R.35 (SA38)

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R.35 (SA38)
fr_renault_r39.png
R.35 (SA38)
AB RB SB
1.0 1.0 1.0
Class:
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Description

GarageImage R.35 (SA38).jpg


The Char léger d'accompagnement 1935 R (SA38) is a rank I French light tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance".

Although it is a "light tank", the R.39 feels pretty cumbersome in every way: slow reload speed, low max speed and bad acceleration. It actually feels more like an heavy tank... without the benefits of heavy armour. This tank's design is very reminiscent of other rank I French tanks, hence, players should be used to a subpar gun, "heavy" armour and low mobility.

General info

Survivability and armour

With good armour thickness and surprising hull angles, this tank can take some beating at a distance, provided you do not get a lucky shot in the turret ring or that you face a heavy-hitting gun. This should get you into effective combat ranges (500 - m) in relative safety. The most obvious weakspot is its turret flat left side, which is only 45 mm thick and badly angled, this makes hull-down position ineffective.

With its heavy side armour, one should use angles at its advantages and angle it at about 35° while facing opponents. Such an angling gives about 60 mm of effective thickness for 80% of the exposed area.

In an ambush position, this tank could face its opponents backwards (engine deck first). This unusual tactic could confuse enemies for a moment and provide extra protection as your engine may absorb shots. This will also decrease the chances of a lucky penetration : if turret is facing enemy, almost 90% of exposed surfaces have ~60 + mm of LoS thickness. If danger gets too high, you could give it the gas and "fly" away in forward motion.

Armour type:

  • Cast homogeneous armour
Armour Front (Slope angle) Sides Rear Roof
Hull 32 mm (13-64°) Front plate
22 mm (73-74°), 32 mm (24-26°) Front glacis
32 mm (0-74°) Lower glacis
32 mm (23°) Driver's plate
40 mm (1-33°)
40 mm (1-2°)
40 mm (24-30°) Top
40 mm (9-32°) Bottom
25 mm
5 mm Engine grille
Turret 45 + 25 mm (5°) Turret front
45 mm (28-30°) Left side
25 mm (10-19°) Gun mantlet
40 mm (1-27°) 40 mm (8-63°) 25 mm
Armour Sides Roof
Cupola 40 mm 40 mm

Notes:

  • Suspension wheels, bogies, and tracks are all 15 mm thick.

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 23 4 11 89 156 8.09 14.18
Realistic 20 3 73 82 6.64 7.45

The mobility is the R.35 (SA38)'s biggest weakness: while it does not like long-range engagements and needs to close-up with its foes in order to damage them, its very low speed will always leave it far behind its allies. With its narrow tracks and poor power ratio (8.09 HP/ton), the R.35 (SA38) hates being taken out in the mud as its speeds fall drastically. 20 km/h forward and -3 km/h backwards is all you'll get from this struggling 73 HP engine. Plan your moves in advance and do not stay too near to the front line as a successful retreat is hard to achieve with such a slow tank.

Armaments

Main armament

Main article: SA38 L/33 (37 mm)

The 37 mm is not the best gun, but it can do some damage at reasonable ranges. Bear in mind its long reload time (for the BR) and back up into cover between shots. The gun is best used by an experienced tanker, as its post-penetration damage is poor. The best strategy is to snipe crew members and modules one at a time. Avoid being too close to the front line as your slow reload speed makes multi-target engagement difficult. Your turret slewing rate is also an issue since you'll not be able to react in time to flanking opponents.

37 mm SA38 L/33 Turret rotation speed (°/s) Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode Capacity Vertical Horizontal Stabilizer Stock Upgraded Full Expert Aced Stock Full Expert Aced
Arcade 58 -8°/+12° ±180° Vertical 14.9 20.5 25.1 27.8 29.6 5.2 4.6 4.2 4.0
Realistic 9.3 10.9 13.3 14.8 15.7

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
Mle1938 APC 48 45 32 21 14 9
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
Mass (kg)
Fuse delay
(m)
Fuse sensitivity
(mm)
Explosive Mass
(TNT equivalent) (g)
Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
Mle1938 APC 705 0.70 N/A N/A N/A 48° 63° 71°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the R.35 (SA38)
Full
ammo
1st
rack empty
2nd
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
58 45 (+13) (+57) Yes

Machine guns

Main article: MAC 31 (7.5 mm)
7.5 mm MAC 31
Mount Capacity (Belt) Fire rate Vertical Horizontal
Coaxial 1,800 (150) 1,350 N/A N/A

Usage in battles

Gameplay summary:

The R.35 is a decent light tank for its battle rating, so long as it is played with the right tactics. The most important aspect of R.35 gameplay is armour angling. Being that the side armour is actually thicker than the front armour, angling at 45 degrees or more is ideal. The tank is not particularly quick, so flanking is generally difficult, so sticking with your team is the best strategy. Generally, medium range engagements are ideal.

