french armored car Panhard 201 (AM 40P)

[CaID 8,992]

 

This Suggestion is in support of the Armored Cars research line project

 

i would like to suggest this living prove that the french was the most innovative tanks builder of the world, the Panhard 201. a forerunner of the Panhard EBR.

 

A year and a half before the beginning of the Second World War, the army commission for armaments was largely concerned with the presence of heavy armored vehicles intended for cavalry (dautomitrailleuse puissante de calvalerie). The main problem was that since 1918 such machines in France were not built at all. The only sample of a heavy triaxial armored car was so unsuccessful that almost immediately after the tests it was allowed to be scrapped. Nevertheless, on March 5, 1938, an official technical assignment was issued.

It was assumed that, in case of success of this enterprise, new armored cars could to some extent replace the machines such as AMR 34/35 and AMD 35, which carried light armor and purely machine-gun weapons. However, the way to the "golden middle" of the French passed a long and thorny. In contrast to other countries (such as the United Kingdom or the USSR), France focused on powerful armor to the detriment of armament.

In the autumn of the same year, Panhard introduced a heavy armored car project, which was internally called "voiture 201 speciale" or Panhard 201 . Time to design and build a prototype was very little, but to the credit of the French engineers with their task, they coped quite well. The initiator of the creation of a fundamentally new armored car was the designer Louis Delyagard.

The Panhard 201 model was strikingly different from the rest of the combat vehicles that were built in France at that time. The implementation of the requirements for booking, not inferior to heavy tanks, Under normal conditions would lead to an inevitable increase in mass and a decrease in driving performance. To avoid this, a compact, squat body of elongated shape was developed under the leadership of Deliagard. In its front and rear, two driving wheels with pneumatic tires were installed. Between them, along the sides of the hull, was fastened on another pair of metal wheels with developed tractors. With free rotation, they served to better overcome the rough terrain. The shape of the hull was designed in such a way as to provide the best anti-ballistic qualities. With the thickness of the frontal armor of 60 mm, the front part had a rather complicated shape with a very sloped nose, on the roof of which there was a tower of futuristic outlines with a 25 mm SA35 gun and a 7.5 mm machine gun. The prototype Panhard 201 was equipped with a gasoline engine 85 hp. and a working volume of 3438 cc. To access the engine-transmission compartment, which was in the rear of the hull, a large hatch of round shape was made in the inclined stern armored sheet. The crew of the armored car consisted of two people. Due to the originality of the layout of the workplace, the commander (he's also the gunner, loader and the aimer... yes he was busy) turned out to be extremely compact, to say the least. To free up space in the mini turret, the gun had to be moved to the right.

However, all these shortcomings were overlapped by the high running characteristics of the Panhard 201. The prototype construction was started in 1939 and in January 1940 he entered the sea trials. The maximum speed when driving along the highway was 80 km / h, the power reserve was up to 100 km, and the armored car clearly exceeded all available models at that time.

The appearance of Panhard 201 produced a strong impression on the military. Without waiting for the prototype to be completed, on January 5, 1940, the military department made an order for 600 vehicles, which were given the designation AM 40P . In addition, the military demanded to develop a version with the installation of a more powerful 47-mm gun SA37. In a standard tower, this modernization was impossible, so it took a long time to develop a new one.

http://france1940.free.fr/photos/AM40P.jpg

Such grandiose plans were foiled by the rapid capitulation of France. Panhard did not manage to release a single production sample, and after the occupation of Panhard 201 they were stopped for almost 9 years. The only prototype that he did not get to the Germans, in the summer of 1940 was taken to Morocco. It seems that this car was destined to end his life in the warehouse, but by chance Panhard 201 was just ... lost in the African sands. It is possible that the prototype was destroyed by the French themselves, or during the next test "race" there was a breakdown and left the car in the desert.

History was continued after the war, when France began to gradually catch up the backlog in the military-technical terms. So the project Panhard 201 was revived but already at a qualitatively new level. Model Panhard 212 , the development of which was started in September 1949, retained the overall concept. At the same time, the hull became taller, wider and more symmetrical. The dimensions of the tower were also increased. The most serious improvement was armament - instead of 25 mm and 40 mm low-power guns, a 75 mm SA49 gun was installed. Now the armored car could fight medium tanks of the 2nd World War, although by that time the T-54 tank had already been adopted in the USSR. Armored car Panhard 212 was considered very successful and its release, which began in 1950, lasted almost 20 years. In the French army, this machine received the designation EBR 75 . The last modification of 1963 was equipped with a 90-mm anti-tank gun, although the reservation remained rather modest (15 mm).

 

 

 

 

Specifications
Weight	9000kg
Length	4.34 m
Width	2.0 m
Height	1.80 m
Crew	2
Armor	Hull front 60 mm unknow for the rest, most likely 15mm
Main armament	25mm SA 35
Secondary armament	1× 7.5 mm Reibel machine gun
Engine	Panhard, carburetor, with a working volume of 3834 cc., Power 85 hp.
Power/weight	9.4 hp/tonne
Suspension	8x4 wheel
Operational range	100 km (390 mi)
Speed	80 km/h (62 mph)

 

 

 

source

http://zonwar.ru/bronetexnika/armored_IIMV/Panhard_201.html

https://www.aviarmor.net/tww2/armored_cars/france/panhard_am40.htm

http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/France/Panhard_EBR.php

Edited November 20, 2022 by yoyolast
Removed a problematic link

[SAUBER_KH7 3,325]

Open for Discussion.

