"French Armored Command Vehicle" Topic

What would the French have used as an armored command vehicle in 1940? Specifically, it was in the HQ section of a divisional reconnaissance armored car squadron and divisional reconnaissance tankette squadron. Those are the only two places I've found the ACV mentioned. There were also Panhards and tankettes in the same sections so it would seem redundant to assume they were the same vehicle type as the AFVs.

Not really. Maybe they just removed the guns and ammo to make room for radios and map boards?

True – I had thought the same thing and thought there was a command variant of the Panhard, but cannot find any confirmation of that.

Doing a little more careful research found that you are indeed correct – nearly identical vehicles with fixed turrets and no armament.

No, James. There was a specific vehicle for ACV purposes. Not sure which tank it was based upon, but you can find out on the Chars Francais website.

Actually, looking up the Panhard and the AMR35, both had a dedicated command variant. These were the two I had asked about. The command variants were built in such numbers that it is pretty clear that they were the command vehicle for their specific formations.

There are several photos of the command Panhard serving with the Germans. Its turretless to make room for the extra kit.

There were specific versions of the Panhard armoured car and AMR35 for use by squadron commanders. There were different command versions of the AMR33 and AMR35 that seem to have been used at battalion level. There were also quite a lot of FT17 command tanks available. There were also odd prototype command tanks that were tried out at battalion level such as the single Char D1 command tank.

and they were !

one of the major problem of the french army in 1939-1940 ( except Gamelin and some others ) was the lack of efficient radio .

The Major Joseph d' Astorg (on 1892 – 1944), commander of the Discovery unit of the 1st R.A.M. during the operations of Belgium (10 – May 22nd, 1940) then commander of the Discovery Régiment(1st R.A.M.) of the 4th D.L.M. during the operations of the campaign of France (11 – June 24th, 1940), this report on the AMD-178 just after the battle drafted:

"Radio sets have never worked because in the first bomb of plane fallen nearby all the lamps were broken. On the other hand antennas did not resist the pieces of shrapnel or bombs or the lifting by the branches of trees.
In summary, the essential TSF between the Command of the Discovery unit and the Division is useless and even harmful in the cars of Group."

and most of the tank units communication was done by flags !

Thanks for the updates.