History of the AMX-40

The blog Status Report has posted an English language translation of an article by Russian researcher Yuri Pasholok on the history of the French AMX 40 tank.  The original piece is available on Pasholok’s live journal page here.  The translated version on the Status Report can be read here.

Excerpt:

By the time the first Somua S35 tanks were rolling from the assembly lines, the French high military staff already started thinking about their replacements. By the end of 1936, French army issued new demands for the future cavalry tank – these demands included:

– weight of no more than 20 tons
– 3 man crew
– armor of no less than 50mm
– operational range of no less than 200km
– one 47mm gun and two 7,5mm machineguns as armament
– radio and intercom systems

Even if they wanted to, there was no way the designers could rework the Somua S35 to fit those requirements. Even the Somua S40 had 5 km/h lower speed with only 40mm of armor. And so these requirements were ignored for three long years.

Read the full article here.