Hey there /his/ I've got something you guys might be interested in.
So earlier I was looking at French tonks during WWII and notably the ARL V39/ARL 40, where upon I came across something weird. After the French developed the ARL V39 instead of actually using it they decided to evacuate it to Morocco. Apparently there exists documentation that says that they safely made it to Africa but nothing after that.
So who wants to try and find out what happened to them with me?
>INB4 destroyed by germans
Probably target practice at some point.
That's what happens to most armored fighting vehicles that aren't in service.
It was abandoned. All you have to do is go to Wikipedia and check the source they cited for it being evacuated to Morocco.
>>906293
You mean reference 5? How do I view it? all the other links work fine for me except this one.
>>906108
that's some old school warhammer 40k shit right there
>>906108
I try to find info on it but all I get is World of Tanks shit. Go figure.
The prototype of the ARL V 39 was send to Morocco in July 1940 along with the prototype of the Panhard AM 201 amored car and hidden there.
After 1943 it was exposed in Meknes Royal Military Academy before being scrapped in 1954, as France was going to leave Morocco.
The other prototype for the 75mm SPG program, the SAu 40, never left France and was last seen in Perigueux in July 40.
You can find the whole history of these vehicles in GBM magazines n°96 and 97.
>>909462
Well, that mystery is solved.
>>909462
The driver has to help operate the gun, judging by this picture? The traverse handle is right next to his position. What a pain.
>>906108
They were abandoned somewhere and have rotten away or were disassembled by bums and sold on scrap.
>>909517
Yes, you have the Driver/Gunner seat on the left and the Radioman/Co-Gunner on the right.
Was also present a Loader, a Co-Loader and a Tank Commander in the turret.
Apparently the double role for the Driver wasn't a problem as the commands were pretty well made with the Driver being able to drive with the left hand while operating the gun with the right.
These vehicles also weren't intended to end directly in the frontline, ideally they would have been deployed in the 2nd wave 1~1.5km after the cavalry tanks and would've supported them for afar with direct, semi-direct and indirect fire up to ~4km away (though the guns had more range than that the ARL V 39 and SAu 40 would've seldom been used for barrage fire a la regular artillery).
During tests the ARL V 39 showed clear superiority over the SAu 40, with the SAu 40 only having a lower fuel consumption and a better road speed (28km/h against 25km/h for the ARL V 39 (while it was the contrary for the top speed: ARL: 42km/h - SAu: 38km/h). On this point the 260hp engine of the ARL V 39 prototype was to be replaced by a 300hp engine on serial production models.
A small anecdote, it was found that the side turret of the SAu 40 was a better idea than the central turret of the ARL V 39 as, on the latter, it made the TC stand right behind the gun, or rather right in the trajectory of hot brass casings.
In the end while the ARL V 39 was planned for the DCr (Infantry tanks) and the SAu 40 for the DLM (Cavalry tanks), the qualities of the ARL V 39 made it so it ended being ordered for both Infantry and Cavalry divisions (12 ARL V 39 per DCr, 8 per DLM).
The SAu 40 was however kept as a Tank Destroyer for the DLM and was to be armed with a 47mm Mle.1937.
