- Yes
- No
caid’s suggestion #5
I would like to (re) make a suggestion, for a nice light tank for France. The AMR 35 ZT-2
The AMR 35 ZT-2 was an up-gunned version of the ARM 35. The AMR 35 was a light reconnaissance vehicle that was initially forbidden to engage tanks. because of the French doctrine regarding the AMR branch of the vehicles, the first AMR 35 was armed with 7.5 mm machine gun only, to eliminate the temptation of engaging enemy tanks. the doctrine soon changed and the AMR was suddenly allowed to carry heavier armament. initially, the 13.2mm was mounted in a new enlarged version of the Alvis-1 turret called Alvis-2. The 7.5 mm armed version received the variant designation of ZT while the one with the 13.2mm Heavy machine gun was called ZT-1. but while the 13.2mm Hotchkiss, which was carried in the ZT-1, offered some anti-tank capacity, this was not considered as enough. a new version was created with a new turret, the APX-5 turret. this version was armed with a 25mm SARF anti-tank gun. this gives the tank some actual anti-tank capacity which makes it a tank pretty capable of destroying a German tank from 1940 at combat distance. This version received the designation of AMR 35 ZT-2
the AMR 35 ZT-2 was built in 1938, but due to a delay in the production of the APX-5 turret, only 10 were built. they were put into service in the French army and fought during the Battle of France in 1939-1940. due to the small number, and even smaller number after the battle of France, the possible surviving AMR 35 ZT-2 was scrapped by the Germans along with the destroyed one.
Firepower
the armament consists of a 25mm SA35 gun, despite the small caliber, this gun is one of the most potent of the early French tank. the reload was fast and the projectile was very accurate, the gun penetrated quit well the enemy tanks it may encounter. only, it will also leave little damage. the projectile being much smaller than the usual tank’s gun, it will seldom take out more than one of the enemy’s crew at the time. the tank also carries a very small load of ammunition which I would suggest to the player to carry it all as in this size, there is little risk of having the ammunition explode without first killing one of the crew. the turret is also fairly fast which makes it good in close combat.
Mobility
this tank mobility will be comfortable. for a French tank, it will feel like a fast boy. the top speed is 60 km/h but it would be difficult to reach with the power of his engine. an average speed of 40 km/h is going to be much more common. this will make this tank feel rather good on the battlefield and allow it to flank easily. As the armament does not deal a lot of post-penetration damage, it would be best to flank the enemy with this vehicle and keep some distance to take advantage of the great penetration and accuracy of the gun.
Protection
Protection
the protection will not be his best asset. the tank is only having minimal protection against LMG. this makes it rather vulnerable to almost every gun including the HMG at a fairly long distance. the crew of 2 men is also very small. this also makes it very small which is a good asset to allow this tank to hide more easily.
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