Char B1 - Operational History

Operational History

The Char B1 served with the armoured divisions of the Infantry, the Divisions Cuirassées de Réserve. These were highly specialised offensive units, optimised to break through fortified enemy positions. The mobile phase of a battle was to be carried out by the armoured divisions of the Cavalry, equipped with the SOMUA S35. The First and Second DCR had 69 Char B1's each; the Third 68. The 37th Bataillon de Chars de Combat, serving with 1DCR, was at first equipped with the original B1; these vehicles were refitted with the longer SA 35 gun in the spring of 1940. The turret type designation was changed to APX1A. The battalion was re-equipped with the Char B1 bis and in May reinforced by five of the original tanks.

After the German invasion several ad hoc units were formed: the 4DCR with 52 Char B1's and five autonomous companies (347e, 348e, 349e, 352e and 353e Compagnie Autonome de Chars) with in total 56 tanks: 12 B1's and 44 B1 bis. Also 28BCC was reconstituted with 34 tanks. The regular divisions destroyed quite a few German tanks, but lacked enough organic infantry and artillery to function as an effective mobile reserve.

A number of Char B1's (161) were captured by the Germans during the Fall of France. These were later pressed into service as second line and training vehicles under the name of Panzerkampfwagen B-2 740 (f). Sixty became platforms for flamethrowers as Flammwagen auf Panzerkampfwagen B-2 (f). Sixteen were converted into 105 mm self-propelled artillery. Ordinary tank versions were also frequently modified. For example, additional armour was placed above the main gun, and a winch mechanism was added behind the turret. One unit, Panzer-Abteilung 213, was equipped with the Char B1 bis and deployed on the Channel Islands from 1941 to 1945. One of their tanks is displayed by the Bovington Tank Museum, though repainted in French colours. In German service, the tank saw action in the Balkans Campaign and the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa.

The principal German units that used the Char B1 bis:

• Panzer-Brigade 100
• Panzer-Regimente 100
• Panzer-Ersatz-Abteilung 100
• Panzer-Abteilung (F) 102
• Panzer-Abteilung 213
• SS-Panzer-Abteilung "Prinz Eugen"
• Panzer-Kompanie z.b.V. 12
• Panzer-Abteilung 223
• Beutepanzer-Kompanie 223
• I./Artillerie-Regiment 93 of 26. Panzer-Division
• II./Panzer-Regiment 1 of 1. Panzer-Division
• Panzer-Regiment 2 of 16. Panzer-Division
• I./Panzer-Regiment 36 of 14. Panzer-Division
• Panzer-Abteilung 205
• Panzer-Kompanie 206
• Panzer-Kompanie C (ND) 224
• Panzerjäger-Abteilung 657 (PK 224)

Italy independently from Germany captured eight Chars B1 bis when in October 1940 an Italian worker disclosed to the Italian Armistice Commission that they in July had been hidden in a cave near Les Baux-de-Provence. These vehicles, six of which lacked the turret, were tested but probably not operationally used by Italy.

After the Allies had invaded France in 1944, some B1s were recaptured. Several were used on an individual and incidental basis by resistance forces, such as those fighting the German garrison of Paris in August 1944. On 7 October 1944, the Provisional Government of the French Republic formed the 13th Dragoon Regiment of the Free French Forces. The majority of the regiment fielded SOMUA S35 cavalry tanks, but Captain Edmond Voillaume's 2nd Company was equipped with 19 B1 bis tanks, which included a mixture of standard and German modified B-2s. They were stationed in Orléans until 2 April 1945, when they were mobilized for the Allied siege of La Rochelle.

The tanks were effective in the attack on Royan on 15 April 1945, using their 75 mm guns for fire support, while targeting pillboxes with their 47 mm guns. After that, 2nd Company accompanied troops on an assault on Pontaillac on 17 April, followed by an attack on the German stronghold at La Rochelle between 29 April and 8 May. Voillaume was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions. After the war, the 13th Dragoon Regiment was stationed in the French occupation zone of Allied-occupied Germany as part of the French 3rd Armoured Division. It was eventually disbanded in the German town of Wittlich in April 1946.