Panhard 178

Infobox Weapon
name= Panhard 178


caption= Preserved AMD Panhard 35 at the Musée des Blindés
origin= France
type= Armoured car
is_vehicle=yes
service= 1937 - 1964
used_by= France, Nazi Germany, Italy, Syria
wars= World War II
designer= Panhard
design_date= 1933-1937
manufacturer=Panhard
unit_cost= ₣ 275,000 hull
production_date=
number= 527 A version, 414 B version
variants= Panhard 178B
weight= 8.2 metric tonnes
length= 4.79 m with gun
part_length=
width= 2.01 m
height= 2.31 m
diameter=
crew=4
armour=20 mm
primary_armament=25 mm SA 35 cannon
secondary_armament=7.5 mm Reibel machine gun
engine=Panhard SK
engine_power= 105 hp
transmission=
payload_capacity=
fuel_capacity=
pw_ratio=
suspension=
clearance=
vehicle_range= 300 km
speed= 72 km/h
guidance=

The Panhard 178 (officially designated as "Automitrailleuse de Découverte Panhard modèle 1935", 178 being the internal project number at Panhard) or "Pan-Pan" was an advanced 4x4 armoured car that was designed for the French Army before World War II. It had a crew of four and was equipped with a 25mm main armament and a 7.5mm coaxial machine gun.

A number of these vehicles were taken over by the Germans after the Fall of France and employed as the "Panzerspähwagen P204 (f)". After the war a derived version, the Panhard 178B, was taken into production.

Development

In 1931 the French Cavalry conceived a plan for the future production of armoured fighting vehicles. One of the classes foreseen was that of an "Automitrailleuse de Découverte" or AMD, a specialised long range reconnaissance vehicle. The specifications were formulated on 22 December 1931, changed on 18 November 1932 and approved on 9 December 1932. They call for a weight of four metric tons, a range of 400 km, a speed of 70 km/h, a cruising speed of 40 km/h, a turning circle of twelve metres, 5-8 mm armour, a 20 mm gun and a 7.5 mm machine gun.

In 1933 one of the competing companies — the others being Renault, Berliet and Latil — that had put forward proposals, Panhard, was allowed to build a prototype. The vehicle was ready in October and presented to the "Commission de Vincennes" in January 1934 under the name "Panhard 178". It carried a Vincennes workshop 13.2 mm machine gun turret, as the intended one wasn't ready yet. After testing between 9 January and 2 February 1934 the type, despite having larger dimensions than prescribed and thus being a lot heavier than four tons, was accepted by the commission on 15 February under the condition some small modifications were carried out. Of all competing projects it was considered the best. In the autumn the improved prototype, now lacking the bottom tracks of the original type, was tested by the Cavalry. End 1934 the type was accepted under the name "AMD Panhard Modèle 1935"; already fifteen had been ordered on 25 April 1934 and fifteen more on 20 May at a price of ₣ 275,000 per hull, more expensive than a French light infantry tank of the period. The type was now fitted with the APX3 turret. The first nineteen vehicles were only delivered in April 1937. After complaints about reliability, such as cracking gun sights, and overheating, between 29 June and 2 December 1937 a new test programme took place, resulting in many modifications, including the fitting of a silencer and a ventilator on the turret. On 1 September 1939 219 vehicles had been delivered; at the time of the armistice in June 527 had been completed; at 7 June also 52 hulls had been finished for which no turret was as yet available. It had been planned on 10 October 1939 to build sixty Panhard 178s each month for the duration of the war.

Description

In order to function as an effective long range reconnaissance vehicle, the Panhard 178 had been kept as light as possible. The vehicle was thus rather small, only 479 cm in length, 201 cm in width and 231 cm in height. Also the engine compartment, where a Panhard ISK4 V4 110 hp motor had been installed, was built very low, giving the vehicle its distinctive silhouette, with a protruding fighting compartment. The use of a large turret with 26 mm frontal armour, 13 mm side armour and 7-20 mm bolted and riveted armour plate for the hull, had compromised weight considerations however, so the vehicle still had a mass of 8.2 metric tonnes. However the mobility was rather good for a French AFV of the period: a maximum speed of 72.6 km/h; a practical range of about 300 km, made possible by a 145 litre fuel tank; a wading and a trench crossing capacity of sixty centimetres; it could overcome a thirty cm vertical obstacle, assisted by two small bottom wheels in the front hull. Steering could be switched into reverse immediately to allow the assistant-driver, facing the engine, to drive the vehicle backwards in case of an emergency, using all four off-road gears, with a maximum speed of 42 km/h. He doubled as a radio operator in the platoon commander or squadron commander vehicles, operating the short range ER29 or medium range ER26 set respectively. To make long range communications possible, one out of twelve armoured cars was a special radio vehicle, with the turret fixed in place and without armament but equipped with the ER27 set, giving a range of 100 km, and two ER26ter sets with a range of sixty kilometres for communications within the squadron. A total 150 such vehicles was ordered but only 24 were built

