The Hotchkiss H35 or Char léger modèle 1935 H was a French cavalry tank developed prior to World War II. The Hotchkiss H35 was adopted in 1936 by the French Cavalry arm.
In 1926, it had been decided to provide armour support to the regular infantry divisions by creating autonomous tank battalions equipped with a light and cheap infantry tank, a char d'accompagnement. In 1933, the Hotchkiss company under its own initiative presented a plan to produce a design. This was made possible by the application of a new technology to produce cast steel sections to construct an entire hull. On June 30th, 1933, this proposal was approved by the Conseil Consultatif de l'Armement. On August 2nd, 1933 the specifications were issued: a weight of 6 long tons (6.1 t) and 30 mm (1.2 in) armour protection all around. Three prototypes were ordered from Hotchkiss, but the French industry as a whole was also invited to provide alternative proposals for a nouveau char léger. On January 18th, 1935, the first Hotchkiss prototype, not yet made of armour steel, was presented to the Commission d'Expérience du Matériel Automobile (CEMA) at Vincennes; it was a machine gun-armed tankette without turret. It was tested until 4 March 1935, when it was replaced by the second identical prototype to be tested until May 6th. Both had to be rejected because new specifications had been made on June 21st, 1934 that increased the desired armour thickness to 40 mm (1.6 in).
On August 19th, the third prototype was delivered, equipped with a cast APX turret and featuring a redesigned hull; it was tested until September 20th and accepted. On November 6th, 1935 a first order was made for 200 vehicles. Though it should have been completed between July 1936 and July 1937, the first production vehicle was in fact delivered on September 12th, 1936. A first additional orders had already been made of 92 on September 7th, 1936, to be completed in November 1937. A third one of 108 vehicles followed in January 1937, to be completed in September 1938. By January 1st, 1937 132 hulls had been produced. None of these had at that date yet been fitted with a turret. The first series vehicle was again extensively and intensively tested until 4 December 1936. The testing soon showed that its cross-country handling qualities were unacceptably poor. It was simply impossible to safely steer the vehicle on a somewhat bumpy surface, posing an extreme danger to nearby friendly infantry. The Infantry therefore initially rejected any further procurement. Eventually, in 1937, it decided to accept only the last hundred tanks to equip just two battalions with the type. For political reasons however, stopping production of the tank was unacceptable. As a result the first three hundred vehicles of the production run were offered to the Cavalry, which was forced to accept them because it would not have been granted a budget for other tanks anyway. The H 35 was, at 28 km/h (17 mph), also somewhat faster than the Renault R35, which was capable of 20 km/h (12 mph), although in practice its average speed was lower than that of the R 35 because of its inferior gear box.
The Hotchkiss H35 was a small vehicle, 4.22 m (13.8 ft) long, 1.95 m (6.4 ft) wide and 2.133 m (7.00 ft) tall and weighing 10.6–11.37 t (10.43–11.19 long tons). The hull consisted of six cast armour sections, bolted together: the engine deck, the fighting compartment, the front of the hull, the back of the hull and two longitudinal sections left and right forming the bottom. The hull was made water-tight by cementing these sections together with Aslic, a product based on tar mixed with lime. The casting allowed for sloped armour, avoiding shot traps, to optimise the chance of deflection but the protection levels did not satisfy the Infantry. Maximum armour thickness was not the specified 40 mm (1.6 in) but 34 mm (1.3 in). There were persistent quality problems, worsened by the fact that many subcontractors had to be used: at first the armour was made much too soft; when hardness was increased it became brittle and hence developed weak spots. There was a crew of two. The driver sat at the right front, behind a large cast double hatch and next to the combined gearbox and steering unit. Behind him was a round escape hatch in the bottom of the hull. Driving the vehicle was very hard work. The Hotchkiss lacked the Cleveland differential (“Cletrac”) of its Renault competitor, and it responded unpredictably to changes of direction. The brakes could not sufficiently compensate for this, being too weak, especially when driving down-slope.
No less troublesome was the gearbox: it was difficult to engage the highest fifth gear and so the theoretical top speed of 27.8 km/h (17.3 mph) was rarely reached. There was one reverse gear. The inevitable rough handling of the tank by the driver resulted in much wear and tear. Mechanical reliability was poor. The suspension consisted of three bogies per side—each formed of two bell cranks arranged as “scissors” with springs at the top. Each bogie carried two rubber-rimmed wheels. The bogies superficially resembled the R35 type, but used horizontal helical springs instead of rubber cylinders. The sprocket was at the front, the idler which itself was sprung to automatically control tension at the rear. There were two top rollers. The tank was powered by a 78 hp six-cylinder 86 x 100 3485 cc engine which was on the left of the engine compartment. A 160-litre fuel tank on the right, combined with a twenty litres reserve reservoir, gave a range of 129 km (80 mi) or eight hours on a varied terrain. Also a cooling fan drew air through the radiator and was also expected to cool the fuel tank. The trench-crossing capacity was 1.8 m (5.9 ft), the wading capacity 85 cm (33 in). The APX-R turret was the same standard type as used on the R35 and R40 tanks, made of 40 mm (1.6 in) cast steel and armed with the short 37 mm SA 18 gun, which had a maximum armour penetration of only 23 mm (0.91 in). Traverse of the turret was with a handwheel. The commander sat in a saddle suspended from the turret. The tank carried about 100 rounds for the gun, and 2,400 rounds for the coaxial 7.5 mm Reibel machine gun – the 37 mm ammunition racked on the left hand side of the hull, the 7.5 mm ammunition on the right side in fifteen circular magazines with 150 rounds each; a final magazine was to be at the ready on the machine-gun itself.
