AMD.35

AMD.35

AMC.35 (ACG.1)

AMD.35

AMC.35 (ACG.1)

France

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:Free

Purchase:Free

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Description

The AMD.35 is a rank I French light tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.93 "Shark Attack".

General info

Survivability and armour

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Mobility

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Armaments

Main armament

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Additional armament

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Machine guns

Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.

Usage in battles

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Pros and cons

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Pros:

Cons:

History

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The AMD.35 or Automitrailleuse de Découverte, also known as the Panhard 178 was a French 4x4 specialised long-range armoured reconnaissance car built by Panhard. Designed to a 1931 specification to replace older models of armored cars, Panhard completed a prototype in October of 1933 which was evaluated in January and February of 1934. Out of four competing models, built by Panhard, Renault, Berliet and Latil, the Panhard design was considered the best, being a highly advanced design for its time. After further trials by the French Cavalry, the Panhard 178 was accepted for production as the AMD Panhard Modèle 1935. Initial use revealed some issues like engine overheating and cracking of the gun sight, resulting in a major modification program in 1937 which saw numerous modifications introduced.

In order to obtain a vehicle capable of a long range and relative high speed for its class, Panhard designed the 178 to be relatively light. As a result, the vehicle was relatively lightly armoured, ranging from 7 mm armor bottom plates to 13 mm flank armor and 26 mm frontal armor. As a result, the vehicle had a road speed of 72 kph (45 mph) and a range of about 300 km (186 miles), but due to its long wheelbase and leaf-spring suspension, its off-road top speed lay at 42 kph (26 mph) and its wading and trench-crossing capacity lay at just 60 cm (2 ft). The vehicle also had its shortcomings: it had a cramped interior, poor cross-country performance, a slow turret rotation speed and a weak clutch.

Unusually for a French light reconnaissance vehicle, the Panhard 178 was equipped with a 2-man turret at a time when even most of their tanks had one-man turrets: the AP3X turret housed a commander and gunner, who had a 25 mm Hotchkiss Modèle 34 main gun and 7.5 mm Reibel coaxial machine gun at their disposal. The turret also housed a reserve machine gun which could be mounted on top for anti-aircraft defence, but which was rarely mounted in practice. The Hotchkiss gun had tungsten rounds at its disposal, capable of penetrating up to 50 mm of armour, however these rounds performed poorly when confronted with angled armor. Already early on the poor armour-penetrating capabilities of the Hotchkiss Modèle 34 were recognised, and work was started on uparming the AMD.35 with a 47 mm SA 35 gun. Early designs would have seen the gun fitted in the rear driver's post creating a tank-destroyer with two AT guns (the turreted Hotchkiss gun and a hull-mounted SA 35 gun); but this was abandoned in favour of a vehicle with a turreted SA 35 in an enlarged turret. Even so, by May of 1940, in response of events in Poland, plans were already being drawn up to phase out production of the lightly armored AMD.35 in favour of the more heavily armed and armoured AM40P.

Events decided differently, and following the German invasion of France in May of 1940 the AMD.35 proved its worth, outclassing its German counterparts. In a number of direct confrontation German reconnaissance vehicles proved vulnerable to the Panhard's Hotchkiss gun, while their own 20 mm main gun proved ineffective against the Panhard. As a result, following the defeat of France, the Panhard 178 was taken into production for the German army as the Panzerspähwagen P204 (f). In German service, some of these vehicles were refitted with the 37 mm KwK 36; in 1944, a batch of captured ex-Vichy Panhards was fitted with the 50 mm KwK 38 L/42 or L/60 in an open turret.

Following the Liberation of France in 1944, production of the Panhard 178 was reinstated for the French Army, and consideration was given to uparming the design with the 75 mm SA 45 L/32. A larger turret was designed which could fit this gun, however before production started the decision was taken to fit the new Panhard 178B with the pre-war 47 mm SA 35 instead. The uparmed Panhard 178B was produced for the French Army, entering service after the War: it served both in France and its colonies, such as Syria, Tahiti, Madagascar and Indo-China. The Panhard 178B was phased out of French army service in 1960; examples taken over by Syria following its independence in 1946 continued service into the mid-1960, when it was finally phased out in favour of Soviet-supplied equipment.

Media

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See also

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• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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