"French Interwar-WWII Tank Platoon Organisation" Topic

Hi

Can someone help me with historically correct French Interwar-WWII Tank Platoon Organisation for Hochkiss H35/39, Renault FT-17, Renault R35, Somua, CharD, CharB???

Nick

My notes suggest that French tank platoons of had tanks each (including Char Bs).
AMR Platoons had five AMR 33 or 35 (or H35, H38 or H39).
FT17 platoons had two FT17s with 37mm guns and three FT17s with machine guns, except Local Defence Tank Platoon (section regionales de protection) had- four FT17 and overseas platoons only had three FT17.

Depends on whether you looking at Infantry or cavalry tanks.

BCC type 35 "Infantry", x4 platoons of 3 tanks plus one at PHQ. Tank types are R35, FCM 4e & 7e BCC, H35 13 & 38 BCC and R40.

BCC type B x3 platoons of x3 Char B plus one at PHQ

Regt Combat (Cavalry)"DLM" x4 platoons of 5 tanks plus one at PHQ. tank types H35/39 and Somua S35.

RAM (Cav Div) "DLC" x4 platoons of x3 tanks H35 1- 3e RAM /H39 4-5e RAM

Note that all of the metropolitan FT-17s were stripped of their 37mm guns starting in 1935, for re-use in the new generation of tanks. Many of the MG tanks were disarmed as well. When war broke out there was a vast number of unarmed FT-17s, which were hastily re-equipped with machine guns as they became available.

So Flames of War Blitzkrieg does have real organisation charts ;)

Note that all of the metropolitan FT-17s were stripped of their 37mm guns starting in 1935

No, all of the metropolitan FT-17s were *not* stripped of their 37mm 18SA cannon. While the guns fitted to the new R-35 and H-35/38 series chars legere were indeed taken from FT-17s, there were still enough FT-17s to equip multiple BCCs with a full complement of cannon-armed chars. For example:

Here's the FT-17 during the 1930s as the machine gun refit program was getting under way:

Perhaps you're thinking of the rearming of FT-17 machine gun tanks with the Reibel MAC Mle31 7.5mm machine gun? By 1940 most if not all of the older M1914 Hotchkiss machine guns had been replaced by the newer, lighter, faster firing Reibel weapon. For more information about the FT-17s in French service during WW2:

link

There were over 1,000 total FT-17s in France when WW2 broke out, with over 460 still in operational service in May 1940, making up six BCCs and a plethora of regional defense platoons, tank companies, and ad hoc formations near the end of the French Campaign. There were also some present at the Ecole de Cavalrie at Saumur, where they took part in the heroic stand of the cadets and faculty defending their school against the German 1st Cavalry Division.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

About half the FT17 seem to have been disarmed, those remaining in BCC having 3 companies, each with an HQ FT17C, 3 platoons of 3 FT17C and 2 FT31M and a reserve platoon also of 3 FT17C and 2 FT31M.
Local defence platoons generally only had FT17M.
The FOW briefings in Blitzkrieg incorrectly mix tank types in the same platoon and don't include a FT17 company, the R40, FCM36, CharD1 or CharD2.
See atf40.fr/ATF40 for more info.

The FOW T. O & E charts are reasonably accurate by & large. They aren't perfect, but then again who is?