In the early 1930s, the French cavalry issued a tender for an armored vehicle to be designated AMC (Combat Armored Car). A vehicle meeting the specifications was built by SOMUA (Company of Mechanical Tools and Machining of Artillery) of Saint-Ouen.
After the tests, the craft was accepted into the cavalry under the designation AMC SOMUA AC-3 Shortly after, the French army decided to adopt this type as a standard medium tank and renamed Char S-35, the "S" recalling the manufacturer's name and the number "35" the year of introduction.
The manufacture had reached 500 units on the day of the armistice. The 1st and 2nd Mechanical Light Divisions (DLM), both under the command of the 7th Army, and the 3rd DLM, under the authority of the First Army, each had 87 S35. The 6th Light Cavalry Division (DLC) of Tunisia lined up 50 and some of them also served on the Armored Reserve Division Island (DCR). Tank for tank, the S-35 was better than defending itself against all the German machines of the time, but a tactical misuse offered him little chance to show his value, except in some isolated actions.
The S-35 had good armor, good mobility and good firepower; but its main defect - and traditional among the French tanks - lies in the fact that the tank commander was also a gunner and purveyor. The hull consisted of three cast sections, that is to say the underbody the front superstructure and the rear superstructure, assembled by bolting.
On the one hand the joints of the bolts ran just above the tracks and on the other hand the vertical join between the two sections of the superstructure was near the rear of the turret.
In this mode of assembly resided one of the weaknesses of the tank because a direct hit on one of the joints was likely to literally open the craft in two. The maximum thickness of the hull was 41 mm. The driver was sitting in the front left, just in front of his personal hatch, most often left open when the tank was moving towards the front The radio operator had his position to the right of the driver.
The normal access route for these two men was a hatch in the left wall of the hull; a manhole in the basement offered a possibility of evacuation in case of emergency. The turret, also cast, with a maximum shield of 56 mm, was identical to that of Char BI-bis and D2. The main armament consisted of a 47 mm SA 35 gun, which pointed at a range of +180 to -180 and in azimuth at 3600, the rotation of the turret being assisted by an electric motor.
The 47 mm could fire an ammunition either piercing or breaking, the maximum initial speed reaching 670 m / sec.
A 7.5 mm coaxial Model 31 was mounted to the right of the main armament. This weapon was remarkable for its limited range firing range 100 on both sides of the gun.
The ammunition load was 118 rounds of 47 mm and 1,250 rounds of machine gun.
A site was planned on the dome of the tank hut for another 7.5 mm, this time for anti-aircraft defenses.
This last weapon seems not to have been used in battle the unfortunate tank commander having too much bread on the board!
The engine and transmission assembly were located at the rear of the hull, the engine on the left and the tank "auto-shutter" on the right The engine compartment was separated from the combat chamber by a firewall The undercarriage grouped on each side two sets, each of four bogies mounted in pairs on articulated arms, which were served by semi-elliptical springs.
At the rear, the ninth bogie had its own spring. The tension wheel was at the front, the sprocket at the back and there were two small support rollers. The lower part of the train received the protection of an armored cover that could be raised to give access to the sets of bogies.
The year 1940 saw the start of production of an improved model, the S-40. The engine increased from 190 to 220 hp, the suspension was improved but few of these machines were ready before the signing of the armistice. in 1940. Another
interesting vehicle, self-propelled SAu 40, was not to go beyond the prototype stage; he climbed a 75 mm casemate to the driver's right and carried a different turret.
The S-35 was also used by the Wehrmacht for training crews, police missions and even. in limited numbers. on the Eastern Front. The Germans gave this type of tank the designation of PzKpfw 35C 739 (f). Some were converted into armored command and some delivered to the Italian armies.
Specifications :
Crew : 3Length : 5.30 m
Width : 2.21 m
Height : 2.62 m
Mass : 19.5 t
Armor and armament :
Armor : 20-55 mm
Main armament 1 × 47 mm cannon L / 32
Secondary Armament 1 × 7.5 mm Reibel Machine Gun
agility
Drive V8 petrol engine SOMUA
190 hp (140 kW)
Suspension leaf spring
Maximum: speed 37 km / h (road), 32.2 km / h (terrain)
Power / weight 9.7 hp / ton
Operational range 260 km (road), 128 km (terrain)
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