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FCM 36 (Char leger Modele 1936 FCM)

1938 WORLD WAR 2

History

The FCM 36 was one of three major tank designs adopted by the French army in the mid-1930s before being officially used in World War II - the other two became the Hotchkiss H35 and Renault R35. Design work on the French Army Specification began in 1933 with the planned goal of producing a low-cost combat vehicle (hence the name "Infantry Tank") for infantry support missions.

This guy is well armored and well armed with a 37mm main gun in a moveable turret and a crew of two. Several competing designs were accepted before the Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee (FCM) proposal was selected for submission by Hotchkiss and Renault.

FCM already has experience producing the Char 2C super heavy and Char B1 heavy tanks and has used this knowledge to develop and produce its "FCM 36" series.

A wooden model was introduced in March 1934, followed by an experimental vehicle (prototype) in April 1935. The prototype's weapon is a pure machine gun. The car made extensive use of well-sloped panels around the hull, and the chassis consisted of nine wheels on one side of the track, with the drive sprockets at the rear and track idlers at the front. The engine was mounted in the rear compartment, forcing the turret and fighting compartment to move forward. The overall dimensions of the vehicle are very compact, measuring 4.5 meters long, 2.1 meters wide and 2.2 meters high.

As such, it had only two crew members, a driver and a commander - an arrangement similar to the 1917 World War I Renault FT-17 series. The commander sits on the octagonal turret, serving as both gunner and loader, creating a position in the center of the front of the fuselage, directly in front of and below the commander.

The turret allows a full 360-degree traversal to attack the target from all angles. Power comes from a V-4 Berliet diesel engine rated at 91 horsepower and has a top speed of 15 mph and a range of 140 miles. The engine is linked to a five-speed gearbox with reverse gear.

The chassis is suspended by a vertical coil spring system for relatively comfortable off-road driving.

After evaluation, the prototype proved to have limitations in several key areas. Its working weight proved to be heavier than required, and its overall speed was noticeably slower than expected. The prototype also lacked the cannon armament necessary on the modern battlefield.

The suspension system proved weak under normal operating loads. For this reason, the design has been updated with a new reinforced suspension system, lighter armor protection and lower operating weight, a 37mm L/21 SA-18 series cannon, and a 7.5mm coaxial machine gun and a bolt-on turret with modified fairing on the engine bay for quick access during maintenance and repairs. After further testing, the original armor thickness of 30mm was increased to 40mm by welding 10mm armor plates - an increase that gave the new tank a very good protection value to 1930s standards. French military authorities approved the model's adoption in July 1936 and designated it "FCM 36".

Its official name is "Char leger Modele 1936 FCM". The first 100 cars were ordered by the French war office, as a cloud of war hung over Europe as Hitler came to power and the government and military were integrated.

The FCM 36 was part of the Hotchkiss H35 and Renault R35 light tanks in the French Army's inventory of 1935-1936. Although the competitor's manufacturing costs were relatively low compared to the FCM 36, the FCM product offered hope to the French authorities in the long run, with additional experiments on the chassis even while serial production was underway. An additional 100 FCM 36 cars were ordered on May 12, 1938, followed by another 100 on February 3, 1939.

In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, officially launching World War II, and France was involved in World War II.

The legacy of the FCM 36 is a common tank design limited by ongoing labor issues and FCM's previous commitment to produce the Char B1. This forced the production of the FCM-36 vehicle to stall, so much so that the French authorities cancelled further production of the series entirely, until the German invasion of France in May 1940, with only the first 100 completed.

The Battle of France lasted 1 month and 12 days from May 10 to June 22, until the French government surrendered and saved Paris from destruction. Before the invasion, FCM 36 provided 50 tanks each for the French 4e and 7e tank battalions. After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, the two battalions merged under the banner of the French Second Army Reserve 503e. The most notable moment for FCM 36 will be its attempt to counter the growing German presence at the bridgehead it builds along the Meuse River in Sedan.

When the two sides met, initial results from the FCM 36 crew were promising, as their 37mm guns were more than adequate against lightly armoured German vehicles. However, the arrival of the Panzerkampfwagen III medium tanks proved to be competitive against the FCM 36, and their crews and casualties began to increase on the French side. Although the FCM 36 had better armor protection, it quickly fell victim to German artillery, and subsequent attacks with the FCM 36 did not improve for the next few weeks.

The system didn't prove capable until FCM 36 units were sent to attack smaller enemies - but WWII turned into a tank battle.

With the fall of France, about 50 FCM 36s remain in service (some of which have been fitted with slightly upgraded 37mm L/33 SA-38 guns). The Germans took control of the remaining 37 systems to strengthen their forces across France, and named the vehicles "Panzerkampfwagen 737 FCM(f)" - the "f" was used to indicate their French origin.

These vehicles were used "as is" in conventional German armored forces until the war of 1943 when the chassis was required to support the production of the "Marder I" tank destroyer. Ten chassis were so modified.

Then, another 12 were used to convert the 10.5 cm leFH 16/18 (Sf) into a self-propelled gun (SPG) gun.

The FCM 36 is a case study of a complex product sent to war for France. The vehicle was never completely eliminated from its flaws, some of which were identifiable from the start. Compared to the Germans, the car was slow, and the French tank doctrine was poor.

The FCM 36 ended up being under-equipped and under-powered in the late 1930s, and all the factors listed ultimately contributed to its fairly quick demise.

The FCM 36 made its mark on French tank history as the country's first diesel-powered military tank.