Reading through the history of the heavy tank M6 over the past couple of days, a dramatic little subplot emerged regarding the employment three French engineers. Has anyone seen any more info on who they were or what negative publicity they caused? Simply a case of the press disdaining the government's utilization of foreign help for a high-profile weapon system, or something bigger?
Potential security risk? I mean, about half of France was occupied and the other half by the Vichy government, who were not amongst the allies - even if this was at a point in time when the USA was not in the war.
With a strong isolationist movement in the U.S. my guess would be that these concerns were primarily political. The background evidently goes back to the Anglo-French purchasing programme – obviously overtaken by events. Edited to add source: CAB 85/77/1 | The National Archives
So Somuas and Char Bs might have been manufactured here in the States...this is fascinating stuff. I have recently learned that there were also plans or discussions about making the Char B and the Hotchkiss H39 in Britain. Do you know of any similar projects for making French equipment in British or Commonwealth factories, especially for possible British use of said equipment?
American policy was to handle Vichy with kid gloves. This policy was extremely controversial at the time and became more so with TORCH and the political complications which ensued.
There were distinct and overlapping phases to these Anglo-French arrangements. Initially some gaps in each other’s inventories were addressed by purchases. e.g. Britain ordered 500 Hotchkiss 25-mm anti-tank guns on a paid for basis, with deliveries commencing on the eve of war. The adoption of the Hotchkiss H-39 for British production was floated in December 1939, including the possible provision of a 2-man turret: French Tank Drawings.. The General Staff were not enamoured of the H-39 and were only prepared to accept it as a stop-gap preferring ‘our devoting all capacity we could create to the production of more powerful models’, which is the view that prevailed. As the Anglo-French Co-ordinating Committee got into its stride a number of barter arrangements were considered. It was mooted in February 1940, for instance, that Britain could produce castings for the Hotchkiss H-39 in return for complete tanks. Two sets of castings for each tank was agreed in March with deliveries of castings in bulk not before June 1940. The H-39 were only acceptable to the General Staff on the basis that they would be delivered within months, however, by April it had become evident that delivery would be delayed and Britain accepted the Char B instead, to be delivered in 1941. The Direction des Fabrication Mécaniques put forward a plan in late May that, inter alia, called for 12,000 SOMUA ‘S40 tanks with ARL 2C turrets with necessary guns, telescopes; optical apparatus, at the rate of 50 a day’. This plan promptly fell by the wayside as the Anglo-French Co-ordinating Committee brought forward collective arrangements in America. The Char B-bis was tentatively selected as the U.S. designs (M2A4 light & M2 medium) were considered unsuitable and Britain had no proven design ready. The object was to avoid the Allies competing with each other and to take advantage of economies of scale to maximise manufacturing capacity. The French 75-mm field gun (in preference to the 25-pdr) was also selected for production in the U.S., and all but 48 guns from U.S. Army surplus stocks were earmarked for the French who were provisionally to supply batteries, complete with crews, to the new British divisions being formed who were short of guns and gunners. As the French had a shortage of gun tractors these units might have utilised British vehicles. And then the wheels came off... Other than 280 Hotchkiss and up to 120 Puteaux 25-mm anti-tank guns; 310 M1917 and 508 M1897 ex-U.S. Army 75-mm field guns; and H-39 40749 received for trials in February, I’m not aware of Britain receiving any French heavy equipment via these routes. In addition, however, Canada received 76 M1917 and 4 M1897 75-mm ex-U.S. Army field guns and maybe other items.
Saw this tidbit on wiki: In May 1940 it was agreed to deliver nine Char B1s each month to Britain in exchange for a monthly British production of the "H 39". Char B1 - Wikipedia
Yes, that is what started me on this trail. After listening to the Chieftain on the subject of French tanks, though, I am rather glad that Britain never got the Char B. The best you can say of the H39 is that it was the least bad of the French two-man tanks.