[Jalepano 16]

As an armoured car enthusiast myself, I believe that something like this would be an amazing and exciting addition to Warthunder. Especially since the game has recently

added more AC's in recent updates to nearly every branch, American Bulldog, German Puma (and its older brother the Pak 234/4), etc. This would be a great "tank" for in the tech trees, but there would have to be seperate versions between the 40mm and the 75mm for obvious reasons.

[CaID 8,992]

51 minutes ago, Jalepano said:

As an armoured car enthusiast myself, I believe that something like this would be an amazing and exciting addition to Warthunder. Especially since the game has recently

added more AC's in recent updates to nearly every branch, American Bulldog, German Puma (and its older brother the Pak 234/4), etc. This would be a great "tank" for in the tech trees, but there would have to be seperate versions between the 40mm and the 75mm for obvious reasons.

there was no 40 or 75mm for this one. there was plane to put a 47mm SA-37 but it was never realized, the design wasn't able to carry that gun in a turret without rebuilding the whole tank

[Xenecrite 899]

http://www.juniorgeneral.org/index.php/figure/view/AFVPrototypes

http://moderndrawings.jexiste.be/WW2Drawings/Files/1-Vehicles/Allies/4-France/09-ArmoredCars/AMD/Files/French-ArmoredCars.htm#PanhardAM40P

 

[BrentD15@psn 1,116]

What a goofy little armored car.

+1

[Admiral_Aruon 2,264]

what in gods name is this goofy gokart?

 

I LOVE IT! +1

[Slipslime 660]

One of the first oscillating turrets, I absolutely support this +1

[onemax9000 1,242]

+1 

[Valcour 1,141]

+1 Brilliant idea!

 

[player62514 607]

+1! Goofy little car, looks like fun to play.

[Milocat 4,848]

We need more French armored cars, and this would be an excellent addition!  

[BrentD15@psn 1,116]

This thing looks so stupid, it's adorable.

[CaID 8,992]

On 18/05/2019 at 19:01, *BrentD15 said:

This thing looks so stupid, it's adorable.

it was a promising design, the french army had great hope for this armored car for a class called Auto-mitrailleur-de-puissance, it mean Power armored car. it was supposed to replace the class Auto-mitrailleur-de-decouvert (AMD or discovery armored car) and Auto-mitrailleur-de-reconaissance (AMR, recon armored car) who was pretty much doing the same thing, one was used to explore far away and have the firepower to fight back before running away if needed. the other one was suppose to only be a bit ahead the main force and avoid by all mean to be noticed and to resist the temptation of engaging the enemy, it have seldom more than a single MG as main gun. the AMP was supposed to do both.

 

i read in one magazine they was ordered at 500 tanks even before the test was finish as a rush order a few weeks before the fall of france.

[Tasty95215 2,099]

The low crew member count and power-to-weight ratio made me a bit skeptical, though I do definitely support this. The 60mm of hull armor would be very good at Rank 1/2, but if the rest were only 15mm - including the turret? - it'd be very vulnerable, since just penetrating one shot would knock the vehicle out. Still, it seems like it'd be a neat little armored car for France.

 

I found another source: http://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/liste-chronologique/de-1930-a-1940?task=view&id=78. According to it, the gun was the 37mm SA 38 instead of the 25mm SA 35. That being said, the pictures in the link show the turret with the 25mm gun and not the 37mm, so I assume the 37mm was just another one of the plans for the vehicle.

 

Also, are the pictures in the OP gone for anyone else?

[CaID 8,992]

On 28/07/2019 at 15:06, Tasty95215 said:

The low crew member count and power-to-weight ratio made me a bit skeptical, though I do definitely support this. The 60mm of hull armor would be very good at Rank 1/2, but if the rest were only 15mm - including the turret? - it'd be very vulnerable, since just penetrating one shot would knock the vehicle out. Still, it seems like it'd be a neat little armored car for France.

 

I found another source: http://www.chars-francais.net/2015/index.php/liste-chronologique/de-1930-a-1940?task=view&id=78. According to it, the gun was the 37mm SA 38 instead of the 25mm SA 35. That being said, the pictures in the link show the turret with the 25mm gun and not the 37mm, so I assume the 37mm was just another one of the plans for the vehicle.

 

Also, are the pictures in the OP gone for anyone else?

that was indeed the Sa-35 25mm. not 37mm, that is why i didn't add this as source, they would just had make it contradictory. to avoid confusion, i avoid the source with mistake. Chars-Francais is full of mistake. i feel like they made a list and quickly fill out a bit of details in all of them. they was probably going to add info later but that was a long time since they went inactive.

[pakmonkey 178]

+1. The French are long overdue to get an armored car in their tree

 

[Wolf_89 2,524]

More wheeled vehicles pls.

[proud_n_loud6 0]

I really want this. And this vehicle has high production numbers. So why not? come on Gaijin, baby, add this racecar.

[Kasukaru 2,164]

Definitely needed and I don't even mind if it's premium. I'd be ok with both.

[FrizBeee 229]

+1 could be a funny premium at 1.7-2 and new player could just skip the painfull r35/h39

[Matt_82 1,096]

+1 for more French weirdness, please.

[Borotovas 4,500]

+1

[FrizBeee 229]

a frontal view  of the am 40p being inspected by the french army

i was surprise to find a new point picture of this vehicule

http://www.esprit-valmy.fr/viewtopic.php?t=14920

[CaID 8,992]

21 minutes ago, Frizare said:

a frontal view  of the am 40p being inspected by the french army

i was surprise to find a new point picture of this vehicule

http://www.esprit-valmy.fr/viewtopic.php?t=14920

It was in the original topic. But i now see much of the pics are deadline. I got to re-find them, download them, put the on imgur so it will not get deadlink later