AMC 34

Infobox Weapon
name=AMC 34


caption=
origin=FRA
type=Light Tank
is_vehicle=yes
service=
used_by=
wars=
designer=
design_date=
manufacturer=
unit_cost=
production_date=
number=
variants=
weight=hull: 9.7 tonnes
length=3.98 m
width=2.07 m
height=variable according to turret type; the hull had a height of 1.55 m
crew=two with the APX1 turret; three with the APX2
armour=20 mm
primary_armament=see text
secondary_armament=see text
engine= 7.125 litre V-8
engine_power= 120 hp
transmission=
fuel_capacity=
pw_ratio=
suspension=vertically sprung bogie and two horizontally sprung road wheels per side
clearance=
vehicle_range=200 km
speed=40 km/h

The AMC 34 was a French tank built originally for the French Army cavalry units. Its production was cut short before it had hardly begun and the few vehicles produced were out of service by the time of the Battle of France in the Second World War.

Development

Alarmed by the rapid build-up of the Red Army the French Army on 24 December 1931 conceived a preliminary plan for the mechanisation of the Cavalry. This foresaw in the development of several types of "automitrailleuses" (as cavalry tanks had to be called because "chars" were by law part of the Infantry) among which an "Automitrailleuse de Combat" or AMC, a lightly armoured (nine tons) but swift (30 km/h cruise speed) and strongly armed (47 mm gun) combat tank, capable of fighting enemy armour. The plan was affirmed by the French Supreme Command on 23 January 1932 and approved by the ministry of defence on 9 December.

Even before the Plan 1931 was put on paper Louis Renault was informed of its probable contents and in the autumn of 1931 he ordered his design team to build an AMC. The team proposed to use welded steel plates, but Renault refused as this would have entailed hiring expensive professional welders. The team nevertheless took the initiative to build the Renault VO, a fully welded prototype of a "Char Rapide", that could also serve as an alternative for the AMR 33 developed at the same time. When the vehicle was finished in 1932 Renault was charmed by the proposal but after long consideration decided against it and ordered a riveted version to be built. This quickly transpired to be much too heavy and this caused a complete redesign of the project into a much smaller vehicle, the Renault YR, only to be presented to the French materiel commission, the "Commission de Vincennes", on 12 October 1933, still fitted with the welded turret of the "Renault VO". After testing by the "Section Technique de la Cavalerie" the prototype was improved by installing larger fuel tanks and a stronger clutch and gearbox. On 9 March 1934 an order was made for a pre-series of twelve hulls of the AMC 34: later a choice would be made from the range of standard turrets. The first was delivered on 17 October 1935.

Description

The AMC 34 is a small vehicle with a length of 3.98 m and a width of 2.07 m. The suspension of the prototype is identical to that of the AMR 33; the production vehicles use a type that was originally envisaged for the AMR 35: a central bogie with a vertical spring; two other wheels in front and behind with an oil-dampened horizontal spring. The engine, a 7.125 litre V-8 120 hp with a fuel tank of 220 litres rendering a top speed of 40 km/h and a range of 200 kilometres, is located on the right; the driver on the left with a hatch in front of him and an escape door behind him. The armour is 20 mm on the vertical plates; the weight — of the hull only — 9.7 metric tons.

Operational history

Plan 1934

Before the first vehicle was even delivered, it was decided on 26 June 1934, as part of the "Plan 1934" to improve both quantity and quality of French tank production, to change the specifications for an AMC: its armour had to be immune to anti-tank guns. As the AMC 34 wasn't strong enough to carry the extra weight it was redesigned into the AMC 35. No more orders of the original type were made.

France and Morocco

France however had such a dearth of modern tanks it couldn't afford to forget the twelve pre-series vehicles. In January 1936 they were taken into use with the 4th "Cuirasssiers", at first fitted with gun turrets removed from Renault FT-17's and then with the APX1 turret also used for the Char D2, armed with an SA34 47 mm gun. By 1937 the growing production of more modern tanks allowed the AMC 34 hulls to be shipped from France to Morocco to be used by the "1e Régiment Chasseurs d'Afrique", which received them on 15 December 1937. They were at the time the most modern armoured vehicles in the colonies, but were refitted with the two-man APX2 turret. It took many months before 25 mm guns could be fitted as well; until that time the tanks drove around with just the 7.5 mm machine gun. The tanks used the ER 28 short wave radio (all AMC's were supposed to have radio sets); also a better protected fuel tank at the back was installed together with a safer horizontal ventilation grille on the back engine deck. In November 1939 the AMC 34 was replaced by the "H 39"; three vehicles were taken by 5 RCA and used for driver training. These and the other nine vehicles do not appear on the armistice control lists, so they were either already scrapped in the summer of 1940 or hidden.

The Belgian Order

In 1935 the Belgian Cavalry started a mechanisation programme. It was planned to equip all six cavalry regiments with an organic squadron of twelve tanks: eight T-15's and four guntanks. To fill the latter position 25 AMC 34 hulls were ordered with Renault and 25 turrets with APX. After some time Renault indicated he no longer intended to build any AMC 34's, now that the French Army wouldn't buy the type. The ordered APX2 turrets were delivered however. The Belgians refitted them with 47 mm SA35 guns and 13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine guns and had already used thirteen on coastal defence pillboxes in 1937 when they learned the AMC 35 was to be produced and ordered twelve vehicles of the latter type. After the war many French armour historians assumed that the original order of 25 was made of the AMC "35" and adjusted the presumed production numbers of that tank accordingly, leading to an overestimate worsened by counting the Belgian vehicles three times.

References

External links

* [http://www.wwiivehicles.com/france/armored_combat_tanks/amc_34.html WWII vehicles]
* [http://www.chars-francais.net/archives/renault_amc34.htm Chars-francais.net]