David Lehmann
Posts: 72
Joined: 10/10/2000
From: France
Status: offline
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Hi,
Just to complete about the HEAT rifle grenade developped by Brandt (I never said they invented the HEAT concept) :
At the end of 1939 Brandt developped a 50mm HEAT rifle grenade. It had a range of about 100m and an armor penetration of 40mm. It entered in production during May 1940 and was successfully tested at the Satory test range on 10th June 1940 but they could not be issued to the combat units before the armistice.
The patents were sent to the USA in June/July 1940 and were used first to developp the M9 AT rifle grenade and second the HEAT rocket of the Bazookas.
The Brandt HEAT rifle grenade was also secretely produced in France at 300000 pieces in the free area and issued to Vichy forces. Several partisans groups used them in 1944.
SOMUA S-35
The vehicle was designed and manufactured by the Société d'Outillage Mecanique et d'Usinage d'Artillerie (SOMUA) and comes from a requirement from the French High Command in 1931. It was a tank for the cavalry, fast, well-armed and well-protected. It was the world first tank made of cast parts instead of bolted plates. In Service with the French army in 1936 and by May-June of 1940, the French army had about 385 in service against the Germans in frontline units. Due to the French tactics at the time it was not used to its best effect. Many "experts" regarded the SOMUA S-35, in 1940, as the "best medium tank" in the world (more or less right). Equipped with excellent cast and sloped armor, the tank was considered hard to kill by German anti-tank squads equipped with the 37mm AT gun. One other advantage was that it was able to turn faster than most other tanks because for that not only one track was slowed down but the opposite track was also accelerated. Its only but serious failing was the mono-seated turret but actually the SOMUA S-35's APX4CE turret is sometimes described as a "one-and-a-half-man turret", as the enlarged turret ring, compared with the APX1 found on the B1bis, allowed the radio operator to provide assistance to the commander/gunner/reloader. This tank was the core of the tanks battalions of the DLM (Division Légère Mécanique = light mechanical divisions), what the French made the closest to the German panzerdivisions. The Somua carried 118 rounds for the gun (28 HE and 90 AP) and 2250 cartridges (15x150 rounds drum magazines for the 7.5mm MAC31). In 1940 a diesel engine version is produced and called S-40. A few S-35s were used by the Free French forces in Tunisia against the Afrika Korps in 1943.
Germans used about 297 Somua S-35s under the name Panzerkampfwagen 35S 739(f). It was mainly used in anti-partisans warfare but was also issued for example to Panzer Abteilung 211 in Finland in 1941.They could also by find as Fahrschulpanzer Somua 35S(f) and as protection in armored trains.
weight : 19.5t
crew : 3 men (Commander, driver, radio operator)
maximum armor : 56mm
maximum speed : 45 km/h (V8 engine 190 hp) - the German PzII A/B/C and PzIIIE were slightly slower AFAIK (max 40 km/h)
autonomy : 257 km
armament : a 47mm SA35 L34 gun (RoF = 15 rpm) and a coaxial 7.5mm MAC1931 in the turret (RoF = 750 rpm, 10° left and right)
turret rotation (electric) : 360° in 30 seconds
Detailed armor :
Turret front : 56mm/0°
Gun mantlet : 56mm/round
Turret sides : 46mm/22.5°
Turret rear : 46mm/22.5°
Turret roof : 30mm/72.5° and 90°
Superstructure front : 36mm/22°
Superstructure sides : 35mm/22°
Superstructure rear : 25mm/30°
Superstructure top : 20mm/82° and 90°
Hull front : 36mm/round
Hull sides : 10 + 25 = 35 mm/0°
Hull rear : 35mm/0° and 25mm/30°
Hull top : 20mm/90°
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"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing in the tempting place."
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