 2-man design with an oscillating turret and 60mm armour ! The central wheels were used only for cross-country movement and could be raised for road travel. The main armament would most likely have been a 47mm gun although a 25mm was mounted on th prototype. 600 were ordered... on 1st May 1940. The single prototype was evacuated to North Africa and lost there, although many of the AM 40 P's features were incorporated into the post-war EBR.
Engine : 85 hp, 3834 cc Weight : 9000 kg
Speed : 80 km/h Armour : 60 mm
Length : 4.34 m Width : 2.00 m
Height : 1.80 m
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