Char FCM 2C - Super-heavy French tank - case report.

Vive la France!

      Yesterday, this cute finally arrived at my house! Simply, the largest tank ever built !!!

FCM Char 2C French Super-heavy tank - MENG Models

This French girl was massive!!

History:

      The Char 2C, also known as FCM 2C, is a French super-heavy tank developed, although never deployed, during World War I. It was, in physical dimensions, the largest operational tank ever made.

      The origins of the Char 2C have always been shrouded in a certain mystery. In the summer of 1916, probably in July, General Léon Augustin Jean Marie Mourret, the Subsecretary of Artillery, verbally granted Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), a shipyard in the south of France near Toulon, the contract for the development of a heavy tank, a char d'assaut de grand modèle. At the time, French industry was very active in lobbying for defence orders, using their connections with high-placed officials and officers to obtain commissions; development contracts could be very profitable even when not resulting in actual production, as they were fully paid for by the state.

      In December 1917, after many political intrigues and maneuvers, the first prototype, the FCM 1A, was ready to be shown to an investigating commission. 

Char FCM 1A

      Mourret had been replaced as head of the commission by Estienne, whose good friend General Philippe Pétain, the new High Commander of the French Army, asked him to use his position to end the project. Estienne told Pétain that this was ill-advised while the public was questioning why these heavy tanks had not been produced. Besides, the allies (specifically the British and the US) would only consent to give France 700 of the new Mark VIII Liberty design if France had made at least a token effort to produce its own heavy tanks.

Tank Mk VIII Liberty preserved - Notice the absence of main gun in the sponson

Pic showing the internal fittings of the Mark VIII Liberty

      Thus the French authorities had to delay the project while outwardly endorsing it. Estienne had already set this course by choosing the heaviest version, the "C", for production, requiring a completely new prototype, causing a considerable delay. Then Pétain demanded unreasonably high production numbers, thus delaying planning and initiating a political row.

      Pétain asked for 300 heavy tanks to be ready by March 1919, causing a quarrel to erupt between Clemenceau, who was both Prime-Minister and Minister of War, and Louis Loucheur, the Minister of Armament, who felt it was impossible to provide the labour and steel required. Meanwhile, Estienne and Pétain complicated the issue with further demands. Pétain asked for special pontoons, and Estienne demanded battering rams and electronic mine detectors to be fixed. When the war ended, not a single tank had been built.

      At first, the production order for the Char 2C was cancelled. Despite the end of hostilities, however, strong political pressure to adopt new heavy tank projects remained, as there was now a considerable surplus capacity in the heavy industry. To stop this, the Direction de l’Artillerie d’Assaut on instigation of Estienne decided in April 1919 to procure ten Char 2Cs after all, and use this as an argument to reject any other projects. This wasn't completely successful; as late as 1920 it was proposed to the Section Technique des Appareils de Combat to build a 600-ton tank with 250 mm armour. At FCM Jammy and Savatier finished the Char 2C prototype, the other nine tanks being built almost simultaneously; all ten were delivered in 1921 and modified by the factory until 1923. They would be the last French tanks to be produced for the home market till the Char D1 pre-series of 1931.

      Initially numbered 1 to 10, they were later numbered and named as follows: #90 Poitou, #91 Provence, #92 Picardie, #93 Alsace, #94 Bretagne, #95 Touraine, #96 Anjou, #97 Lorraine (later renamed Normandie), #98 Berry, #99 Champagne.

Char 2C 90 (10) Poitou

Char 2C 91 (1) Provence

Char 2C 92 (2) Picardy - Notice the aerial, in the commander cupola

Char 2C 93 (3) Alsace

Char 2C 94 (4) Bretagne - Notice the skid tail, in the tank's rear

Char 2C 95 (5) Touraine

Char 2C 96 (6) Anjou
Could not be made to run and was written off in September 1939

Char 2C 97 (7) Normandie (up-armored 75 ton)

Char 2C 98 (8) Berry

Char 2C 99 (9) Champagne

      The Char 2C had a loaded weight of 69 tonnes, partly because of its armour - 45 mm at the front, 22 mm at the sides, but much of it just because of its huge size. The armour was among the thickest of World War I-era tanks, though by modern standards this would be considered thin. It is still easily the largest tank ever taken into production. With the skid tail fitted, the hull was over twelve metres long.

Char 2C (captured by Germans) with skid tail

      Within its ample frame there was room for two fighting compartments. The forward compartment was crowned by a three-man turret (the first such in history) mounting a long 75 mm gun, and the second, at the rear of the tank, was topped by a machine gun turret. Both turrets had stroboscopic cupolas.

French stroboscopic cupolas

      The three independent 8 mm machine gun positions at the front gave protection against infantry assault.

A drawing in cut of the Char 2C in the early of WWII
Notice the exaggeration of motor power (1.000HP)

      The Char 2C is the only super-heavy tank ever to attain operational status — a super-heavy tank is not simply a tank that is very heavy but one that is much heavier than regular tanks of its period. The next operational tank to approach its weight would be the German Tiger II heavy tank of World War II.

