Char B1 (1935), dawn of a legendary tank

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​caid’s suggestion #7

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I would like to (re) suggest an interesting French tank. the Char B1

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The char B1 was a char de Bataille (battle tank), intended to be the backbone of the French infantry. the tank was well protected and well armed for the standard of the time. well known from the French player, the B1 bis was an improved version of the Char B1. The Char B1 was a tank whose origin came as far back as 1926. following the proposition of General Estienne made in 1920, 3 tanks were built with different designs from different built were put in the competition. been unable to reach the perfect tank, the 3 builders were forced to work together to create the ultimate tank in 1931. the offspring of the was the Char B1 which was, as a matter of fact, an exceptional tank at his time. ordered in 1934, the tank was heavy and capable of breaking through the enemy line. formidably armed with a 75 mm in the hull to blow the fortification and a 47mm in the turret to provide protection all around, the tank featured the new Naeder hydraulic precision transmission which allows the driver to rotate the tank on himself to aim the 75mm gun.

the Char B1 was ordered in a small production of 35 tanks after France had questioned the need for the Char B1. The B1 was already obsolete in front of the new progress of the armament. the B1 was designed to be immune to the anti-tank gun which was the main reason the French army wanted them. the tank was also very costly, the engine and transmission was often breaking down to the point that one of the crew needed to be a mechanic to maintain the tank in working condition. France had considered putting the D2 into production as an alternative to the B1 since the D2 was a lot cheaper and faster to produce while showing performance still acceptable. but the lobbying for the B1 had his influence and the B1 was put back into production in 1937 after being upgraded with a new engine, new turret, and thicker armor. this new version was called B1 bis.

the 35 B1 was put into service in training school. but due to the heavy loss of the French army during the battle of France, the Char B1 was pressed into front-line service in replacement of the B1 bis. this reinforcement was welcome as the Char B1 turned out to be protected enough to take a direct hit from various anti-tank guns at combat distance and the Germans feared the Char B1 bis. even if the performance of the Char B1 was lower than the B1 bis, the tank was still very effective and in most cases, they didn’t do any worse than the Char B1 bis.

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Firepower

the firepower of this tank is a bit weak for the game standard. but not completely useless. The 47mm SA34 gun is the same one used by the AMC 34 YR found in-game. the gun can fire APHE rounds which penetrate only 25mm at short combat distances but packs 50 grams of explosive which makes it devastating when there is a penetration. the fire rate reaches 15 rounds per minute giving a 4 sec reload when fully aced. the elevation of -18°/+20° allows it to be pretty comfortable on uneven terrain. 50 rounds for the 47mm is carried which was enough as the 47mm was intended to be a secondary armament. while in-game, the 75mm ABS 1929 would be considered as secondary armament, the hull gun was considered to be the primary gun for the French army. the 75mm had a high rate of fire of 15 rounds minutes and an elevation of -15°/+25° which allowed you to aim what you might need to aim. only the gun has next to no transverse and needs to be aimed by the rotation of the tank. a coaxial 7.5mm MAC 31 machine gun is installed on the side of the 47mm in the turret.


Mobility

the tank is a bit heavy, with 28 tonnes. it is considered as a heavy tank in the French standard of the time. the engine provides 272 hp which gives it a power/weight ratio of 8.93 hp/ton, which allows a top speed of 28 km/h and an average off-road speed of 20 km/h. the tank features a gearbox of 5 forward speed and 1 backward. going backward, the tank can reach 3.78 km/h

Protection

the tank’s protection is rather good. 1/3 less than the Char B1 bis, it still features 40mm all around which can be enough in most cases. the turret is an APX-1 and only has 45mm of armour instead of the 54mm of the APX-4. the crew of 4 men is rather good. but mainly in the hull in the front part making it possible to get them all killed at once.

