B1 bis
Contents
Description
The Char de bataille B1 bis (Battle tank B1 "repeated") is a Rank II French heavy tank with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance". With arguably the best armour at its BR, this tank is a beast in long-range engagements since it is hard to penetrate at distances. While not having the best armament, it should do the job taking care of these dangerous early SPGs and light tanks. The "bis" suffix is a French way of marking an improved version.
This tank's mobility won't allow you to position fast enough. Taking time is the only way to get where you want safely. Since this tank is pretty long and narrow, do not engage in cramped spaces since you will not be allowed to manoeuvre as you wish. You reverse speed won't allow you to retreat if things get bad around you, stay behind the frontlines, making good use of your armour.
In order to effectively use this tank's armour, there is a few things to consider. First of all, there a lot of shot traps, the main ones being the turret ring, the grille on the left side and the hull gun mount, in order to minimize your enemies' chance to hit these weak spots, stay away from them. Second, even if your armour is very strong for the BR, do not completely rely on it by sitting around in an open field: you will eventually get hit where it hurts. The third thing to consider is your small and thick turret: hide that big clumsy hull behind a hill and pop out only your hard "head", take a shot, fall back, reload, repeat. If something goes wrong (i.e. getting shot in the turret ring), there is usually enough men left to take the job left by their dead "camarade". Do not bother getting spotted: it is your job to stay in the enemies' sights while your lighter teammates do what they ought to. In some situations, it can even be used as a breakthrough tank, rely on your own experience to guess when it is time to do so.
With the same gun as most other Rank 2 French tanks, the B1 bis will never be recognized for having a fearsome armament: penetration rates are even lower than most reserve tanks while reload time is twice as long (a known feature of early French tanks). The turreted armament is only good at firing light targets such as SPGs and light tanks. Elevation and depression angles are amazing but turret slewing rate is a bit slow: this tank has been designed to be hull-down. As for the hull-mounted gun, it should only be used as a close range defence device, as it has poor penetration rates and high drop. Exposing your hull-mounted gun for long range engagements does not only makes you vulnerable, it is also mostly ineffective.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull)
- Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)'
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 60 mm (7-62°) Front glacis 60 mm (32-48°) Lower glacis |
55 mm Center 55 + 55 mm Border 15 mm Engine grille |
25 mm (77°) Top 50 mm (1°) Center 55 mm (46°) Bottom |
25 mm |
| Turret | 56 mm (0-46°) Turret front 56 mm (1-85°) Gun mantlet 56 mm (0-49°) Machine gun cover |
56 mm (2-19°) | 56 mm (18-19°) 38.1 mm (18°) Turret hatch |
30 mm |
| Armour | Sides | Roof | ||
| Cupola | 48 mm | 30 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.
- Turret ring armour is 25-40 mm thick.
Due to the extremely heavy frontal armor, one should try to use mobility to flank the B1. However, if that isn't possible, you'll want to try and hit the "mailslot" of the turret ring. It may be a tricky shot, but there's only ~40 mm of armor there. If left flank is exposed, the grille is only 15 mm thick and has a well-placed fuel tank right behind it, turning the B1 into a burning torch, ready to explode.