      The fighting compartments were connected by the engine room. Each track was powered by its own 200 or 250 hp engine, via an electrical transmission. Top speed was 15 km/h. Seven fuel tanks, containing 1,260 litres, gave it a range of 150 kilometres. The suspension contained 39 interleaving road wheels on each side, making for a total of 90 wheels on the tank.

FCM Char 2C - wheels

      To man the tank required a crew of twelve: driver, commander, gunner, loader, four machine gunners, mechanic, electrician, assistant-electrician/mechanic and a radio operator. Some sources report thirteen, probably due to pictures of the crews that included the company commander.

FCM Char 2C Normandie (97) with his crew and the Company Commander (far right)

      The ten tanks were part of several consecutive units, their organic strength at one time reduced to three. Their military value slowly decreased as more advanced tanks were developed throughout the 1920s and 1930s. By the end of the 1930s they were largely obsolete, because their slow speed and high profile made them vulnerable to advances in anti-tank guns.

      In 1926 (some sources cite 1923), the Champagne n° 9 (some fonts cite the Char n°10 Poitou, too) was modified to Char 2C bis, an experimental type armed with a 155 mm howitzer (possibly a variant of the 155 C Mle1917 Schneider) in a casted turret. New engines (two Sautter-Harlé engines 6-cyl 250hp/each) were fitted and the machine guns in the side positions were deleted. In this configuration the tank weighed perhaps 74 tons. Though, the changes were only temporary: the vehicle was brought back into its previous condition in 1934 (some fonts cite that the "Champagne" returned back to its original state in the very same year). The new casted turret was used in the Tunisian Mareth Line.

Char 2C bis - Notice the turret with 155mm howitzer

Char 2C Bis - art drawing

      Between 15 November and 15 December 1939 the Lorraine, as the company command tank, was experimentally up-armoured at the Société des Aciéries d'Homecourt to make it immune to standard German antitank guns. The front armour was enhanced to 90 mm, the side to 65 mm. In this configuration, weighing about 75 tons, the Lorraine had at that time the thickest armour of any operational tank, and is probably still the heaviest operational tank ever.

      Nevertheless, during the French mobilisation of 1939, all ten were activated and put into their own unit, the 51st Bataillon de Chars de Combat. For propaganda, each tank had been named after one of the ancient regions of France, numbers 90-99 being named Poitou; Provence; Picardie; Alsace; Bretagne; Touraine; Anjou; Lorraine; Berry; Champagne respectively. In 1939, the Lorraine was renamed Normandie. As their main value was in propaganda, the giants were kept carefully out of harm's way and did not participate in the September 1939 attack on the Siegfried Line. They were used instead for numerous morale-boosting movies, in which they were often shown climbing and crushing old French forts. To the public, they obtained the reputation of invincible super tanks, the imagined dimensions of which far surpassed the actual particulars.

      Of course, the French commanders knew perfectly well that this reputation was undeserved. When the German Panzerdivisionen, in the execution of Operation Fall Rot, ripped apart the French lines after 10 June 1940, the decision was made to prevent the capture of the famous equipment. All were to be sent to the south by rail transport. 

      On 15 June the railway was blocked by a burning fuel train, so it became incumbent to destroy the tanks by detonating charges. Later Goebbels and Göring claimed the tanks were hit by German dive bombers. This propaganda lie was to be repeated by many sources. One tank, the Champagne, was nevertheless captured more or less intact and brought to Berlin to be exhibited as a war trophy. In 1948 this tank disappeared, causing many to speculate it still survives at the Russian Tank museum in Kubinka.

Specs:

Char FCM 2C - Super-heavy tank
Type	Super-heavy tank
Place of origin	France
Service history
In service	1921–1940
Used by	France
Wars	World War II
Production history
Designed	1917
Produced	1921
Number built	10
Variants	Char 2C bis
Specifications
Weight	69 tonnes
Length	10.27 m
Width	3 m (9 ft 10 in)
Height	4.09 m
Crew	12
Armour	45 mm  max.
Main armament	75 mm gun
Sec. armament	4x 8 mm machine guns: (3 in ball mounts: front-sides forward; 1 in rear turret)
Engine	2x engines Mercedes Benz 6-cyl gasoline - 2 x 180 hp
Op. range	150 km
Speed	15 km/h

The kit:

      Starting by the book, by the wheels...lots of wheels:

Wheels, wheels, wheels, bro...whells!!!

In position!!

 Bien, this French Girl is a delight to build...Plastc with a great texture, great fittings and almost no cleaning job ...I just had loved the building of the A-39 Tortoise... With this kit, I was a fanatic fan of MENG!

Building the hull of Char 2C. Notice the name plate of the tank in metal...

The sponsons in position. The alignment is perfect...

Attention. Do not install the headlamp, yet !!!
It is very fragile and may break with handling the kit.

Gluing the lower hull with wheels.