The APX3 turret was rather large and could accommodate two men, like with the AMC 35; this was at the time exceptional for French AFVs. In the electrically-traversed APX3, the commander on the right and gunner on the left benefited from a rudimentary turret basket, and sufficient vision devices including one periscope (which were of the Gundlach type on late examples) per man and PPL.RX.168 episcopes. Armament was first intended to be a newly developed 20 mm gun; when this failed to materialise it was considered to use a 37 mm Modèle 16 gun, standard for armoured cars, but this was rejected because of its poor anti-armour capacity. Instead the 25 mm SA 35 was chosen, a shortened L/47.2 derivation of the standard French antitank gun, the 25 mm Hotchkiss modèle 34. It was fitted with the L711 sight. To compensate for the shorter barrel, the rounds use heavier charges, giving even a slightly superior muzzle velocity of 950 m/s. The gun had a maximum penetration of about fifty millimetres when using a tungsten round; the light 380 gram projectile was easily deflected by sloped armour though, even a 45° angle giving about 100% extra protection over the armour thickness measured along the horizontal plane. German tanks had many vertical plates however and were vulnerable up to about 800 metres; on the other hand the light round, even when penetrating, often failed to set fire to an enemy vehicle; it sometimes took fifteen shots to achieve this; 150 rounds of ammunition were stored. The secondary armament was an optionally coaxial Reibel 7.5 mm machine gun, with 3750 rounds, 1500 of which armour-piercing. A reserve machine gun was carried, that could be mounted on top of the turret for anti-aircraft defence.

Experience showed that the type had several shortcomings: a weak clutch, slow turret rotation, a cramped interior, unreliable radio sets, poor cross-country drive and very noisy brakes. On the other hand it was reliable, easy to drive on roads and the engine as such was rather silent; all desirable qualities for a reconnaissance vehicle. During production several modifications would be made, such as the fitting of lifting hooks, and stowage boxes on the fenders.

Operational History

At the outbreak of the Second World War 218 vehicles were fielded with eleven squadrons.

In the Spring of 1940, "21e Escadron d'AMD 35" was first destined for Finland and the Winter War but then sent to Narvik to assist Norway during Weserübung

During the Battle of France the Panhard 178s were allocated to reconnaissance units of the mechanised and motorised forces. The three armoured divisions of the Cavalry, the "Divisions Légères Mécaniques", had a nominal organic strength of forty armoured cars, plus four radio vehicles and an organic materiel reserve of four vehicles. The Light (i.e. motorised) Divisions of the Cavalry, the "Divisions Légères de Cavalerie", had a squadron of twelve Panhards plus a radio car and a materiel reserve of two in their "Régiment de Automitrailleuses" (RAM). Actual strength might differ.

Not only the Cavalry but the Infantry also employed the type, in the GRDIs or "Groupes de Reconnaissance de Division d'Infanterie", the reconnaissance units of the "Divisions d'Infanterie Mécaniques", that despite their name were largely motorised infantry divisions. These were 1e GRDI for 5e DIM, 2e GRDI for 9e DIM, 3e GRDI for 12e DIM, 5e GRDI for 25e DIM, 6e GRDI for 3e DIM and 7e GRDI for 1e DIM. Their organisation was basically identical to the units of the DLCs. After the start of the invasion several emergency ad hoc units were formed; these included the 32e GRDI for the regular 43e DI, having five Panhards. The 4e DCR, the armoured division of the infantry hastily assembled in May, got 43 Panhard 178's.

The DLMs used their Panhard units for strategic reconnaissance. In the case of 1DLM this entailed a movement well in advance of the main body of the division as it was supposed to maintain a connection with the Dutch Army during the Battle of the Netherlands. Within 32 hours the armoured cars of the group "Lestoquoi" covered a distance of over 200 kilometres reaching the environment of 's-Hertogenbosch in the afternoon of 11 May. After some successful skirmishes with German armoured cars belonging to the reconnaissance platoons of the German Infantry Divisions, they withdrew, as the Dutch were already in full retreat. They were asked by the Dutch to reduce the southern bridgehead of the strategic Moerdijk bridges, held by German paratroopers. As the cars were not suitable for such a task the commander understandably hesitated after he had been able to observe the bridgehead was strongly defended. While thus being immobile, this group of Panhards was surprised in open polder landscape by a Stuka-attack and quickly withdrew to the south.

