AMR.35 ZT3
Contents
Description
The Automitrailleuse de Reconnaissance AMR 35 ZT3 was an upgraded version of the AMR.33 light tank, addressing issues with tracks and suspension. Despite being larger and heavier, it was faster and more manoeuvrable thanks to a bigger engine and improved suspension. During the Battle for France in 1940, 167 of these tanks were in service, many equipped with 13.2 mm machine guns. A subvariant called ZT3 was planned to carry a 25 mm anti-tank gun, but only ten were produced and issued before France surrendered.
It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance". Featuring a quick-firing "stabilized" 25 mm gun, good mobility and bulletproof armour, it differs greatly from other rank 1 French tanks while offering similar gameplay to the Soviet ASU-57. It is arguably the best first French tank to research. Due to its very poor all around protection the tank is not very survivable, and it's not armoured enough to withstand artillery barrages or heavy MG fire. However, with its 25 mm anti-tank gun, it can penetrate and destroy many other vehicles around its BR, specially if its good mobility is used in flanking manoeuvres.
General info
Survivability and armour
With only 13 mm all-around, this is not a frontline tank and it should fear artillery barrages, bombs and strafing aircraft. Distance is your main defense since most rank 1 guns are inaccurate, often missing such a small target. Any penetrating shot from another tank can easily disable this tank.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (hull, superstructure)
- Cast homogeneous armour (cupola)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 6 mm (76°) Upper glacis 13 mm (19°) Lower plate 13 mm (35°) Lower glacis |
13 mm | 10 mm (23°) Top 10 mm (34°) Radiator shaft 10 mm (34°) Bottom |
6 mm (14°) Front glacis 5 mm Vents |
| Superstructure | 13+20 mm Gun mantlet 13 mm (19°) Upper plate |
13 mm (0-31°) | 10 mm | 6 mm (12°) Front 6 mm Centre and rear 5 mm Vents |
| Cupola | 13 mm (11°) | 13 mm (14°) | 13 mm (4°) | 13 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels and bogies are 20 mm thick while tracks are 15 mm thick.
- An add-on suspension wheel (20 mm) covers the radiator shaft
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 65 | 8 | 6.5 | 116 | 156 | 17.85 | 24 |
| Realistic | 60 | 7 | 73 | 82 | 11.23 | 12.62 | |
This light chassis can be carried wherever it is needed in no time. It is quite fast and manoeuvrable but loses a good amount of speed when going off-road due to narrow tracks.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
| 25 mm SA35 L/72 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 78 | -10°/+13° | ±5° | Shoulder | 17.6 | 24.4 | 29.6 | 32.7 | 34.8 | 3.90 | 3.45 | 3.18 | 3.00 |
| Realistic | 11.9 | 14.0 | 17.0 | 18.8 | 20.0 | ||||||||
The 25 mm SA 34 L/72 cannon is a breath of fresh air among its likes: it has decent penetration values and a 3.9 s reload time. Its good ballistic properties (flat trajectory) makes it easy to aim at usual combat ranges (~500 m). This gun comes with an enjoyable feature: it has a LOCK, which is a primitive form of stabilizer. It enables this tank to reliably shoot on the move in middle to far range (100 to 500 m). Or else, one can stop and shoot faster than other rank 1 tanks. The MAC 31 is a decent coaxial MG. The main downside this gun platform has is its limited gun traverse, which makes close-range engagements very hard.
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| Mle1934 TP (Ch.F) | APC | 71 | 68 | 56 | 44 | 34 | 27 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay | Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Mle1934 TP (Ch.F) | APC | 950 | 0.31 | - | - | - | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 78 | 55 (+23) | 31 (+47) | 1 (+77) | Yes |
Notes:
- As they are modeled by sets of 2, shells disappear from the rack only after you fire both shells in the set.
- The visual discrepancy concerns the total number of shells as well as the number of shells per rack:
- 72 shells are modeled but you can pack 78 shells.
- Rack 3 is modeled as 24 shells but contains 30 shells.
Machine guns
| 7.5 mm MAC 31 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 3,300 (150) | 551 | N/A | N/A |
The small calibre of the MAC 31 machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a rangefinding help or to mow down minor obstacles blocking your line of sight.
Usage in battles
This is a good introduction to a typical tank destroyer's gameplay: a good gun on a fragile chassis and even more. With its low silhouette, the AMR can completely hide itself behind a wide variety of terrain features: wrecked tanks hulls, shallow hills, rocks, brick walls... Staying away from the fight and sniping for unsuspecting enemies. When spotted, choosing to reverse back into cover is a good decision.
Classical TD:
Hiding behind terrain and obstacles, using its good gun depression while staying at some distance from the target is the best way to use this TD in most situations. Applies well on any non-urban terrain.
Sneaking TD
This is a very situational way to play the AMR, mostly efficient in RB and SB games but still applicable to AB matches. This tactics relies on this tank's low silhouette: it can easily hide behind almost anything. Use this tactic to sneak onto an enemy's back or to lure the enemy team into a trap (needs a complying ally). Being a ninja AMR applies well to urban combat.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Fast compared to French low-tier vehicles
- The 25 mm gun, though small, has a high penetration power and is stable on the move
- Small calibre rounds can penetrate narrow spots unreachable for bigger calibres
- The APC round has good post-penetration damage
- -10° of gun depression angle
- Competitive reload time
- Low silhouette
- Crew are not lined-up from the front
- Asymmetric gun position allow for original gameplay
- Side armour is actually thicker than frontal armour
Cons:
- Two-men crew means that any knocked crew member ends up either as immobilization or back to the garage
- Gun traverse is fairly limited, even for a TD casemate design
- Anything punching harder than a MG will shred this vehicle
- Narrow tracks offer poor off-road mobility
- Big cupola makes a good target
- Limited ammo choice
History
The Automitrailleuse de Reconnaissance (AMR) 35 was an improvement over the previous AMR.33 machine-gun armed light tank, which had suffered from poor tracks and suspension. Despite being larger and heavier, its bigger engine and improved suspension made it faster and more manoeuvrable than its predecessor. 167 of these light tanks, many armed with 13.2 mm machine guns in a standard turret, were in service during the Battle for France in 1940. A subvariant, the ZT3, was planned to carry the French standard anti-tank gun, the 25 mm, to serve alongside the machine-gun armed AMR.35s in the French light motorized units. A total of ten ZT3 are believed to have been produced and issued prior to the fall of France.
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
- Other vehicles of similar configuration and role
External links
| Renault | |
|---|---|
| Tanks | |
| Light tanks | AMC.34 YR · AMC.35 (ACG.1) · R.35 (SA38) |
| Medium tanks | D2 |
| Tank destroyers | AMR.35 ZT3 |
| France tank destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Lorraine 40t derivatives | CA Lorraine · Lorraine 155 Mle.50 |
| ATGM | MEPHISTO · AMX-10M |
| Other | AMR.35 ZT3 · Lorraine 37L · SAu 40 · ARL-44 · ELC bis · AMX-50 Foch · AuF1 |
| USA | ▄M10 GMC · ▄M36B2 |