Close Range Engagements:

The R.35 is capable at close range, although the slow reload can cause issues. The armour if angled correctly may bounce enemy rounds even at point blank range, however the R.35 must disable the enemy tank with the first shot. Most enemies that the R.35 will face have a faster reload, and may be able to outmanoeuvre it, as the R.35 is somewhat slow. This means that getting too close to the enemy is a mistake, always maintain some distance with quick enemies.

Long Range Engagements:

The R.35 will struggle to deal damage at long range, the cannon having mediocre penetration and reload. However staying at range can also be a good strategy, as enemies may struggle to penetrate the armour of the R.35 as well.

Notable Enemies:

Some notable enemies include: any German vehicles that use 20 mm autocannons, these include Panzer II and Flankpanzer tanks. Their autocannons will easily destroy the R.35 if the armour is not angled. Additionally, the R.35 struggles to penetrate Panzer II tanks.

Additionally, the R.35 will be easily penetrated by enemy vehicles equipped with the American 37 mm M3 cannon, the British QF 2-pounder gun, or the Swedish 37 mm kan m/38 gun.

Modules

Tier Mobility Protection Firepower
I Tracks Parts Horizontal Drive
II Suspension Brake System FPE Adjustment of Fire
III Filters Crew Replenishment Elevation Mechanism
IV Transmission Engine Artillery Support

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Tiny profile = tiny tank
  • Has one of the best French gun at rank 1
  • Has decent sloped hull armour
  • Has a very thick gun mantlet area: 10mm gun shield + 45 mm armour + 20 mm internal shield.
  • Thick sides allows for heavy angling

Cons:

  • Only one choice of ammunition, that one choice also has no explosive filler
  • Only two crew members, one knocked out means tank destroyed.
  • Extremely low speed, with bad cross-country and hill-climbing ability
  • Thin turret ring
  • Slow reload speed
  • Only 2 crew members in a cramped position (easy to one-shot)
  • Awful reverse speed of -3 km/h

History

The Char Leger mle 1935 Renault (Renault Light Tank model 1935), armed with the SA 18 short 37 mm gun, was the most common French tank at the onset of the war in Europe, with 900 on active service in infantry tank battalions in May, 1940. However, like its competitor H.35, its gun was known to be unsatisfactory as an anti-tank weapon.

Only a few of these R.35s could be converted to the improved SA 38 main gun prior to the fall of France, with the H.35s and H.39s of the cavalry receiving priority. It is known the 1st (Free) Polish Tank Regiment in France near Paris did receive some converted R.35s in May, 1940. These upgunned R.35 tanks are sometimes referred to (erroneously) as the R.39.

Concurrently, in 1939, AMX had developed a new type of track and suspension for the R.35, which had continued to be produced. This new variant, also armed with the SA 38, and sometimes designated the R.40, had gone into production in March, 1940. It saw limited service, but it is known the 40th and 48th tank battalions had received 30 each, and the 1st Polish as many as another 25, in time to serve in the invasion and fall of France. Some of these were still around to be seized by French Resistance forces during the fall of Paris in 1944.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See 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.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the tank;
  • other literature.


France light tanks
AMC.34/35  AMC.34 YR · AMC.35 (ACG.1)
H.35/39  H.35 · H.39 · H.39 "Cambronne"
AMX-13  AMX-13 (FL11) · AMX-13-M24 · AMX-13 · AMX-13 (SS.11) · AMX-13-90 · AMX-13 (HOT)
Wheeled  AML-90 · AMX-10RC
AMD.35  AMD.35 · AMD.35 (SA35)
E.B.R.  E.B.R. (1951) · E.B.R. (1954) · E.B.R. (1963)
Other  FCM.36 · R.35 (SA38) · Char 25t · MARS 15 · VBCI-2 (MCT30)
Austria  SK-105A2
Great Britain  ▄Crusader Mk.II
USA  LVT-4/40 · ▄M3A3 Stuart