For access there was a hatch at the back of the turret. When opened, the commander could sit on it for better observation, but this left him very vulnerable and slow to reach the gun. The alternative was to fight closed-up, observing through the vertical slits or the visor of the hatchless cupola. The Cavalry liked neither this arrangement nor the weak gun. The latter problem was lessened somewhat by enlarging the breech so that special rounds with a larger charge could be used. This increased muzzle velocity to about 600 m/s (2,000 ft/s) and maximum penetration to about 30 mm (1.2 in). In the Spring of 1940 the original diascopes of the Chrétien type were gradually replaced with episcopes, offering more protection.
In the Cavalry arm, the main user at first, the Hotchkiss tanks replaced as main combat tanks the light AMR 33 and AMR 35 vehicles, that for want of a better type had been used to form the bulk of the first two Cavalry armoured divisions. As the new medium SOMUA S35 was initially produced in very limited numbers, until early 1939 the Hotchkiss equipped three of the four divisional tank regiments. In April 1940 the 342e CACC (Compagnie Autonome de Chars de Combat or “Independent Tank Company”) was sent to Norway after Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of that country, having first been intended to form part of an expeditionary force to assist Finland in the Winter War. This autonomous company, equipped with fifteen Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39, all with short guns, fought in the later phase of the Battles of Narvik, after having landed on May 7th. According to the official army acceptance lists, at the start of World War II 640 Hotchkiss tanks had been delivered. The inventories deviate slightly: of the 300 H35s allocated to the Cavalry, 232 were fielded by ten cavalry squadrons, 44 were in depot, eight in factory overhaul and sixteen in North Africa. Of the H39s, sixteen were used by the Cavalry in North Africa and six in depot; 180 were fielded by four Infantry tank battalions and fourteen were in the Infantry matériel reserve. It was decided to concentrate most Allied production capacity for light tanks into the manufacture of a single type, and the Hotchkiss tank was chosen as it had the necessary mobility to be of use in the many armoured divisions the Entente planned to raise for the expected decisive summer offensive of 1941. To this end British and Portuguese heavy industry had to assist in producing the cast armour sections. It was hoped to increase production to 300 a month in October 1940, and even 500 a month from March 1941, the sections of 75 of which to be provided by Britain in exchange for a monthly delivery of nine Char B1s.
These plans were disrupted by the Battle of France. In May 1940 the type equipped in the Cavalry units two tank regiments (of 47) in each of the three Mechanised Light Divisions and served as AMR in the 9th and 25th Mechanised Infantry Division. Furthermore, sixteen vehicles were part of the 1er RCA in Morocco. In the Infantry it equipped the two autonomous battalions mentioned above and two battalions of 45 in each of the three Divisions Cuirassées, the latter with the H39 variant. Most Hotchkiss tanks were thus concentrated in larger motorised units, in the armoured divisions supplementing the core of heavier tanks, though they were mismatched. Following the French defeat in the Battle of France about 550 Hotchkiss tanks were captured and used by the Germans as Panzerkampfwagen 35H 734(f) or Panzerkampfwagen 38H 735(f); most for occupation duty. Like the French, the Germans made no clear distinction between a H38 and a H39; and fitted many with a cupola with a hatch. Panzer-Abteilung 211 was deployed in Finland during Operation Barbarossa, equipped with Hotchkiss tanks. In 1944, three of its vehicles were converted to 7.5 cm self-propelled guns. German H35/39s also saw action in Yugoslavia with 7.SS-Freiwilligen-Gebirgs-Division “Prinz Eugen”, 12. Panzer-Kompanie z.b.V. and I./Panzer-Regiment 202. In 1942 a project was launched to make use of French equipment as carrier platforms for heavier guns, directed by Major Alfred Becker, an artillery officer who was a mechanical engineer by trade. He had experience making similar conversions with captured Belgian and British vehicles. Some vehicles were modified into munition carriers or artillery tractors (Artillerieschlepper 38H(f)) or rocket-launchers (Panzerkampfwagen 35H(f) mit 28/32 cm Wurfrahmen). In June 1943, 361 Hotchkiss tanks were still listed in the German Army inventories as 37 mm gun tanks; this number had decreased to sixty in December 1944.
Three Hotchkiss tanks of the “H39” version had been exported by France to Poland in July 1939 for testing by the Polish Bureau of Technical Studies of Armoured Weapons, with a view to a larger purchase. During the German invasion of Poland in 1939 the Hotchkiss tanks, together with three Renault R 35 tanks, were organised into an ad hoc “half company” unit under lieutenant J. Jakubowicz, formed on September 14th, 1939 in Kiwerce, Poland. The unit joined the “Dubno” task force and lost all of its tanks during the marches and fighting against German and Soviet armies, due to fuel shortages. In North Africa, 27 vehicles (thirteen H35 and fourteen H39) were officially serving in the 1e Régiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique and were allowed to remain there by the armistice conditions; another five were hidden in Morocco. They fought the Allies during the opening stages of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa, near Casablanca in November 1942, destroying four M3 Stuart light tanks. The regiment then joined the allied cause and was re-equipped with M4 Sherman medium tanks in the summer of 1943. After the war, some Hotchkiss tanks were used by French security forces in the colonies, such as French Indochina, and occupation forces in Germany. Ten H39s were clandestinely sold to Israel, they were shipped from Marseilles to Haifa in 1948.
One Hotchkiss H35 and nine Hotchkiss H35s modifié 39 have survived to this present day, all of the modifié 39 were further modified by the Germans during World War II.
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