Pz.Kpfw. 38H 735 (f)

The Hotchkiss H39 (a variant of the Hotchkiss H35) was captured and used by German as the PzKpfw 38H735 (f).

The Hotchkiss H35 or Char léger modèle 1935 H was a French light tank developed prior to World War II. Despite having been designed from 1933 as a rather slow but well-armoured light infantry support tank, the type was initially rejected by the French Infantry because it proved difficult to steer while driving cross-country, instead being adopted in 1936 by the French Cavalry. From 1938 an improved version was produced with a stronger engine, the Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39, that from 1940 was also fitted with a longer, more powerful 37 mm gun. It was intended to make this improved variant the standard light tank, to be produced in a number of at least four thousand to equip new armoured divisions of both the Cavalry and the Infantry, but due to the defeat of France in June 1940 total production of both subtypes remained limited to about 1200 vehicles. For the remainder of the war Germany and its allies would use captured Hotchkiss tanks in several modifications.

Description

The Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39

An "H 39" at Saumur; this vehicle has been modified by the Germans who fitted a cupola hatch As the Cavalry wanted an even better top speed, it was decided to bring to fruition experiments already conducted from October 1936 to install a stronger engine. A new prototype was made in 1937, with a 120 hp instead of a 78 hp engine. The hull was enlarged to accommodate it and the track and the suspension elements were improved, raising the weight to 12.1 tons. This improved type was faster, with a top speed of 36.5 km/h (22.6 mph), but also was much easier to drive. Therefore it was first presented to the Commission d'Expérimentations de l'Infanterie on 31 January 1939 to see whether the original negative decision could be changed. The commission indeed accepted the type, the Char léger modèle 1935 H modifié 39; and it was decided on 18 February to let it succeed the original version from the 401st vehicle onwards, which was just as well as both in 1937 and 1938 an order had been made of 200 vehicles and production had already started, the total orders of the improved type thereafter being expanded to 900. The factory identifier however was Char léger Hotchkiss modèle 38 série D, its predecessor having been the série B. The designation has caused much confusion; this was still officially the same tank as the "H 35", only in a later variant. However even at the time, many began to refer to it as the 38 H or the 39 H. The new subtype differed from the original one in having a raised and more angular engine deck (in later production vehicles with crosswise instead of longitudinal ventilation slits on the right side); a range decreased to 120 km; closed idler wheels; tracks two centimetres wider at 27 cm; metal instead of rubber wheel treads; a silencer directed to the back and larger, more reliable and effective, ventilators.

Early 1940 a modernisation programme was initiated. This included besides the fitting of episcopes, tails and some radio sets, the gradual introduction of a longer L/35 37 mm SA38 gun with a much improved anti-tank capacity (30 mm penetration at 1000 m); about 350 vehicles were (re)built with the better gun, among them about fifty "H 35"s.[1] The new gun became standard in the production lines in April. Before that change the available new guns had from January 1940 gradually been fitted to the tanks of platoon, company and battalion commanders; about half of the commander vehicles in Hotchkiss units were so modified. It had been intended to fit the longer gun to all vehicles during the second half of 1940. After the war it was for a time erroneously assumed that "H 38" was the official name of the tank with the new engine, but without the new gun and "H 39" the name of the type that had both major improvements. These mistakes are still common in much secondary literature. The "H 38" was in fact identical to the "H 39" and it is only correct to refer to the latter in an informal sense. Parallel to the development of a R 40 it was for a time considered to create a "H 40" by adopting the improved AMX suspension of the other vehicle; in the end this option was rejected though.

Operational history

In April 1940, the 342e CACC was sent to Norway after 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 "H 39"s, all with short guns, fought at Narvik, after having landed on 7 May. After the temporary liberation of that city, the twelve remaining vehicles were withdrawn to Britain on 8 June, where they exceptionally joined the Free French, forming the 1e Compagnie de Chars de Combat de la France Libre. In 1940 and 1941 this 1e CCC fought against Vichy-troops in Gabon and later in Syria.

About 550 were captured and used by the Germans as Panzerkampfwagen 35H 734(f) or Panzerkampfwagen 38H 735(f); most for occupation duty, but the independent 211e Panzerabteilung was deployed in Finland during Operation Barbarossa. Additional vehicles were sent to Finland as part of the independent Panzerkampfwagenzüge (tank platoons) 217, 218 and 219, which were attached to the 20. Mountain Army in February 1942[3]. The platoons were the same as those of Panzerabteilung 211, consisting of one SOMUA S35 and four Hotchkiss tanks. Like the French themselves the Germans made no clear distinction between a "H 38" and a "H 39". The Germans fitted many with a cupola with a hatch. Some vehicles were modified to munition carriers or artillery tractors (Artillerieschlepper 38H(f)) or rocket-launchers (Panzerkampfwagen 35H(f) mit 28/32 cm Wurfrahmen). In 1942 24 were converted into a Marder I Panzerjäger or tank destroyer, the 7,5 cm PaK40(Sf) auf Geschützwagen 39H(f) and 48 into mechanised artillery, the 10,5 cm leFH18(Sf) auf Geschützwagen 39H(f), all to be used by units in France. A special artillery observation vehicle was created: the Panzerbeobachtungswagen 38H (f). 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. In 1943 the Germans, against objections, delivered nineteen "H 39"s to Bulgaria for training purposes, when it proved to be impossible to find 25 unmodified Panzerkampfwagen Is, the type the Bulgarians really desired. After the war these vehicles were used by police units. The Germans in 1944 delivered fifteen vehicles to Hungary and a small number to Croatia.

In North Africa 27 vehicles (thirteen H 35 and fourteen "H 39") 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 near Casablanca in November 1942, destroying four M3 Stuart light tanks. The regiment then joined the allied cause and was re-equipped with M4 Shermans in the summer of 1943. After the war some Hotchkiss tanks were used by French security forces in the colonies and occupation forces in Germany. Ten "H 39s" were clandestinely sold to Israel and shipped from Marseilles to Haifa in 1948. At least one remained in service with the IDF until 1952.

Surviving vehicles

One Hotchkiss H35 and nine Hotchkiss H35s modifié 39 have survived until today, all of the modifié 39 were modified again by the Germans during WW2 [4]. The sole surviving unmodified Hotchkiss H35 was discovered in December 2008, 200 meters off the coast, at Sainte-Cecile beach, Camiers, Pas-de-Calais, France. It is a turretless chassis, which is most probably a remain of the Dunkerque gap fightings, which happened in May–June 1940. The tank was dredged in late 2008 thanks to the tide [5]. The Musée des Blindés at Saumur plans to recover this tank in order to display it in the museum, but its recovery proves to be very difficult and costly.

One Hotchkiss H35 modifié 39 tank is on display in the city square in Narvik as a memorial of Battle of Narvik in 1940. A second vehicle in Norway is part of the collection of the Pansarparken at Rena Leir. In England the private Kevin Wheatcroft Collection has bought an exemplar from the Norwegian Arquebus Krigshistoriske Museum at Rogaland. In France itself the Musée des Blindés at Saumur has a vehicle in a running condition; at the base of 501/503e RCC at Mourmelon-le-Grand a Hotchkiss serves as a monument restored with a Renault R35 turret, fitted with a dummy gun. Another tanks is displayed at Uzice, in Serbia. The Bulgarian National Museum of Military History displays one of the vehicles used by the Bulgarian police forces. At Latrun in Israël the Yad la-Shiryon Museum shows one of the tanks used by the IDF. In Russia the tank museum of Kubinka has a Hotchkiss tank in running condition, captured from 211. Panzerabteilung in the summer of 1944.

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