French giant tank

[Bjørn from Norway]

Hello!
This is a Char, but I am stunned by the size. Just compare with the soldiers running behind it!
The text says that it had a crew of 15 men, had a weight of 70 tons, 4 MGs and 2 x 7,5 cm cannons.
This must have been the largest tank ever used in WW2? Or was it not??

B.

[David Lehmann]

FCM-2C
The very heavy tank FCM-2C (FCM means "forges et chantiers de la Mediterranée") was developed as a heavy breakthrough vehicle in WW1. The order called for a vehicle that would span all German trenches (it could cross 4.25m wide ditched), that explains the lenth of the tank (10.27m), it was not very wide (2.95m) in order to be transported by train and it was 4.01m high.
The FCM-2C was the very first heavy tank (68t, the British WW1 Mark V had 26t), seriously armored (40mm) and armed with a 75mm gun in a turret (320° traverse). The tank had a powerful engine and a modern architecture for its time, including 2.5x stroboscopic sights.
Ten tanks were built between 1919 and 1921 and named as follows in 1940 (previously named n°1-10) : n°90 'Poitou', n°91 'Provence', n°92 'Picardie', n°93 'Alsace', n°94 'Bretagne', n°95 'Touraine', n°96 'Anjou', n°97 'Lorraine' (later renamed 'Normandie'), n°98 'Berry', n°99 'Champagne'. Originally, 300 tanks of this type were supposed to be built.
The tanks n°92 and n°95 had their engine out of service and were scuttled on 12th June 1940. The other tanks were assigned to the 51st BCC (bataillon de chars de combat). The n°97 'Normandie' is the command tank of the battalion and received additional armor resulting in a weight increase of 10% : it reached 90mm on the front and 65mm on the sides.
But the tanks, loaded onto special railroad cars, were blocked on the wagons south of Neufchâteau since the rail-road and an other train in front of the convoy had been destroyed by the Luftwaffe. The tanks could not be unloaded in this area and all of them were scuttled on 15th June 1940 by explosive charges except the tank n°99 for which the charge failed to explode. The tank n°99 was therefore captured intact by the Germans and brought back to Berlin. In 1942, it was seen in France at the Renault plant being overhauled. Brought back to Germany, the tank was eventually captured by the USSR and was last seen in 1948 in East Germany according to several sources. You can find numerous German propaganda photos claiming that these tanks have been destroyed by German tanks, the wrecks where moved all around to take "victorious" photos, sometimes tanks had fired at point blank against them to prove that they had been destroyed etc. but they were simply abandonned and scuttled and never saw action.

weight : 68-70t
length : 10.27m
width : 2.95m
height : 4.01m
crew : 12 men (3 men in the front turret and 1 man in the rear turret)
maximum armor : 40mm (RHA bolted armor) (90mm for the n°97)
maximum speed : 12 km/h (Maybach, 6 cylinders, 2x250 hp)
autonomy : 150 km
armament : four 8mm Hotchkiss Mle1914 HMGs (9504 rounds) and one 75mm L/29.7 gun (124 shells). The turret was armed with the 75mm gun and one CMG (rotation 320°, elevation -20° to +20°), the was a BMG in the front hull, a BMG in the forder left side (protecting the main access hatch) able to fire front/left and left and a TMG in the rear protecting turret.

Detailed armor thickness (mm) :
Turret Front : 35-40mm/?
Turret Sides : ?
Turret Rear : ?
Turret Top : ?
Hull Front : 45mm/? (90mm/? for the n°97)
Hull Sides : 22mm/? (65mm/? for the n°97)
Hull Rear : ?
Hull Top : 10mm/90°
Hull Bottom : 13mm/90°









Regards,

David

[cbo]

Hello!
This is a Char, but I am stunned by the size. Just compare with the soldiers running behind it!
The text says that it had a crew of 15 men, had a weight of 70 tons, 4 MGs and 2 x 7,5 cm cannons.
This must have been the largest tank ever used in WW2? Or was it not??

B.

It's a Char 2C, designed at the and of WWI and a few built ca. 1920. It had a petrol-electric drive driven by two German Mercedes aero engines, if I'm not mistaken (later replaced by a another pair of German engines, this time Maybachs).
Those sent to the front in 1940 became stuck as the railroad they were travelling on was cut by German bombing and the vehicles were blown up still on their railcars. The Germans later used them for firing practice but managed to salvage one. Plenty of pictures on this site:

http://www.chars-francais.net/archives/fcm_2c.htm

..and story here:

http://char-2c.wikiverse.org/

Claus B

[Bjørn from Norway]

Thanks for clarifying!
The image is taken from a not very reliable 1947 Norwegian published book.
Thank you for, honestly said, impressive pictures! I did not know very much of these monsters!

Were they the largest tanks servicelable in WW2??

B

[David Lehmann]

It is AFAIK bigger than the Soviet T35 so I would say yes but the FCM-2C is not representative from an operationnal tank. They did not see combat at all.

David

[Bjørn from Norway]

Hello!
No, it was not in combat, but it was serviceable. So I guess this is the largest one!

B

[Homerr]

An excellent French website on all AFV's French:

http://www.chars-francais.net/


You can see the individually named vehicles and their fates.

http://www.chars-francais.net/archives/fcm_2c.htm

[Bjørn from Norway]

Thank you so much!
I was not aware how interesting this topic was!!

All the best!

B

[Black Star]

I don't think they were the biggest tanks from WW2.Maybe the biggest french tanks...
The germans had two prototypes of the Maus tank.The first was operational and had a Porsche built turret , casing an 128 mm 88 calibers AT gun and an 75 mm anti-personnel cun , and 7.92 mm MG and one 7.92 mm AAMG.The armor was of 240 mm maximum and the weight was of 188 tons.So , I think is far more than 70 tons.
In case you are wondering , the second had only a test MG in the turret , and at an assault of the russian troops towards Berlin , they both were rushed into the battle along with other experimental vehicles , the spear of WWII technology.The second tank did not exit the gates of the experimental ground , due to a deffection at the engine , and the second left out of fuel 100 km further.None of them did actually entered the battle.Both were captured by the russian troops and they managed to make one good tank from the two.The resulting tank is actually displayed at The Kubinka Museum in Russia.

[David Lehmann]

Hello,

The Maus that had been built some 25 years later is obviously heavier and much more adavanced due to the date difference, but the French FCM-2C is still 0.18m longer and 0.38m higher if the characteristics of the German tanks on the Achtung Panzer website are correct.

Regards,

David

[Bjørn from Norway]

Hello!
the "Maus" was never operational, and certainly not included in any OoB so still the French stand strong.

B