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2

+1 techtree 1.3

3

If you give the same BR I would give it personally

40mm of armor angled is not that bad. the mobility is just a bit slow and the 75mm is hard to use. but it can be quite effective.

both guns have almost the same velocity, it would make it easier to use both guns too in sniper mode. but shots should land near one another (the 75mm would land just a bit higher but due to the lower position of the gun, it should counter it)

and the 47mm is not useful but still can surprise us some time.

at the same time, the tank is almost identical to the B1 bis. Both chassis are designed the same way. and the turret too is almost identical. I can only spot a single difference personally and it’s in the rear. On the battlefield, some may think it’s the up-armored version and avoid it, and some may also think the B1 bis is this one and fight it without enough firepower. the confusion could be a good advantage.

the best is there is a version of this tank with the 47mm SA35 too which makes it carry the same firepower as the B1 bis but with less armour. The confusion would make the players affray to fight it.

in total there were a dozen variants of the B1(if we include the 5 stages of prototypes). Not all are good to add. but there are a few I would like to see. Maybe 2-3 more than what we currently have would be enough as their performance will be very different. none are more armored than the one we currently have. those were the best of the family.

4

reserve/ 1.0. 1.3 is already too much thanks to gaijin’s horrible low tier balancing. This is a heavy tank, but between the german heat (that they shouldn’t have at such low br), the overperformance of the russian 45mm, the ridiculous penetration of the 37mm gun coupled with an insane rof and too much accuracy, and to top it all off, the swedish apds, you won’t be able to have fun with this.

5

Is it not the same tank as the one in game?

6

no.
The B1 has 40mm of armor all around which is much weaker than the one in-game
and the 47mm is much weaker too. it’s one of the 3 worse guns in the game

it would be like comparing the Panzer 3 Ausf B and the Panzer 3 Ausf J in-game… while they look the same they are very different in firepower and protection.

1 Like
7

hmm so same hull diffrent gun.

8

different hull, different turret, different gun

  • the Hull is the original one while the B1 bis are the up-armored version. it is identical just have thicker steel
  • the Turret is the APX 1 while the B1 bis has the APX 4, the APX 4 is an up-armored version of the APX 1. the APX 1 is the one used on the Char D2.
  • the gun is the 47mm SA34 which is the one used on the AMC 34 YR currently in the game.
1 Like
9

so whats Diffrent they look the exact same!

10

visually the hull has no difference. the turret only has one visual difference, it’s the turret hatch at the rear. the gun is very different.

the B1 and B1 bis were visually almost identical. but they aren’t the same at all. 35 B1 was built and until there was a lot of lost in the battle of France, they were used as training tanks. in 1940 when they was finally used to fight, they receive the 47mm SA35 which make it visually identical to the B1 bis only it still have a lot less armour

1 Like
11

so a Worse B1 BIS

12

exactly, so identical the player will hardly tell them apart. that would make engaging them risky when you do not pack the firepower you need

13

More rank I and II are always welcome, i agree !
Would be cool at 1.3

14

2.0, 1.7 max absolutly not 1.3, there would still be tanks that wouldnt be able to destroy it at all at 1.3 and more when angled, not to mention to new players absolutly clueless how to destroy it.

15

the D2 at 1.3 is more just as well armoured

16

But flatter.

17

about the same thing, on the front, but the side the D2 feel more protected than the flat B1

18

But the flat sides make it effective at angling. You get around 60mm of effective armor at the 45-degree angle. I call it the Tiger 1 of rank 1

19

So you are saying it should go up? Ok.
Jokes aside, the D1 is slower, has one 1 gun and a more wide flat front.

20

the D1 is not that much slower, it is also smaller, has a better gun, and has more armor thanks to the side skirt and the storage box.

the B1 has a weaker 47mm is nearly useless, a huge chassis, the 75mm is powerful but hard to use and the side is a flat 40mm with the ammo all over.

i do not think they would perform much differently in their effectiveness. but they are tanks for different circumstances. i would be more comfortable using the B1 in an urban map than the wild one.

but this is always something we can really find out when we have them ingame.

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