Renault UE Chenillette - Armed Renault Chenillettes

Armed Renault Chenillettes

In the early 1930s, the French Cavalry was in need of a small scouting vehicle. On 27 November 1931, the Section Technique de la Cavalerie asked Renault to rebuild one of his six chenillette prototypes into an armed tankette. Prototype N° 77982 was therefore turned into a Automitrailleuse légère de contact tout terrain in the winter of 1932, by being fitted with a small rectangular superstructure holding in its front a ballmount with machine-gun to be operated by the commander; the hood was placed on top of it. This type was rejected by the Cavalry for being too slow; further developments would however result in the AMR 33 light cavalry tank of which the Renault UE was the direct ancestor.

Renault was always very intent on procuring foreign orders, but generally without much success. To improve the attractiveness of his Renault UE he also offered a version with a machine-gun. In March 1936 the government of China placed an order for ten Renault UEs armed with machine-guns, together with twelve Renault ZB tanks. Though the tanks eventually reached China in 1940, the chenillettes were held up in Haiphong from 1938 because France gave in to Japanese pressure; they appear to have been confiscated in 1940 by the French authorities of Indo-China. Including these export vehicles, total French Renault UE production was thus about 5158.

During the Battle of France, in May 1940 the swiftly deteriorating situation led to an order being issued to arm all available tracked chassis and send them to the front. This included the available FT-17 hulls from which the turret had been removed to turn them into utility vehicles, the Renault ZT 4s that had not yet received their turrets, and also the Renault UE Modèle 37s produced from that moment. On 25 May the Direction d'Infanterie requested that Renault produce a prototype on the lines of his Chinese UEs, with a machine-gun armed superstructure. Another existing 200 vehicles were to be refitted with a simpler external MAC 31 "Reibel" machine-gun mount. It is unknown how many of both types were in fact built or modified; at least one vehicle with a superstructure is still extant.

On 31 May for trial purposes a 25 mm Hotchkiss gun was fitted on a single vehicle; this led to an order on 10 June for 150 of such tank destroyers; none were produced.