Here, one of the few mistakes of the MENG kit:
This gap at the junction between the hulls

Gap fixed with Plastruct with 0,8mm

Testing the "engine castle", in the upper deck.

Main turret

and all subsets ready ...

Time to build the headlight !!!

And the Girl ready for primer...

Char 2C is very huge, Mon ami !!!

      Now, it´s time for the tracks ( click system and cleaned by factory...ulá-lá!!) and painting...

67 links per track

Tracks done...

       Colors: Green Vallejo

Notice the Future, to prevent silvering...

Right side

       My Girl will be NORMANDIE:

Decals...

       Attention!!!

      Christophe Jacquemont , in Missing-Lynx, alert us about a misprint in the French flags of the MENG kit. The French flag is with inverted colors in the decals of Normandie and Poitou. See below:

The decal sheet need corrections...

      To fix this flaw, cut the little flags and turn 180°...Easy. But I only discovered this later ... I had already applied the decal. I'll fix the error, soon !!!

      About Coat of Arms, MENG  provides these two colorful versions in the original decal sheet of the kit.

      Here, a curious fact: The coat of arms of Normandy with correct heraldry would be Leopards and not Lions, as in the MENG decal.

The correct Normandie coat of arms.
Leopards!!

      This led me to believe in a search error on the part of the MENG, but observing a vintage photo, the coat in the tank turret NORMANDIA presents the coat with two lions and not two leopards.

Notice the Lions in the NORMANDIE's turret
The correct would be leopards, but ...

      MENG historically reproduced the "correct" tank's coat of arms, indeed. Are the crewmembers wrong, in those times?? Who would know??

Turret detail...Future drying...

      Now, she will sleep and tomorrow, weathering...

green tones, filters and washes...

Mud in the sponsons...

Ready for the tracks...

and with tracks and mud...

Char FCM 2C Normandie - almost there...Notice the French flag in the front, wrong...

...and now, corrected

 The direction of the links of the tracks follow the MENG instructions and actual photos:

Char 2C Poitou. Notice the gaps at the top of the links (red arrows), like my model

      But this other Char 2C shows the links in reverse position ...

Notice the gaps in the tracks. Reversed compared to the previous photo.

      Apparently, the two forms were used ... I opted for the booklet option.

Normandie - right side

Normandie- rear view

Comparative with FCM 2C and M4A3E8...

      The kit is practically ready .... But I would like to build the skid tail that was used by these monsters. I found several photos of the apparatus in place:

The Normandie 97 with skid tail in place, in maneuvers.
Note the difference in size with Renault R-35

Bretagne 94 coming out of a creek, spreading mud and water.
Notice the skid tail

The next scene pictured above: Bretagne with skid tail.

Char 2C with skid tail  (red arrow) .
Notice the crewman ouit of  the rear hatch (green arrow)

Champagne 99 with skid tail. Notice the cammo...

Char 2c in german hands. Notice the skid tail in place...

     This apparatus was loaded (unmounted) by trains that carrying the tanks. The attachment points of the rear skid tail were the same of the rail carriers:

The skid tail in the railway transporter.

      Well, the way is to do the skid tail in scratch .... I made a change in a profile available on the internet, to guide the project:

Char FCM 2C Normandie with skid tail

Well, it's skid tail time:

Based in the few pictures of this apparatus and
the profile, I started the project: Plastruct.

A wood block and pins are essential...

DON'T WORRY ... Some images below,
I will put ALL measurements in millimeters ...

First frame done...

Second frame : plastic parts

Using the jig of pins...

Second frame done

The "Cake Recipe"... Am I or am I not almost a Holy guy ??

Testing the dimensions...Ok !!!

In place...

Adding the "steel plate"...

The rivets made with Archer Surface Details decal (set AR88009)... Amazing !!!

Done !!!

Testing in place. Ready for paint...

      And the Girl was ready: Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - Command tank of 51e BCL Bataillon de Chars Lourds (Heavy Tank Battalion) - France - July, 1939.

Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - char 97
Command tank of 51st Heavy Tank Battalion) - France - July, 1939.

Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - char 97 - left side

Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - char 97 - skid tail in place
Notice the logs (branches of pomegranate)

Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - char 97 - rear view

Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - char 97 - right side

Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - char 97

Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - char 97 - front view
Notice the chains...

Char FCM 2C NORMANDIE - char 97
Command tank of 51st Heavy Tank Battalion) - France - July, 1939.

The FCM 2C is huge. Notice the Kojak  beside the tank...

The bald one is happy !!!

Char 2C and Renault Ft-17 side by side...

Very huge girl ...

Char FCM 2c and Saint Chamond side by side...

Just compare the development of the design of the tanks:
Almost contemporary, but what difference .... 

Char FCM 2c and Saint Chamond in bird view...
Saint Chamond is big, but char 2C is bigger !!!

      Well, Gents, the MENG kit is wonderful...Very enjoyable to build, with good instructions booklet and excellent plastic. The tracks are wonderful ... The only shortcoming is the wrong impression of the French flags in the decals, but easily corrected. I recommend without reservation!

Au revoir !!!