"French sniper, light mortar and anti-tank rifle teams." Topic

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Amicalement
Armand

Seems to me to be a silly thing to cast figures of French WW2 soldiers with a Boys AT Rifle.

If you want to give French WW2 infantry some AT weapons, the right solution would be to cast a rifle-grenadier (not that they had AT grenades issued, but hey an HE grenade is better than a rifle bullet) and a 37mm Mle17 trench gun (still in service with some units as the standard infantry AT gun in 1940).

But Boys AT rifles? Sure, and give 'em German tellermines while you're at it!

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

AFAIK the British swapped the French Boys A/T rifles for a quantity of 25mm anti-tank guns during the 'Phoney war'

At least one of the 25mm A/T guns in the hands of the British ended up in Norway where it was used to disable one of the three Nbfz. V "heavy" tanks and IIRC a Pz. II. Didn't we read in another thread that the French dispersed the Boys rifles they got in the trade amoung some of their reconnaissance units?

Yup the Boyes were supplied to the French in 1939. Opinion differs on how many were issued but it was in large enough numbers for them to be issued to several different units.

Fatman

I'm with Mark 1 here, these weapons don't sit right with me. The French also had Daimler dingos but I wouldn't compromise my integrity by putting them into my French army. Historical wargamers just don't do that kind of thing. I know that the French were given some of these ATR's but there is a big difference between typical and probable usage.

Oops , that should have been possible not probable.

BOYS AT RIFLE :
"A modest number (several dozens) was provided by the British army, which received 220 French 25mm AT guns
which became the weapon of the BEF's brigade AT companies. The Boys AT rifles equipped some reconnaissance
battalions (GRDI and GRCA) as well as the two airborne units in existence. Nonetheless the airborne units seem to
receive it only once in North Africa after the combats of 1940."

50mm MORTAR :
"Although 20,000 mortars had been built by June 1940, this weapon was not yet distributed to the infantry units
since less than 100,000 shells were available. It was nontheless in use in the Maginot Line fortifications where it
saw action but only very rarely used in combat in infantry units in June 1940. Also, the infantry units had not been
trained to use this new weapon which was supposed to be distributed to them in September 1940."

the only interesting stuff is the sniper even if there is no "sniper team" but only a marksman in each section ( and without observer, so you have a free artillery observer )

Each French Infantry regiment field 12 AT guns ( 25mm and/or 37mm ones ) .
At division level, you find 12x 25mm SA34/SA37 AT guns in the divisional AT company
and 8x 47mm M 1937 or 75mm M 1897/33 AT guns in the AT divisional battery .

the shame is that there is no 60mm Mle1935 Brandt Mortar in the BA range . There is a 60mm mortar at company level in 1940 …

and yes, even the old 37mm L/21 Mle1916 TR :
Rate of fire : 15-30 rpm
Muzzle velocity : 367-600 m/s (HE and AP shell)
Max Range : 2400m
Practical range : 400m against light armored vehicles and 1500m against soft targets
Penetration : 18mm /35° at 400m

is a better choice than the Boys ATR
Rate of fire ~10 round/min
23.2mm penetration at 90° 91 m
18.8mm penetration at 90° 460 m

he can fire HE and AP shells

mine is that WG are building a fantasy WW2 :o)