The other two DLMs hurried forward to stop the advance of 3 and 4PD after the surprisingly swift fall of Fort Eben-Emael, their Panhards fighting a successful delaying battle against their German counterparts until the Battle of Hannut, the largest tank battle of the campaign. In general they had little trouble in dispatching with the lightly armoured German armoured cars, whose 20 mm main armament was not very effective against the Panhard frontal armour.

As the type was well-suited to German tactics, 190 Panhards were issued to German reconnaissance units for use in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 under the designation of "Panzerspähwagen P204 (f)", 107 would be lost that year. Thirty Panhards were listed as in use on the Eastern Front on 31 May 1943.

After the liberation of France, the "1e Groupement Mobile de Reconnaissance" would, among a bewildering variety of types, also use some Panhard 178s, some of these modified.

Modified Panhards

From 14 October 1936, the Panhard 178 prototype was tested in Morocco, resulting in an acceptance of the type for desert use on 15 January 1937, after suitable modification, including the fitting of a lighter turret. On 8 August 19 four vehicles were ordered for colonial use in Indo-China, equipped with the one-man APX5 turret, as used on the AMR 35 ZT2. These vehicles seem to have been delivred, but of another 32, ordered the same day for use in North-Africa this is most uncertain; they do not appear on the armistice control lists.

Though sufficient at a short range, the effectiveness of the 25 mm gun was far from optimal. Already in the autumn of 1939 it was considered to build a number of tank destroyers, as too few units had a motorised anti-tank capacity. Panhard proposed its "Voiture spéciale 207", basically a Panhard 178 fitted in the back with a rearward facing powerful 47 mm SA 37 gun. This type was still in development when the crisis in May and the lack of APX3 turrets led to an emergency programme to fit the surplus hulls with a new turret type. On 29 May 1940 Renault was contacted and quickly initial ideas of improvising an open-topped turret for a 25 mm gun grew into a new closed turret, capable of holding the much more powerful standard 47 mm SA 35 tank gun, a first version of which was finished on 31 May. To provide enough room to operate the larger gun the back of the new octagonal turret was raised, resulting in a wedge-shaped profile. The armour consisted of 25 mm plates all-around, reinforced on the front with an appliqué 13 mm plate. A single vehicle was completed on 6 June, but plans to build the type from 11 June came to naught as Paris was declared an open city on 10 June and the factory evacuated on 12 June. The vehicle defended on 15 June a bridge near Etignie, destroying two German "heavy tanks" (of an unspecified type) and a column trying to force a crossing. On 17 June it was destroyed by its own crew at Cosnes-sur-Loire when their unit was unable to cross the Loire river with its heavy equipment.

After 1941 the Germans modified 43 cars as railway-protection vehicles; they could drive on the tracks themselves by means of special wheels and were fitted with large radio frame aerials.

Under the armistice conditions the Vichy regime was allowed to use 64 Panhards for police service. These had their guns removed and replaced with an additional machine gun. On orders of the Army, Engineer Joseph Restany from April 1941 clandestinely produced 45 new turrets, fitted with a 47 mm SA 35 gun; some were eventually combined with the hulls. These hulls and cars were hidden or dumped in lakes when the whole of France was occupied in 1942. In the summer of 1944 some were taken into use by the resistance; of these vehicles some would again be captured and used by the Germans.

In 1944 some of the 34 Panhards captured by the Germans when they overran Vichy-France in November 1942, were rebuilt with the 50 mm L/42 or L/60 gun in an open-topped turret and used for occupation duty. In November 1942, the Italian Army also captured two Panhards, which would be used by them until September 1943

Panhard 178B

Late 1944, a new turret was designed by "Fives Lille", the FL1. It had a cylindrical form and was equipped with a 47 mm SA35 gun and a machine gun. The type with the new turret, a new four cylinder engine and the EM3/R61 radio set was named "Panhard 178B" and taken into production at Firminy; a first order of 150 was made on 5 January 1945 and 414 vehicles were manufactured in total. It was used in France and the colonies, such as Syria, Tahiti and Vietnam. The last French use was in Djibouti in 1960 by the "15e Escadron Blindé d'Infanterie de Marine"; Syria still used the type in February 1964 during the uprising in Damascus.

Literature

* Pierre Touzin, "Les véhicules blindés français, 1900-1944", EPA, 1979.
* Pierre Touzin, "Les Engins Blindés Français 1920-1945, Volume 1", SERA, 1976.
* Leland Ness (2002) "Jane's World War II Tanks and Fighting Vehicles: The Complete Guide", Harper Collins, London and New York, ISBN 0-00-711228-9
*Pascal Danjou, 2004, "L'Automitrailleuse de Découverte AMD 35 Panhard 178", Editions du Barbotin, Ballainvilliers

External links

* [http://www.wwiivehicles.com/france/armored-cars/panhard-p178.asp WWII vehicles]
* [http://www.chars-francais.net/archives/panhard_178.htm Chars-francais.net]