Hotchkiss H35
The Hotchkiss H35 or Char léger modèle 1935 H was a French light tank developed prior to WWII.
Development
In 1926 it had been decided to provide armour support to the regular infantry divisions by creating autonomous tank battalions equipped with a light and cheap infantry tank, a char d'accompagnement. For this role at first the Char D1 was developed which type however proved to be neither particularly light nor cheap. In 1933 the Hotchkiss company by its own initiative presented a plan to produce a lighter design made possible by the application of the new technology to produce cast steel sections to construct an entire hull. On 30 June 1933 this proposal was approved by the Conseil Consultatif de l'Armement. On 2 August 1933 the specifications were made known: a weight of six tons and 30 mm armour protection all around. Three prototypes were ordered with Hotchkiss, but also the entire French industry was invited to provide alternative proposals. This allowed the Renault company to beat Hotchkiss in delivering the first prototype, which later was developed into the Renault R35. On 18 January 1935 the first Hotchkiss prototype was presented to the Commission d'Expérience du Matériel Automobile (CEMA) at Vincennes; it was a machine gun armed tankette without turret. It was tested until 4 march 1935, when it was replaced by the second identical prototype to be tested until 6 May. Both had to be rejected because new specifications had been made on 21 June 1934 to increase the armour thickness to 40 mm. On 27 June the commission approved the type, on the provision the necessary changes would be made. On 19 August the third prototype was delivered, equipped with a cast APX turret; it was tested until 20 September and accepted. On 6 November a first order was made of 200 vehicles. The first production vehicle was delivered on 12 September 1936, in which year already two additional orders had been made of 92 and 108 vehicles respectively.
Rejection by the Infantry and adoption by the Cavalry
The first series vehicle was again extensively and intensively tested until 4 December 1936. This showed that its handling qualities in terrain were unacceptably poor. It was simply impossible to safely steer the vehicle on a somewhat bumpy surface, posing an extreme danger to nearby friendly infantry. The Infantry therefore decided to accept only the first hundred tanks to equip just two battalions with the type: the 13e and 28e Bataillon de Chars de Combat and reject any further procurement. For political reasons however the normal consequence of this decision: to stop production, could not be accepted. The other 300 vehicles of the production run were thus offered to the Cavalry, which Weapon was forced to accept them because it wouldn't have been granted a budget for other tanks anyway. As the cavalry units would be making more use of the road network and of mounted infantry, its terrain problems were of less consequence in the cavalry role. Also the H 35 was with 28 km/h somewhat faster than the Renault R35, which attained 20 km/h, although in practice its average speed was lower than that of the R 35 because of its inferior gear box.
Description
The Hotchkiss H35 was a small vehicle, 4.22 metres long, 1.95 m wide and 2.15 m tall. It weighed 11,370 kg. The hull consisted of six cast armour sections, bolted together: the engine deck, the fighting compartment, the front of the hull, the back of the hull and two longitudinal sections left and right forming the bottom. The casting allowed for sloped armour avoiding shot traps, to optimise the chance of deflection. Still, the protection level didn't satisfy the Infantry. Maximum armour thickness was not the specified 40 mm but 34 mm. Also there were persistent quality problems, worsened by the fact that many subcontractors had to be used: at first the armour was made much too soft; when hardness was increased it became brittle and full of bubbles and thus of weak spots.
There was a crew of two. The driver sat at the right front, behind a large cast double hatch. Driving the vehicle was very hard work. The Hotchkiss lacked the Cleveland differential of its Renault competitor and it responded unpredictably to direction adjustments. The brakes weren't of much help to correct this: they were too weak, especially when driving down a slope. No less troublesome was the gearbox: it was difficult to engage the highest fifth gear and so the theoretical top speed of 28 km/h was rarely reached. The inevitable rough handling of the tank by the driver resulted in much wear and tear. Mechanical reliability was poor. The suspension consisted of three bogies per side. They superficially resembled the R35 type, but used horizontal helical springs instead of rubber cylinders. The tank was powered by a 78 hp six cylinder 3480 cc engine. The range was 129 kilometers, made possible by a fuel tank of 180 litres.
The commander manned a standard APX-R turret, armoured with 40 mm cast steel and armed with the short 37 mm SA 18 gun, which had an maximum armour penetration of only 23 mm. The tank carried about 100 rounds for the gun and 2400 rounds for the 7.5 mm Châttelerault machine gun. There was a hatch in the back of the turret. The commander could sit on it for better observation, but this made him very vulnerable and slow to reach the gun. The alternative was to fight buttoned-up, using the hatchless cupola. The Cavalry liked neither this arrangement nor the weak gun. The latter problem was lessened somewhat by boring out the fire chamber so that special rounds with a larger charge could be used. This increased muzzle velocity to about 600 m/s and maximum penetration to about 30 mm. Only part of the tanks with the Cavalry alone were thus changed however.
The Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39
As the Cavalry wanted an even better top speed, it was decided to bring to fruition experiments already conducted from October 1936 to install a stronger engine. A new prototype was made in 1937, with a 120hp in stead of a 78 hp engine. The hull was enlarged to accommodate it and the track and the suspension elements were improved, raising the weight to 12.1 tons. This improved type was faster, with a top speed of 36km/h (22.3 mph), but also was much easier to drive. Therefore it was first presented to the Commission d'Expérimentations de l'Infanterie on 31 January to see whether the original negative decision could be changed. The commission indeed accepted the type, the Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39, which was just as well as both in 1937 and 1938 an order had been made of 200 vehicles, the total of the improved type thereafter being expanded to 900. The factory identifier however was Char léger Hotchkiss modèle 38 série D, its predecessor having been the série B. The designation has caused much confusion; this was still officially the same tank as the "H 35", only in a later variant. However even at the time, many began to refer to it as the 38 H or the 39 H. In 1940 the type was gradually refitted with a longer L/35 37 mm SA38 gun with a much improved anti-tank capacity; about 350 vehicles were (re)built with the better gun. After the war it was for a time erroneously assumed that "H 38" was the official name of the tank with the new engine, but without the new gun and "H 39" the name of the type that had both major improvements. These mistakes are still common in much secondary literature. The "H 38" was in fact identical to the "H 39" and it is only correct to refer to the latter in an informal sense. Parallel to the development of a R 40 it was for a time considered to create a "H 40" by adopting the improved AMX suspension of the other vehicle; in the end this option was rejected though.
Operational History
Three Hotchkiss tanks had been exported to Poland. During Fall Weiss they fought in an ad hoc unit.
In April 1940 the 342e CACC was sent to Norway after the German invasion of that country. This autonomous company, equipped with fifteen "H 39"'s, fought at Narvik.
When World War II started 640 Hotchkiss tanks had been delivered. It was decided to concentrate most Allied production capacity for light tanks into the manufacture of a single type, and the Hotchkiss tank was chosen as it had the necessary mobility to be of use in the many armoured divisions the Entente planned to raise for the expected decisive summer offensive of 1941. To this end British and Portuguese heavy industry had to assist in producing the cast armour sections. It was hoped to increase production to 300 a month, the sections of 75 of which to provided by Britain in exchange for a monthly delivery of nine Char B1's. This can be compared to the planned production of the R 40: 120 per month, reflecting the little importance now attached to infantry support.
These plans were disrupted by the Battle of France. In May 1940 the type equipped in the Cavalry units two tank regiments in each of the three Mechanised Light Divisions and served as AMR in two Mechanised Infantry Divisions, one DML and the five Cavalry Light Divisions. In the Infantry it equipped the two autonomous battalions mentioned above and two battalions in each of the three Divisions Cuirassées, the latter with the "H 39" variant. Most Hotchkiss tanks were thus concentrated in larger motorised units. Several ad hoc units were formed with the type after the invasion. In May deliveries peaked at 122; in June 1092 vehicles had been delivered in total.
About 550 were captured and used by the Germans as Panzerkampfwagen 35H 734(f) or Panzerkampfwagen 38H 735(f); most for occupation duty, but the independent 211e Panzerabteilung was deployed in Finland during Operation Barbarossa. Like the French themselves the Germans made no clear distinction between a "H 38" and a "H 39". The Germans fitted many with a cupola with a hatch. Some vehicles were modified to munition carriers or artillery tractors (Artillerieschlepper 38H(f)) or rocket-launchers (Panzerkampfwagen 35H(f) mit 28/32 cm Wurfrahmen). In 1942 24 were converted into a Marder I Panzerjäger or tank destroyer, the 7,5cm PaK40(Sf) auf Geschützwagen 39H(f) and 48 into mechanised artillery, the 10,5cm leFH18(Sf) auf Geschützwagen 39H(f), all to be used by units in France. A special artillery observation vehicle was created: the Panzerbeobachtungswagen 38H (f).
Some "H 39"'s were serving in North Africa and were allowed to remain there by the armistice conditions.
After the war some Hotchkiss tanks were used by French security forces in Syria that clandestinely sold some to Israel. A few remained in service with the IDF until 1956.
References
- Philip Trewhitt, Armored Fighting Vehicles. Brown Packaging Books, 1999.
- Pierre Touzin, Les véhicules blindés français, 1900-1944. EPA, 1979.
- Jean-Gabriel Jeudy, Chars de France, E.T.A.I., 1997.