About France Tank

[HN_Akizuki]

Why France Tank from DLC even harder than Panzer Ⅳ？Nearly nothing CAN STOP them but plane？In the early period Ger have only PzB39 & AT grenade,the 37 gun are easly to be destroy.

[martin100]

Old FT17 is penetrable with PzB39 or even AT grenade, but other one, seems as Char 1B is really hard to destroy. Use Pak40 on them, if you have it.

[Johannes de Nova]

It's accurate. Quite literally the most famous event of the Battle of Stonne was one Char B1 bis taking out thirteen German tanks (2 Pz IV and 11 Pz III) in a row while shrugging off over 140 of their hits. Char B1s had issues mostly stemming from logistical failures (inability to supply them all with radios, spare parts, or even fuel as the campaign began), but in actual combat engagements in May 1940 they were behemoths.

In-game you have to outmaneuver them and depend more on AT field guns and especially the Stuka. The AT rifle and many of the tank shells are going to be weak/useless against them.

The other French tanks, the FT-17s, are basically meme tanks that can be easily destroyed by anything.

[jptenn]

The French Char 1B tank of 1940 were actually heavier armored than the German panzers of that period. It was their slow speed and deployment in small groups that failed to stop the blitz of France.
Interesting note, the few successes the French enjoyed while suffering defeats was massed tank attacks by a Colonel named Charles de Gaulle.

[Johannes de Nova]

Originally posted by jptenn:

The French Char 1B tank of 1940 were actually heavier armored than the German panzers of that period. It was their slow speed and deployment in small groups that failed to stop the blitz of France.
Interesting note, the few successes the French enjoyed while suffering defeats was massed tank attacks by a Colonel named Charles de Gaulle.

The "small groups" thing is a bit of a partial explanation, in fact on 10 May 1940 the Char B1 bis tanks were all concentrated into 3 armored divisions (the infantry branch's Divisions Cuirassées/DCRs), while the SOMUA S35s were concentrated into the other 3 armored divisions (the cavalry branch's Divisions Légères Mécaniques/DLMs).

However, the three DCRs were not grouped into an armored corps but instead held in reserve before being deployed in separate sectors along the Meuse (as was de Gaulle's later 4th DCR) and once in combat, none of those divisions had adequate communications equipment, so many of the tanks had no way to remain in constant contact to coordinate movement and action as well as the Germans could. The end result is that while they were not initially deployed in small groups, by nature of how a battle played out and attrition, they ended up that way. The 1st and 2nd DCR were also not helped by circumstance, both being crippled by the shifting frontlines before they could even hit the field.

Having existed for longer before the war, the 3 DLMs fared better as coherent units, but they were committed to the northern Belgian front and destroyed in the Dunkirk pocket, and so were strategically less important than the DCRs facing the German breakthrough at the Meuse.

Now, the most numerous tanks in French service were the light R35s, and those were indeed spread across the entire frontline in single battalion-sized units as infantry support. However, this was not due to any significant doctrinal difference, simply that the R35's armament was completely unsuitable for any concentrated armored breakout formations. The main reason they had been adopted at all was because they could be efficiently/cheaply put together by reusing the cannons from France's huge arsenal of decrepit FTs. France had a significantly weaker economy and industrial base than Germany, so they were always trying to recycle things whenever possible. But that was being done parallel to - not instead of - the formation of the DCR and DLM armored divisions.

[watermatte]

i found that spawning as the panzer 2 and keeping it alive as long as possible was able to successfully destroy everything from houses to planes with its 20mm auto cannon but the ammo is scarce and on some missions it doesnt respawn after destroyed

[NETSCAPE]

Originally posted by watermatte:

i found that spawning as the panzer 2 and keeping it alive as long as possible was able to successfully destroy everything from houses to planes with its 20mm auto cannon but the ammo is scarce and on some missions it doesnt respawn after destroyed

I enjoy the firepower and weak armor of the Pz.II. But the lack of ammo makes it very difficult to not run out by the missions end.

[HN_Akizuki]

Thanks for your reply,France Tank is too hard to be destroy except FT-17,I could Capture their big B1s to hit them back.I really love to use the Stuka to bomb them(refill the bomb is very easy,but,If enemy plane wanna shot you down ,you shall have excelent skill to get rid of them and let them down)

[watermatte]

German AT soldiers also have a powerful anti tank grenade

[HN_Akizuki]

Ya，that AT grenade is great,it at least could made enemy tank unable to move and force their crew get out.Then,you can kill them.