Bolt Action French Army Releases

At Landrecies two Chars B1bis lumbered into the town performing a recon in force and found the streets full of German halftracks, armored cars, light tanks, and towed AT guns, a major German mechanized recce formation apparently. The streets were teeming with German soldats and German hardware, and the two chars simply lumbered straight into their midst, firing everything they had.

After all the mayhem subsided the two French chars were trundling back to their lines, while the surviving Germans were sticking their heads out from cover, with between 50 to as many as 100 of their armored cars, light panzers, halftracks, trucks, etc. shot to pieces and in various states of wreckage ranging from looking like a colander to burning like a torch.

BTW, the Eure was hit 140 times during Billotte's Death Ride through Stonne, and not one of the hits penetrated. Both of the chars at Landrecies it was the same; scores of hits from AP rounds at point blank range, but not a single penetration.

There's a detailed presentation including photos and maps of Billotte's fight at Stonne in the Osprey Duel series volume Panzer IV vs. Char B1bis. Highly recommended.

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net