After a full year of only building aircraft, I'm back doing some armour. French this time.
Hotchkiss H35The French car manufacterer Hotchkiss built a prototype for a light tank on its own initiative in 1935. As the design looked promising, the French authorites wrote a tender to invite other manufacterers to send in competing designs. In the end the designs of Renault and Hotchkiss were selected and further developed.
The Hotchkiss design, with a crew of two, a short 37mm gun, impressive 40mm armour all around, a top speed of 28 km/h, and a weight of 11 tons, was ordered as the Char Légère Modèle 1935H, shortened to Hotchkiss H35. The first production batch comprised 400 examples.
After delivery of the first 130 vehicles to the French infantry, the tank turned out to be completely unsuitable for its task. Transmission and brakes were too weak and steering too heavy. The tank was impossiple to manouvre off-road, and descending a hill was life-threathening for the crew and by-standers. For political reasons however, production could not be stopped, and the H35 was forced on the French cavalry, were off-road use was less frequent.
Only after finishing the 400 tanks ordered in 1938, there were possibilities for improvement of the design. This led to the much better H35 modifiée 38/39, in which most of the initial problems were solved. The 400 tanks of the first batch however, remained in service, despite their serious issues. In may and June 1940 a big amount of H35 tanks saw combat against the Germans. The solid armour of the H35 gave plenty protection, and the short 37mm gun was sufficient to deal with the German light tanks and armoured vehicles, that bore the brunt of Germanies attacking forces. The biggest issues with the French tanks were of tactical nature. As the H35, like most French tanks was not equipped with radio, communication during battle was strictly limited. And as the commander was the sole person in the tank turret, being the loader and gunner simultaniously, he was seriously overburdened, severly limiting combat effectivy.
Many H35 tanks fell in German hands, and were used by them in guard duties, policing and anti-partisan warfare. Later the hulls were used as a base for self-propelled guns, and the turrets were used in the Atlantic wall.