- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #157
I will suggest here the last version of FCM 2C that was ever built, the FCM 2C surblindé
The FCM 2C is a huge steel beast designed during WW1 and produced in 1919. while initially a large number was planned to be produced, only 10 were built due to the end of WW1 making the tank not needed anymore. but France, needing a breakthrough tank for their active army saw in this monster, an answer. in 1919 and even until the mid-30s, the FCM 2C was indeed a pretty good tank for the standard of this time. the tank had a powerful gun which was much stronger than most tank guns of the time, the armour was virtually impenetrable with most anti-tank weapons of the time. it was not before the mid-30s when there were tanks with more armour and firepower than this tank that came into service. France itself had much better tanks being put into production at that time. but the FCM 2C was still having his specific role which was to break the fortification lines of the enemy. it was in the mid-1930s when France started to study a potential replacement for the FCM 2C. This replacement was going to be much more powerfully armed with a 90mm or a 105mm and have much more armour while also having better mobility.
but at the edge of WW2, it was clear that the replacement for the FCM 2C wasn’t going to come on time. the solution was a stopgap while the new fortress tank was ready for production. the stop-gap solution was to take the existing FCM 2C and improve the armour significantly to make it virtually immune to the anti-tank armament. in 1939, the French army designed the FCM 2C #97 Lorraine as the commandment tank and the first to be upgraded. the idea was to install a 2nd layer of armour over the existing armour. 45mm was added to the form, 40 & 25mm were added to the side and a roof of 50mm was added to the engine compartment. this added a lot of weight to the tank which represent about 10% of its weight. to minimize the impact on the mobility of the tank, the old Mercedes engine was replaced by a new Maybach engine which provided a bit more power and possibly was lighter as well. overall the tank weighed 7 tonnes more than the original. in December 1939, the tank went to trial and proved satisfactory even if the track had broken during a crossing in 1940. a single tank was converted and later renamed Normandie. the tank was captured in 1940 by the german and carried to Germany as a trophy and likely scrapped for the metal (75 tonnes of steel can easily make 2 panzer IV)
Firepower
the firepower is a bit limited. the 75mm Mle 1897 is a decent gun but a bit lacking punch against the heavy tanks. at the rank where it would fall, there might be enough heavy targets to make it feel weak. to help the tank to be balanced, I propose to give additional rounds over those that are already available in the FCM 2C in-game. those rounds are 100% compatible with the gun and were available in 1940. the improvement will not be groundbreaking but it would still give a welcome buff to allow this tank to face other heavy tanks. notably the PCOT-40 which gives a penetration of around 100mm at short distances and is an APCBC only it had no filler. trading post-penetration damage for more penetration sounds like a good trade for me. the gun has a good fire rate with a reload of 5.5 sec when aced. the turret rotation is a bit slow at 10° sec. the elevation of the gun is also pretty decent with -20° to + 20° which makes it capable of fighting in any type of terrain. the only flaw is the turret is unable to turn on 360°, it would be limited to ±140° on the left and right. A lot of ammunition is carried. the tank also features an axillary turret at the rear with a machine gun. there is no coaxial but there is a machine gun in the hull at the front, left and right which kind of makes up for the coaxial. the machine gun are 8mm Hotchkiss Mle 1914. while it seems a bit common, those machine guns pack some punch for an LMG. An anti-tank round was available which gives a decent 18mm of penetration. In-game it’s not that impressive, but against light targets, it would be quite useful. i suggest adding it to the machine-gun belt along with the tracer and regular round at a ratio of around 1 every 5 rounds.
Mobility
the tank is heavy, the heaviest tank that would be available for the early rank. with a whopping 75 tonnes, it would sometimes be 5 times heavier than the tanks it would face, and over twice heavier than most tanks it should encounter. the tank is also huge. one of the biggest of the game (maybe the biggest) this makes It difficult to move around in certain environments. The engines (because there is 2 of them) are slightly improved with two Maybach that provide 260 hp (some say 250 hp) which make up for the additional 7 tonnes the FCM 2C receive when upgraded. the mobility would be slightly reduced but not in a significant way. the tank will still reach 15 km/h in the best condition. the best thing that tanks have to make mobility feel less painful is the transmission offering the same reverse speed as it goes forward.
Protection
this tank is a perfect sneaker, a rat who can easily crawl behind the enemy line… just kidding. this tank can be seen from space and it is bigger than Luxembourg. this is not a tank you can hide easily. It is bigger than some houses. by chance, this version is specifically designed to offer better protection than the original version. with the armour doubled up, it would be capable of taking a direct hit for the most part. the armour value is close to the B1 bis or the KV-1 but offers many weaknesses. notably the cupola and the rear of the tank. the turret is 70mm, the side is 62-47mm and the front is a pretty decent 90mm. the roof is very protected with 60mm almost everywhere. this makes the tank capable of taking a beating and is almost immune to the aircraft’s machine gun. but what makes this tank survive the most is that tank has an extremely large crew, with 12 men, it can spare 2-3 or even 7-8 men before having a real effect on the performance.
Sources
FCM 2C specification & schematic
8mm M1886 balle perforante model P
Ammunition
Règlement provisoire de manoeuvre de l'artillerie lourde : dispositions spéciales aux batteries armées de canons de 155 court, modèles 1915 S et 1917 S, approuvées par le ministre le 3 octobre 1917 (3e édition mise à jour, avec les feuilles rectificatives nos 1 et 2) / Ministère de la guerre | Gallica
Ecole d'application d'artillerie. Organisation des matériels. Tome V. Matériels usuels / [par le Ch. d'esc. d'art. Bresse] | Gallica
Ministère de la guerre. Instruction sur le tir d'artillerie : approuvée par le ministre de la guerre le 19 novembre 1917. Fascicule 1 | Gallica
Ministère de la guerre. Manuel des munitions. Premier volume à l'usage des corps de troupe de toutes les subdivisions d'arme de l'artillerie. (Le 2e volume contient les compléments à l'usage des officiers). Approuvé par le ministère de la guerre le 15 décembre 1930. | Gallica
Ministère de la guerre. Manuel des munitions. Premier volume à l'usage des corps de troupe de toutes les subdivisions d'arme de l'artillerie. (Le 2e volume contient les compléments à l'usage des officiers). Approuvé par le ministère de la guerre le 15 décembre 1930. | Gallica