Mobility
| Mobility characteristic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Weight (tons) | Add-on Armor weight (tons) |
Max speed (km/h) |
| 32.0 | N/A | 29.8 (AB) |
| 28.0 (RB/SB) | ||
| Engine power (horsepower) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 396 | ___ |
| Realistic/Simulator | 272 | ___ |
| Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | ||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded |
| Arcade | 12.37 | __.__ |
| Realistic/Simulator | 8.50 | __.__ |
Armaments
Main armament
| 75 mm SA35 L/17 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
Stabilizer | ||
| 74 | -20°/+25° | ±1° | N/A | ||
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ |
| Realistic | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. | ||
| __.__ | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| Mle1910M | APHE | 57 | 55 | 52 | 47 | 44 | 37 |
| Mle1915 | HE | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity in m/s |
Projectile Mass in kg |
Fuse delay
in m: |
Fuse sensitivity
in mm: |
Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent): |
Normalization At 30° from horizontal: |
Ricochet: | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||
| Mle1910M | APHE | 500 | 6.4 | 1.2 | 25 | 90 | ° | 43° | 30° | 25° |
| Mle1915 | HE | 500 | 5.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 740 | +0° | 11° | 10° | 9° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
7th rack empty |
8th rack empty |
9th rack empty |
10th rack empty |
11th rack empty |
12th rack empty |
13th rack empty |
14th rack empty |
15th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74 | 68 (+6) | 64 (+10) | 62 (+12) | 60 (+14) | 56 (+18) | 53 (+21) | 38 (+36) | 36 (+38) | 25 (+49) | 23 (+51) | 21 (+53) | 14 (+60) | 9 (+65) | 3 (+71) | 1 (+73) | no |
Additional armament
| 47 mm SA35 L/32 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacity | Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance |
Stabilizer | ||
| 50 | ±18° | ±180° | Vertical | ||
| Turret rotation speed (°/s) | |||||
| Mode | Stock | Upgraded | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert qualif. | Prior + Ace qualif. |
| Arcade | 5.90 | 8.20 | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ |
| Realistic | 5.90 | 7.00 | __.__ | __.__ | __.__ |
| Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||
| Stock | Prior + Full crew | Prior + Expert Qualif. | Prior + Ace Qualif. | ||
| 9.80 | _.__ | _.__ | _.__ | ||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration in mm @ 90° | |||||
| 10m | 100m | 500m | 1000m | 1500m | 2000m | ||
| Mle1935 | APC | 69 | 67 | 57 | 48 | 27 | 24 |
| Mle1935 HE | HE | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity in m/s |
Projectile Mass in kg |
Fuse delay
in m: |
Fuse sensitivity
in mm: |
Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent): |
Normalization At 30° from horizontal: |
Ricochet: | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||
| Mle1935 | APC | 660 | 1.6 | N/A | N/A | N/A | ° | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| Mle1935 HE | HE | 590 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 143 | +0° | 79° | 80° | 81° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
7th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 39 (+11) | 27 (+23) | 25 (+25) | 23 (+27) | 21 (+29) | 11 (+39) | 1 (+49) | No |
Machine guns
| 7.5 mm MAC 31 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coaxial mount | ||||||
| Capacity (Belt capacity) | Fire rate (shots/minute) |
Vertical guidance |
Horizontal guidance | |||
| 5,100 (150) | 1,350 | N/A | N/A | |||
Usage in the battles
The Char B1, upon playing it for the first time will be slow in both acceleration, max speed and turret rotation speed. the Hull gun is most likely the most frustrating gun to aim because of the limited firing arc it has. The best way to play the B1 bis is to hold down a position, preferably hull down (as its turret is thick and small, it will ricochet most shots it will take). Playing the B1 bis rightly, there is only 3 ways to get killed:
- Being outflanked by a light tank
- The enemy has been lucky enough to get a shot through a shot trap
- Meeting a dangerous gun (see Specific enemies worth noting)
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Overall good armour
- Very heavy frontal armor for its rank.
- Strong turret from the front
- Good at sidescraping (thick sides)
- Nearly impenetrable hull when angled
- Armour is trolly in the driver's port area
- Decent firepower
- One of the best in-game depression (-18°, turret gun)
- Has 2 main armaments
- A rare feature on French tanks: it has APHE ammunition.
- MAC 31 coaxial MG
- Turret gun has LOCK, which makes stop-and-shoot tactics effective.
Cons:
- Armour has many shot traps, easing the ask of killing it
- Engine grille on left side is a 15 mm weak point, nullifies angling from this side.
- Fuel tank behind the grille lights up very often when penetrated.
- Large turret ring is weak (25-40 mm poorly sloped)
- Hull gun mount is a weak spot and can be penetrated by most guns of the tier.
- Crew is cramped
- Turret rear is only 38 mm thick
- Has a tall and "thin" cupola
- Literally has an hallway full of ammo in the back
- Guns feel lacking
- Lacking penetration from both of its guns
- Abysmal traverse on 75 mm gun (~1° left to right)
- Slow reload on both guns
- Only stock ammo choices
- APHE shell won't detonate when shooting at light targets (25 mm or less armour)
- Hull gun is hard to master (not beginner-friendly)
- Mobility is subpar
- Not very mobile due to weight.
- Slow hull turning rate
- Reverse speed is low (-3km/h)
History
Media
An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.
Read also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
ETC.
Sources
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| France heavy tanks | |
|---|---|
| B1 | B1 bis · B1 ter |
| 2C | 2C · 2C bis |
| ARL-44 | ARL-44 (ACL-1) |
| AMX-50 | Somua SM · AMX-50 Surbaissé · AMX-50 Surblindé |
| USA | ▄M4A3E2 |
