The M24 Chaffee is a light tank intially made for the US Army, but eventually found its way to many foreign operators like Laos, Madagascar, Ethiopia and obviously France. Fighting in Algeria and French Indochina, they proved themselves as effective weapons of war, albeit not in an anti-armor role. Its turret even found its way onto the AMX-13 chassis for a short while, keeping the decent HE shells just that bit longer.
History
Being introduced into french service only after the second World War had ended, they saw their first combat deployment in Indochina (Vietnam today). In this conflict most of the french-used equipment was of american origin. One notable battle during this war with M24-involvement was the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, where 10 Chaffees were first disassembled into 180 individual pieces, flown to the local garrison and then finally reassembled to offer fire support. They found themselves in this role throughout the conflict as the Việt Minh didn’t operate any armored vehicles of their own.
The French army was the second largest operator of M24s, which they’ve nicknamed “Bison”. With a bit over 1200 vehicles they had over double the amount of Italy and 4 times the numbers as Japan and Taiwan. The vast majority of those vehicles were recieved after 1950, as the US was previously unwilling to sell tanks for colonial control, but with the Korean War and the expulsion of the ROC from mainland China they had a change of mind.
After the Indochina War, the M24s were deployed to Algeria up until the end of the Algerian War of Independence, again serving in the Infantry support role. It was also in this conflict that the AMX-13-M24 hybrid came to be, as they wanted to keep the firepower of their aging Chaffees, but weren’t willing to deal with the already worn hulls of these tanks. Around 150 of these conversions were built.
They were overall great tools for the french, but ultimately didn’t give them enough of an edge to win either conflict.
Technical Information
French M24 Chaffees did not differ from US Army M24s in any big way, so the information is the same as for the M24 found in the American Techtree.
Primary Armament: 1 75mm M6 cannon, 48 rounds
Secondary Armament: 1 12,7mm M2HB machine gun, 400 rounds | 1 7,62mm M1919A4, 3750 rounds
Crew: 4
Engine: Twin Cadillac Series 44T24 with 296hp at 3400RPM
Transmission: 8 forward gears, 4 reverse
Max. Speed: -24km/h to 57km/h
Weight: 18,4 tons
Armor: Identical to M24 in the US TT
I don’t think we need another copy-paste M24, especially as France 3.7 is already pretty good (3x M4s if you up-tier the M4A3 (105), an M10, ARL-44 (ACL-1) and Crusader). Crusader still works decently as a light tank at 3.7, even if it is 2.7.
It would strengthen the lineup but I don’t think it’s necessary.
Its certainly not necessary, but it would be nice to have for completeness sake. Also they could add some unique visual differences like they did with the israeli M163. there’s a few examples in the pictures in the post. :D
Having a stabilized tracked platform at 3.7 as an alternative to the rest of French tanks is a good idea, but only if it comes at Rank III. Especially now that its French inferior equivalent is at 4.3 (and Rank III).
AFAIK the Italian one is, but the American, Chinese and Japanese ones arent
Considering france has two tanks in both tier 2 and 3 for the light tank branch, id say 50/50 but more likely to be tier 2 since a premium amx13 with its turret is there
Really not needed as AMX-13 FL11 is already a far superior light vehicle at about the same spot and a premium alternative exist thats again still better then base tank
I wouldn’t really call the AMX-13 FL-11 far superior. Its a bit better armored and harder to hit, but features more or less the same firepower as a M24, but sits at 4.0 while the Chaffee would end up on 3.7 (atleast as of now). In addition the M24 also gets a roofmounted machinegun for possible AA-work and a stabilizer, both are quite useful.
The FL11 is FAR worse than the M24 while sitting at a higher BR.
If there is any vehicle in game that shows the stupidity of “Muh statistiks” balancing, it’s the FL-11 being a higher BR than the M24. The M24 has more crew, a better gun with stabilization, actual reverse gears, and a roof mounted .50 cal for shredding planes and lights.
I’d love to see France get the M24 purely because it might force Gaijin to do a double take on placing the way worse FL-11 at a higher BR.
