Char B1 BIS - Walkaround - Saumur Tank Museum.

The Char B1 was a French heavy break-through vehicle,
originally conceived as a self-propelled gun with
a 75mm howitzer in the hull, it was later redesigned
with a turret and a 47 mm gun, to allow it to function
as a Char de Bataille (battle tank) for fighting enemy armour.

The Char B1 would be developed In January 1921 out of the concept conceived by
General Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne in 1919

On 6 April 1934, the first order was made for seven tanks of a Char B1.

The Char B1 bis also has a APX turret with a longer-barrelled (L/32) 47mm
SA 35 gun, to give the tank a real anti-tank capacity.

The Char B1 and Bis were expensive to build and
France simply lacked the production capacity
to build a sufficient number of heavy tanks. so there were only 405 produced.

Still the Char B1 Bis was the most powerful armed and armoured tank of its day,
the type was very effective in direct confrontations
with German armour in 1940, but slow speed and
high fuel consumption was a major disadvantage and a made it a east target.

After the defeat of France, captured Char B1's
would be used by Germany, and they would be rebuild as a flamethrowers or mechanized artillery.

This Char B1 bis named "Rhône" has no recorded history, it was probably a range wreck without a turret.

It was restored with a Somua S 35 turret and the main gun is a steel-made reproduction.

The name "Rhône" is from a Char B1 Bis ?309 was blown up by his own crew
after it ran out of fuel in the streets of Beaumont.
During the retreat from Belgium to France May 16, 1940.

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■ Information obtained from several sites.
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■ tanks-encyclopedia
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Panzers
■ preservedtanks
■ pantser.net
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Tanks_in_France

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