Belgian armoured fighting vehicles of World War II

The Belgian Army had approximately 200 armoured fighting vehicles at the time of the German invasion in May 1940. They were assigned in "penny packets" to various infantry and cavalry divisions for use as support weapons. The Belgian army looked upon their AFVs as defensive weapons.

The Minerva

In August 1914 a soldier named Lt. Henkart gave two improvised armored cars to the Belgian army. They were commercial Minerva cars with added armoured plates. In 1914, Dutch Forces captured one of these armored cars when Belgian forces retreated into the Netherlands during the German invasion. It was used for border patrol duties during the war and was returned to Belgium in 1919.

The T15

The T15 was a version of the British "Commercial Light Tank Vickers Carden-Loyd 4 ton" (designated T15 by the Belgians). They had a two-man crew and were armed with a 13.2 mm French Hotchkiss MG. 42 of these tanks were assigned to Belgian units.

The T-13 Models B1, B2, and B3

These tanks were very similar to the T15; the only major difference was the use of a cannon instead of machine gun. They were regarded as tank destroyers and were equipped with a 47 mm gun. All models had fully rotating turrets.

Total production for the T-13:
*T-13 B1 - 30 produced.
*T-13 B2 - 20 produced. These started their life as unarmed V.C.L artillery tractors which were modified and equipped with a C.47 turret in 1936.
*T-13 B3 150 produced. Entered service in 1937

There is a T-13 B2 on display at Brussels Tank Museum.

The ACG-1

The Renault AMC 35, also designated A.C.G.1, was armed with a 47 mm cannon and a coaxial MG. 25 of these tanks where ordered although only 12 were accepted into the Belgium army due to supply problems. Instead of waiting for the other tanks to arrive the Belgian army created the V.C.L. T-13 B3. Due to Belgium's policy of neutrality they preferred self-propelled anti-tank gun instead of a real combat tank.

FT-17/18

The Belgium army had 75 of these tanks in services at the start of world war II. Like the almost identical FT-17, the FT-18 was equipped with either a short 37mm Puteaux SA-18 gun or an 7.5mm Chatellerault (Reibel) Mle.31 machine gun (changed in the 1930s from the original Hotchkiss 8mm Mle.14); the main difference between the FT-17 and the FT-18 was that the FT-18 was a bit faster (about 1 mph) and a bit heavier armored with a cast steel turret.

Order of battle of major Belgian armoured sub-units, as of 10th of may 1940

"See table"

After liberation

After Belgium's liberation, the Belgian army began using American and British equipment till the end of the war.

ee also

List of World War II military vehicles by country

References

External links

* [http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/ Page about Belgium Armor. (select Belgium from the menu on the side)]
* [http://www.wwiivehicles.com/belgium/default.asp wwiivehicles.com page Belgium]