During the early 1930s the French army, in common with many other European armies, decided to reequip its ageing tank parks with modern equipment. At that time the French followed the current practice of dividing tank functions into cavalry and infantry usage and one of the new tanks intended for cavalry use was a design known as the Char Léger Hotchkiss H-35. But although intended primarily for cavalry formation use, the H-35 was later adopted for infantry support as well, making it one of, the more important of the French tanks of the day. The H-35 was a small vehicle with a crew of two, and it was lightly armed with only a 37-mm (1.46-in) short-barrelled gain and a single 7.5-m m (0.295-in) machine-gun. Armor was also light, ranging in the thickness from 12 mm (0.47 in) to 34 mm (1.34 in). It was also rather underpowered, and after about 400 H-35s had been produced from 1936 onwards the basic model was supplemented by the Char Léger Hotchkiss H-39, first produced during 1939. The production totals for the H-39 were much greater (eventually running to over 1,000 units), but in general French tank production was slow, being severely limited by a lack of mass production facilities, and was constantly beset by labor troubles, even after 1939.
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| Fitted with the SA 38 37-mm L33, the H-39 had a respectable performance by 1930s standards. Its only major disadvantage was that the commander had to work the gun. |
The H-39 differed from the H-35 in having a 120 rather than 75-hp (89.5 rather than 56-kW) engine, and could be recognized by the raised rear decking, which on the H-39 was almost flat compared with the pronounced slope on the H-35. Also, a new and longer 37-mm gun was fitted, but this was only marginally more powerful than the earlier weapon and soon proved to be virtually useless against most German tanks.
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| H-35s, seen here on parade, equipped many French mechanized cavalry units. Although armed with the ineffectual SA 18 37-mm 121, they could still have performed effectively in the reconnaissance role but instead were deployed piecemeal to bolster the infantry. |
Both the H-35 and the H-39 were used in action in France in May 1940, and both were able to give a good account of themselves. However, their part in the fighting was more than diminished by their dismal tactical use. Instead of being used en masse (in the way that the Germans used their Panzer columns), the French tanks were scattered along the line in penny packets, assigned to local infantry support instead of being used as an effective anti-armor force and were able to make little impact. On occasion they were able to surprise the Germans, but only in purely local actions, so many were either destroyed or captured by the advancing Germans, Always short of material, the Germans took many Hotchkiss tanks into their own service as the PzKpfw 35-H 734(f) and PzKpfw 39-H 735(f), and these were used for some years by second line and occupation units. Many of the H-35 and H-39 tanks later had their turrets removed and replaced by German anti-tank guns for use as mobile tank destroyers.
Not all the French tanks fell into German hands. Many were located in the French Middle East possessions and some were either taken over by the Free French or were used in action by the Vichy French during the campaign in Syria in 1941. Perhaps the Hotchkiss tanks with the most unusual travel tales were those taken by the Germans to the Soviet Union in 1941 when they were so short of tanks that even the captured French vehicles were found useful.
By 1945 there were few H-35s or H-39s left anywhere: the Middle East examples survived in small numbers, and post-war some were used to form part of the Israeli army tank arm, remaining in service as late as 1956.
Specification
Hotchkiss H-39
Crew: 2
Weight: 12.1 tonnes.
Powerplant : one Hotchkiss 6-cylmder petrol engine developing 120 hp (89.5kW).
Dimensions: length 4.22 m (13 ft 10 in); width 1.95 m (6 ft 4.8 in); height 2,15 m (7 ft 0.6 in).
Performance: maximum road speed 36km/h(22.3mph); maximum road range 120 km(74,5miles); fording 0.85 m (2 ft 10 in); gradient 40°; vertical obstacle 0.50 m (1 ft 8 in); trench 1,80 m (5 ft 11 in).
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Read more France tank in ww2