Renault R35

The diminutive Renault R35 was one of the most numerous tanks in May 1940 and was one of the most common encountered by the German Army. Spread across the independent tank battalions, however, it was rarely concentrated enough to make a lasting difference. It was very much an infantry support tank designed to fight infantry and suppress machine guns. Thus it had excellent armour and carried 2,400 rounds of machine gun ammunition, but its 37mm cannon could only penetrate 12mm of armour at 500m and the tank's maximum speed was 20kph.

The development plan of 1926 foresaw the introduction of a char d'accompagnement, a cheap mass-produced light tank to replace the Renault FT of World War I vintage. The first tank to be developed to fulfil its requirements, the Char D1, proved to be neither cheap nor particularly light. In 1933, Hotchkiss offered an alternative solution, a tank that would later become the Hotchkiss H35. For political reasons this Hotchkiss proposal was turned into the Plan 1933 and the whole of French industry was in August 1933 invited to propose possible designs. Fourteen companies responded and five submitted a prototype: Hotchkiss itself with the H35, the Compagnie Général de Construction des Locomotives, APX, FCM and France's prime tank producer: Renault. Fearing that his rival Hotchkiss might well replace him as such, Louis Renault hurried to finish a vehicle; construction was soon in such an advanced stage that when changes in the specification were issued on 21 June 1934, to increase armour thickness from 30 to 40 mm, they could not be implemented. Nevertheless, on 20 December 1934 Renault was the first to deliver a prototype, with the project name of Renault ZM, to the Commission de Vincennes.

In the spring of 1935 this vehicle was refitted with heavier armour and a standard APX turret, attached by the Atelier de Rueil between 18 and 25 April. The prototype was still being tested when international tensions increased due to German re-armament. This prompted an urgent demand for swifter modernisation of the French tank fleet and orders were given for the ZM to be put into production immediately. On 29 April 1935 an order for 300 was made, even before the final model was finished, at a price of 190,000 French franc per hull (unarmed, without the engine and turret. The first series production vehicle was delivered on 4 June 1936 and had to be extensively tested again before acceptance as it was substantially different from the prototype.

R35 Description. To save development time, Renault based the suspension and running gear on that of the AMR 35 that he had already designed for the cavalry. The R35 had five wheels at each side, fitted with horizontal leaf springs, like the AMC 35.

The hull, with a length of 4.02 m, consisted of three cast modules, with a maximum thickness of 43 millimetres, that were bolted together. Total weight was 10.6 metric tonnes (9.8 tonnes without fuel and ammunition). The bottom module carried on each side an independently sprung front wheel, two bogies and the driving sprocket at the extreme front. The final drive and differentials were housed at the right in the nose module. It was steered through a Cletrac differential with five gears and by engaging the brakes. The driver was seated somewhat to the left and had two hatches. The Renault V-4 85 hp engine was on the right in the short rear hull with the self sealing 166 litre fuel tank at its left. The engine produced a road speed of 20 kph and the fuel capacity gave a range of 130 km. Cross-country speed did not exceed 14 kph and the fuel consumption totaled 212 litre/100 km. From 1940 onward the tanks were fitted with AMX tails to help in trench crossing.

The cast APX hexagonal turret had a 30 mm thick domed rotatable cupola with vertical vision slits (the highest point of the turret being 2.13 m) and the turret had to be either hand cranked or moved about by the weight of the commander, the only member of the crew in the turret. There was sometimes unofficially a seat installed for him but he most often stood. The rear of the turret had a hatch that hinged down that could be used as a seat to improve observation. The earliest vehicles were fitted with the APX-R turret (with the L713 sight) mounting the short Puteaux 37 mm L/21 SA18 gun (the first batches were removed from FT 17 gun tanks which were then rebuilt as utility vehicles) and the 7.5 mm Châtellerault fortress machine gun. The cannon had a very poor armour penetration: only 12 mm at 500 metres. Afterwards the APX turret with the same cannon but the improved L739 sight and the standard Châtellerault 7.5 mm MAC31 Reibel machine gun was used because of delivery delays of the original turret. There were also so many delays in the production of the turrets that after the first 380 hulls had been produced in 1936 and only 37 could be fitted with a turret, production was slowed down to 200 annually. The 7.5 mm machine gun's spent cartridges (from a total of 2,400) went down a chute through a hole in the floor. The tank carried 42 armour piercing and 58 high explosive rounds for the 37mm gun.

The R 35 at first had no radio, except for the second battalion of the 507e Régiment de Chars de Combat (of Charles de Gaulle), but the R 40 (see below) had the ER 54 installed. However, this added to the already heavy task load of the commander, who also acted as gunner and loader.

The R35 was intended to replace the Renault FT as standard light infantry tank from the summer of 1936, but even by May 1940 not enough conscripts had been retrained and so eight battalions of the older tank had to be kept operational. On 1 September 1939, at the outbreak of war, 975 vehicles had been delivered out of 1070 produced; 765 were fielded by tank battalions in France, 49 used for drive training, 33 were in depot and 45 present in the colonies. Of a total order for 2,300 at least 1,601 had been produced by 1 June 1940 — the numbers for that month are lacking — of which 245 had been exported: to Poland (50), Turkey (100; two batches of fifty each in February and March 1940), Romania (41 from an order for 200), and Yugoslavia (54). It is likely that the tanks exported to Yugoslavia (in April 1940) are not included under the 1,601 total and that overall production was 1,685; serial numbers known to be actually used indicate a production of at least 1670 vehicles.

The vast majority of R35s were fielded with the SA18 37mm cannon. When the improved SA 38 canon became available in the second half of 1939 some R35s were fitted with the new gun, giving improved anti-armour penetration. Some sources call this tank the R39 but this does not seem to be official French nomenclature. Some sources state that later production batches of the R35 were fitted with this gun, and they were used by platoon leaders; given that priority for the SA38 was to refit the cavalry's H35s and H39s, and the R40 also required the new gun, it is probable that very few R35's received the new guns beyond prototypes and that the 'later production batches' may refer to the R40..

The R40 had completely different suspension and is discussed in a separate post.

Characteristics and Tabulated Data Renault R35

Engine: Renault 447, 4 cylinder, bore/stroke 120 x 130mm, 5,878cc producing 85hp at 2,200rpm

Gearbox: 4 and reverse

Max speed: 20kph

Range: 130km

Petrol capacity: 166l

All up weight: 11,000kg

Armour: 40mm max

Turret Front : 40mm/5° and 28° + gun mantlet

Turret Sides : 40mm/28°

Turret Rear : 40mm/30° (rear hatch is 40mm thick)

Turret Top : 25mm/90°

Copula : 40mm/round

Hull Front, Upper : 43mm/37° (driver’s hatch is 40mm/23°)

Hull Front, Lower : 40mm/round

Hull Sides, Upper : 40mm/10°

Hull Sides, Lower : 40mm/0°

Hull Rear : 32mm/24°

Hull Top : 25mm/90°

Hull Bottom : 10mm/90°

Crew: 2 commander/gunner in turret, driver/mechanic in hull

Armament: Turret. coaxial SA 37mm gun Model 1918 with 100 rounds and 7.5mm MAC 31 machine gun with 2,400 rounds

Width of vehicle: 1.85m

Length: 4.02m

Height: 2.13m

Renault R35 Characteristics for Command Decision

Organisation of the Tank Company Type 1935 Compagnie de Chars de Combat (Type 1935) December 1939

Example Renault R35 Organisation for Command Decision: 35th Tank Battalion, 1st Army (supporting the Moroccan Division in the Ernage counter attack 15 May 1940)

515th Tank Regiment

13th Tank Battalion (BCC): Headquarters: command H35, ammunition Lorraine, 2 x fuel Lorraine, medium truck, support stand.

3 x Company: command H35, 2 x H35



35th Tank Battalion (BCC): Headquarters: command R35, ammunition Lorraine, 2 x fuel Lorraine, medium truck, support stand.

3 x Company: command R35, 2 x R35

Wargame Usage and Model availability

If you are looking to buy only one tank, buy this one. The Renault R35 is the most numerous tank in France 40 and the most widely distributed. In platoon or company lots it is perfect for skirmish games in support of infantry, and it also made some battalion attacks such as the counter-attack at Ernage 15 May, and as part of de Gaulle's counter attacks at Montcornet and Abbeville. It fought from the start of the campaign to the end.

There is a wide availability of models in 20mm from at least:

Early War Miniatures

http://earlywarminiatures.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1526

RPM

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/138288-rpm-72212-renault-r35-wczesny

S Models

http://www.wartimeminiatures.com.au/ourshop/prod_3942248-SModel-172-R35-Light-Tank-Early-Version.html

Milicast

http://www.milicast.com/shop/product.php?productid=1030&cat=69&bestseller=Y